Kenny Guido
Well-known member
Boyfriend of slain NYU student in custody
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA, NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER | [email protected] 11:46 PM EDT, August 7, 2007 http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb....ewsdaycom;pos=1;sz=88x31;tile=5;ord=36291334?
The boyfriend of a New York University student found dead in her apartment was in custody Tuesday night after apparently trying to kill himself, police said.
Michael Cordero, 23, was identified by sources Tuesday as the prime suspect in the apparent homicide of Boitumelo McCallum, 20, whose badly decomposed body was discovered in the apartment she shared with her mother, an NYU professor.
It's still not clear how McCallum, known as Tumi, died, but detectives say she was killed -- and Cordero was identified by sources Tuesday as the prime suspect after a two-day hunt for him went cold.
Cordero was caught by police at approximately 8:40 p.m. after he slit his wrists on a rooftop of the Amsterdam Houses at West 62nd Street in Manhattan, officials said.
Cordero fled from there to the street below while being pursued by family members, police said. He was taken into custody at a supermarket by police officers who had responded to the location after calls to 911.
Cordero made statements to hospital personnel implicating himself in the apparent homicide of McCallum, police said. He was interviewed by detectives and remained in police custody at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center.
Before his capture, Cordero's sister's boyfriend, Jason, who said he had not seen him in a month, said he hoped Cordero didn't kill her.
"He loved that girl," said Jason, his sister's boyfriend, who asked that his last name not be printed. "It was Mikey and Tumi forever. That's what they always said. She said it, too. It wasn't about money. He comes from a poor family. She comes from a different kind of family. It wasn't about money with her. It was about him, and about his personality and his character.
"And for him, it was about being with this girl who he could never imagine seeing himself with."
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stopped short of calling Cordero a suspect, labeling him "somebody we want to speak to."
Detectives, however, say Cordero -- described by friends as having a possessive streak -- flew into a rage during an argument last Wednesday night after a party at her apartment.
Kelly suggested McCallum was beaten and her nose might have been broken.
"There was some damage to the face," Kelly said.
The case came to a head Sunday night when a couple who sublets the apartment called the superintendent because they hadn't seen McCallum since Wednesday and there was a strong odor coming from her locked bedroom. The superintendent called police, who found the young woman wrapped in a sheet and lying on the floor between the bed and the wall.
Police did not officially identify her until Tuesday, after the medical examiner matched her thumbprint with the print on her passport.
Her mother, Teboho Moja, is believed to be heading back to the city from South Africa, where she was traveling as part of a foreign study program. Moja is a professor at NYU's Steinhardt School of Education and is a well-known anti-apartheid activist.
Boitumelo McCallum's father, Robert McCallum, lives in Harlem and is an adjunct art education professor at NYU.
Boitumelo McCallum attended the Beacon School, an alternative public high school near Cordero's home, and met Cordero about five years ago hanging out near Lincoln Center, Jason said. He said they began dating about two and a half years ago.
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA, NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER | [email protected] 11:46 PM EDT, August 7, 2007 http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb....ewsdaycom;pos=1;sz=88x31;tile=5;ord=36291334?
The boyfriend of a New York University student found dead in her apartment was in custody Tuesday night after apparently trying to kill himself, police said.
Michael Cordero, 23, was identified by sources Tuesday as the prime suspect in the apparent homicide of Boitumelo McCallum, 20, whose badly decomposed body was discovered in the apartment she shared with her mother, an NYU professor.
It's still not clear how McCallum, known as Tumi, died, but detectives say she was killed -- and Cordero was identified by sources Tuesday as the prime suspect after a two-day hunt for him went cold.
Cordero was caught by police at approximately 8:40 p.m. after he slit his wrists on a rooftop of the Amsterdam Houses at West 62nd Street in Manhattan, officials said.
Cordero fled from there to the street below while being pursued by family members, police said. He was taken into custody at a supermarket by police officers who had responded to the location after calls to 911.
Cordero made statements to hospital personnel implicating himself in the apparent homicide of McCallum, police said. He was interviewed by detectives and remained in police custody at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center.
Before his capture, Cordero's sister's boyfriend, Jason, who said he had not seen him in a month, said he hoped Cordero didn't kill her.
"He loved that girl," said Jason, his sister's boyfriend, who asked that his last name not be printed. "It was Mikey and Tumi forever. That's what they always said. She said it, too. It wasn't about money. He comes from a poor family. She comes from a different kind of family. It wasn't about money with her. It was about him, and about his personality and his character.
"And for him, it was about being with this girl who he could never imagine seeing himself with."
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stopped short of calling Cordero a suspect, labeling him "somebody we want to speak to."
Detectives, however, say Cordero -- described by friends as having a possessive streak -- flew into a rage during an argument last Wednesday night after a party at her apartment.
Kelly suggested McCallum was beaten and her nose might have been broken.
"There was some damage to the face," Kelly said.
The case came to a head Sunday night when a couple who sublets the apartment called the superintendent because they hadn't seen McCallum since Wednesday and there was a strong odor coming from her locked bedroom. The superintendent called police, who found the young woman wrapped in a sheet and lying on the floor between the bed and the wall.
Police did not officially identify her until Tuesday, after the medical examiner matched her thumbprint with the print on her passport.
Her mother, Teboho Moja, is believed to be heading back to the city from South Africa, where she was traveling as part of a foreign study program. Moja is a professor at NYU's Steinhardt School of Education and is a well-known anti-apartheid activist.
Boitumelo McCallum's father, Robert McCallum, lives in Harlem and is an adjunct art education professor at NYU.
Boitumelo McCallum attended the Beacon School, an alternative public high school near Cordero's home, and met Cordero about five years ago hanging out near Lincoln Center, Jason said. He said they began dating about two and a half years ago.