Muhammad Aadil, 40, and Ronei Harris, 18, were indicted for murder and related charges in the death of 46-year-old Lutalo Henderson, the Bronx DA said.
"This was brutal disregard for a human being." District Attorney Darcel Clark said in announcing the indictments.
Aadil and Harris allegedly killed Henerson after a dispute in the home that Aadil shared with Henerson, the Bronx DA said.
Aadil and Harris cut off his legs below the knees, and his hands and removed his jaw, the DA said.
The two then wrapped the torso in trash bags and took it in a shopping cart to Yonkers on the Metro North Train, the DA said.
They set the shopping cart on fire under the Oak Street Bridge, the DA said.
Investigators were led to an apartment on Rogers Place where they recovered other body parts, the DA said.
Police traced the murder to a five-story tenement in Longwood through a series of surveillance videos like one obtained by Eyewitness News that shows two people wheeling an apparently heavy object in a shopping cart.
Eyewitness News has learned that the men boarded the train at the Melrose station roughly one mile from the apartment and that the corpse had been frozen.
When police searched the apartment, they found the victim's legs in the freezer. The hands were found in a crockpot filled with bleach. In addition, police say drug paraphernalia and a gun were found in the kitchen of the apartment.
A woman who lives in the building heard loud noises that she says sounded like someone was carrying something heavy down the stairs.
"It seemed like it was heavy," she said to Eyewitness News in Spanish. "And I heard the voice of a man who was telling another man to hurry up."
The building's super told Eyewitness News the whole thing is horrifying.
"I'd never expect something like that in 34 years. So this can happen in any building," the building super said.
Harris was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, three counts of third-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance/Intent to Sell, two counts of third-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, Concealment of a Human Corpse and
Criminal Possession of a Firearm, police said.
Aadil was charged with second-degree Murder, first-degree Manslaughter, three counts of third-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, Concealment of Human Corpse and Criminal Possession of a Firearm, police said.
Aadil was remanded and is due back in court on December 19. Harris will be arraigned at a later date, the DA said.
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