Surveillance of man wanted for murder of elderly Jersey City woman

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- There was a knock on the door and then moments later, an 81-year-old woman was dead.

Police and the victim's family are pleading for help to find her killer.

Prosecutors believe you're looking at a murderer in the surveillance video, just minutes before he took the life of an elderly woman.

It was Saturday, February 5th around 10:30 p.m. when this man showed up at Lucila Cardenas Viejo's door in Jersey City.

"He rang the bell and apparently he said something that convinced my mom that she knew him. She unlocked the door and he pushed in," said Armando Solorzano, the victim's son.

For nearly three weeks, her son has been waiting for answers as a memorial outside her home remains.

"I miss her a lot. I miss her a lot," Solorzano said. "For me and my brother it has been turmoil. I hope to see my mom in a better world."

Viejo lived alone at 64 Lexington Avenue.

Prosecutors say she was found dead on the living room floor the next morning with multiple blunt and sharp force injuries to her body.

"We believe that someone is likely to have seen the individual that is going to the door might know the individual, we need the public's help," said Esther Suarez, the prosecutor.

Family members say the 81-year-old cancer survivor was ready to sell her home and move to her native Ecuador, after more than 30 years of living in New Jersey. She felt the neighborhood was too dangerous.

"I think sooner or later something is going to pop up. You're asking the community to remember who was walking around at that time," Suarez said.