Last week, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said that a 30-year-old West New York mother of two, found Sunday morning in a vacant apartment across from her own unit, was strangled to death.
Maria Gutierrez Cabrera was found dead hours after she returned to her building on Buchanan Place Sunday morning.
The West New York Police Department and Union City Police Department have been assisting the detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office with the investigation.
Investigators found no broken bones or outward indication of physical injury. Cabrera was fully clothed.
“Information from the preliminary report indicates strangulation,” said Prosecutor Ed DeFazio last week. “It is a homicide.”
Cabrera was alone when she was dropped off by two co-workers on the night of her murder.
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The Prosecutor’s Office could not say whether or not the door to the vacant apartment was open when her boyfriend found her, or how he would have known to look there. DeFazio did say the door was unlocked.
De Fazio said that Cabrera was found on the floor near the entrance of the vacant apartment, which is across the hall from her own apartment.
At this point the Prosecutor’s Office is not sure whether she was killed in her own apartment or whether the homicide occurred where the body was found.
There was no indication that Cabrera was robbed or sexually assaulted. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found in the apartment where her body was found.
Made it home from work
Detectives have confirmed that Cabrera had been working at a tavern in Union City the evening prior to her death. According to DeFazio, the two female co-workers who dropped her off at 2 a.m. said that she made it into the building.
Cabrera is believed to have lived in her apartment for at least two years.
The prosecutor said the boyfriend, who has not been identified, has a different address than Cabrera. However, he did stay with Cabrera sometimes, including the night she was killed, he said.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about this matter should call the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office’s Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.