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Police Release Second Video of Man Sought in Murder of Woman Found in Suitcase

By Michael P. Ventura | December 24, 2010 10:05am | Updated on December 26, 2010 10:05am

By Michael Ventura

DNAinfo Senior Editor

MANHATTAN — Police released on Friday a second video of a man they want to question about the murder of a Bronx woman who was strangled and stuffed into a suitcase left on an East Harlem sidewalk.

The video shows a man wearing a black winter coat and black knit hat in what appears to be a grocery store. He approaches a cashier with a yellow box under his arm, and pays for the item.

Police have said the man is a "person of interest" in the murder of Betty Williams, 28, of the Bronx, who was identified by police Thursday night as the woman who was found in the suitcase earlier this week.

Another surveillance video released Wednesday showed a man dragging the suitcase she was found in down a street in East Harlem.

Investigators determined Williams had been strangled the night before her body was found, the Daily News reported. Based on that, detectives were working to figure out who she was with before she was murdered.

"We are talking to - and will continue to talk to - relatives of the young woman," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the paper. "We hope to have more definitive information about her acquaintances that will help in the investigation."

Kelly also said police were trying to enhance the image of the man seen on the video to get a clearer view of him, the New York Post reported.

Williams' body was found near Rao's, a famed Italian eatery.

A man who lives in 435 E. 114th St., in front of where the body was found, told DNAinfo he saw the body in the suitcase.

"I saw the body in the suitcase and the foot was sticking out. It had a sock," said the man, who asked not to be named. "It was right there. It was disgusting. It smelled horrible."

Neighbors were shaken up by the discovery.

"It's not the kind of thing you want to hear about happening on your block," said Fredrick Larrieu, 37, who moved to the block three weeks ago. "It's like something out of a movie."

Police released a video of a man they want to question in connection to a murder in East Harlem.
Police released a video of a man they want to question in connection to a murder in East Harlem.
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