The Bobster
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Person of interest in NYC hotel murder caught wearing slain mom’s ‘distinctive’ leggings is nabbed
A person of interest was identified Monday in the brutal beating and strangling of a Queens mom inside a Soho hotel earlier this month, sources told The Post.
nypost.com
Person of interest in NYC hotel murder caught wearing slain mom’s ‘distinctive’ leggings is nabbed
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Published Feb. 20, 2024, 9:30 a.m. ET
A person of interest was identified Monday in the brutal beating and strangling of a Queens mom inside a Soho hotel earlier this month, sources told The Post.
Raad Almansoori, 26, was nabbed by police in Arizona on a separate assault on another woman, according to law enforcement sources.
NYPD detectives want to question him about the death of 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia. Charges against him are pending.
5 The person of interest was captured on surveillance footage leaving the hotel wearing Oleas-Arancibia’s leggings. DCPI
Authorities are also eyeing him for similar incidents of violence against women in Arizona, Texas and Florida, sources said.
Oleas-Arancibia, who may have been a sex worker, stayed several nights each month at the SoHo 54 Hotel for about a year leading up to her brutal death.
She was found lying under a blanket next to a broken iron on Feb. 8.
The young mom of two had checked into the hotel at 2:14 p.m. the day before wearing a “distinct” pair of leggings that surveillance footage later captured a man leaving the hotel wearing, police said.
“We have video of the woman arriving at the location, wearing a distinct pair of leggings and later on we have a male leaving the hotel wearing the same leggings and we also have a pair of male pants in the hotel room. There was blood all over the pants,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
A photo obtained by The Post shows the suspect walking on a sidewalk near the hotel wearing light-colored leggings, a tan jacket and a dark hoodie and beanie.
5 Denisse Oleas-Arancibia was found dead inside the hotel room on Feb. 8.
Several wellness calls were made to the front desk throughout the evening of Feb. 8 for Oleas-Arancibia.
One employee did walk into the room, despite a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door handle, but quickly left after seeing her covered by a blanket on the floor, thinking she was just asleep.
Her body was discovered the following morning after additional wellness calls were made and her 18-year-old son filed a missing person’s request in Jackson Heights.
5 Oleas-Arancibia was found covered by a blanket on the floor.
A cause of death has not been determined, but, after finding bits of plastic embedded in Oleas-Arancibia’s head, investigators believe the bloody iron was “one of the methods that was used to kill her.”
The NYC medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, with her cause of death being compression of the neck and blunt head trauma.
Oleas-Arancibia’s son, Edwin Cevallos, said she was “always working for us to give us the best life in this country.”
5 The person of interest was taken into custody in Arizona, police sources told The Post. DCPI
“She always had money to cover anything in the house,” he said. “She didn’t owe no money to anybody.”
According to her son, Oleas-Arancibia appeared nervous in the days leading up to her death.
“In the week (before) she was like, sad,” Cevallos said. “She was so nervous and she was worried.”
5 The NYC medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. Peter Gerber
.
Oleas-Arancibia had moved to New York from Ecuador. She’d been living with Cevallos and a nephew while her parents and a younger son stayed in South America.