A 40-year-old mother who was found dead inside her Bronx apartment earlier this year while her children slept in the next room was strangled, according to the medical examiner.
Officials ruled Luz Perez's death a homicide on Monday and asked the public for help in identifying a suspect who was caught on surveillance camera near the time of the mother of five's death on Oct. 13.
Police responding to a 911 call found Perez unconscious and unresponsive inside her apartment on East 187th Street in the Belmont section of the Bronx, the NYPD said.
Perez had head and body trauma, according to police. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her 5-year-old son and her 2-year-old child spent around 27 hours alone with her body before the older sibling was able to unlatch the apartment window and shouted for help, according to Detective Sean Butler of the Bronx homicide squad.
A passerby heard the child's cry for help and was able to call 911 for him, Butler said.
The children said Perez had an order of protection against her husband and say he burned her eye just a few weeks prior to her death.
An investigation is ongoing.
