Left inset: Robert Strother (NYPD). Right inset: Princesa Encarnacion-Soto (News 12/YouTube). Background: The Bronx apartment where Robert Strother allegedly held Princesa Encarnacion-Soto hostage and ultimately took her life last month (WABC/YouTube).
A man from New York City has been detained over accusations that he teamed up with his mother to commit the murder of his girlfriend by supposedly binding the 21-year-old victim to a bed and tormenting her.
“The injuries … were designed to cause suffering, not death,” stated NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny during a press conference last month. This announcement followed the alleged killing of Princesa Encarnacion-Soto by Robert Strother, 27, within his mother’s apartment located on the 2200 block of Grand Concourse in the Bronx, where police later discovered her injured body on a staircase.
“Slice marks were observed on her thighs and upper arms,” Kenny informed the press, as reported by The CW affiliate WPIX. “The wounds on her legs appeared recent,” he added. “There wasn’t any blood on [the victim] when she was found on the staircase, and her clothing seemed recently changed, free of blood. This implies that someone might have cleaned her body, dressed her in clean clothing, and discarded her down the stairs.”
An NYPD spokesperson informed Law&Crime on Wednesday that Strother, who escaped from the scene after Encarnacion-Soto died on July 22, was apprehended last Saturday after an extensive search lasting a week. His mother, Naida Jorge, was arrested at the location and faced identical charges as Strother: murder, manslaughter, obstruction of prosecution, concealing a human corpse, and manipulating physical evidence.
Police say they found Encarnacion-Soto while responding to a 911 call of an assault in progress inside the couple’s apartment building.
“Officers found an unidentified female unconscious and non-responsive with multiple stab injuries when they arrived,” the NYPD revealed in a statement supplied to Law&Crime on Wednesday. “Emergency Medical Services responded and transported the woman to BronxCare Health System, where she was declared deceased.”
Police say Encarnacion-Soto was missing “a piece of a knuckle on her finger” and had cuts underneath her feet when they found her, according to court papers obtained by the New York Daily News. She was allegedly stabbed and hit with a hammer multiple times.
Jorge, 54, is accused of helping Strother during and after Encarnacion-Soto’s murder, with police saying she allowed him to kill the victim inside of Jorge’s apartment and then cleaned up the crime scene with him. Jorge also allegedly hindered efforts to catch Strother, according to NYPD officials.
Kenny told reporters last month that Encarnacion-Soto was living in Rhode Island before she moved to New York on July 11 and started living with Jorge and Strother, who has more than 20 arrests for domestic violence on his record filed by other women.
“My heart is broken,” said Encarnacion-Soto’s mother last weekend, speaking to local NBC affiliate WNBC. “My little baby, my little everything is gone.”
