Double homicide in East Harlem: Dominican home health aide and her patient found shot dead

New York. The New York Police Department (NYPD) is investigating as a double homicide the deaths of a Dominican home health aide and the man she cared for, found shot dead on Thursday night inside an apartment in East Harlem, Manhattan.

The victims were identified as Elsa Espina-Espinal, 55, and Wilgen Elías Severino-Tatis, 66, the patient she cared for. Both were found at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, in Severino's apartment at 2029 Second Avenue, near 104th Street, in the Gaylord White Houses complex, which belongs to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Each had a gunshot wound to the head, according to authorities. A neighbor found them after relatives raised the alarm that Espina-Espinal was not answering her phone. No firearm was recovered inside the apartment and the door was left ajar after the crime, so detectives are reviewing surveillance camera footage from the area.

As of Friday, no arrests had been announced and no official description of suspects or motive for the crime had been released. The NYPD keeps the investigation open and asks for information through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477, or in Spanish at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

Espina-Espinal, a resident of Norwood in the Bronx, was a mother of four and worked as a home health aide. According to her relatives, after about 18 years working in the United States she planned to retire and return to the Dominican Republic for good in December. Severino, of Puerto Rican origin, was a long-time cancer patient and had lived in the building for many years, where neighbors knew him for playing dominoes in front of the building.

Photo: Últimas Noticias

Source: Últimas Noticias