Ronald Schroeder and Seikeya Jones (WABC).
Police have found a missing woman’s remains stuffed in a suitcase, and though her cause of death remains publicly unknown, prosecutors charged a man with concealment of a human corpse. The state made it a point to mention during the arraignment of Ronald Schroeder, 31, on Saturday that he had possessed date rape drugs, according to FOX New York affiliate WNYW.
Authorities have not said how they think the victim, Seikeya Jones, 31, wound up in that suitcase in a wooded area near 320 Nassau Road in the town of Huntington, New York, on Tuesday morning.
Police have said she was reported missing on Aug. 16 after she did not return to her home on Fifth Avenue in the hamlet of Huntington Station. (In a recent statement sent to Law&Crime, they described her as homeless.) She is reportedly the mother of a 4-year-old boy.
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Prosecutors reportedly said at the arraignment that Jones was discovered in a fetal position and that her wrists and ankles were bound. Cops found bungee cords. It is unclear how she would have allegedly encountered Schroeder, who is seen on video covering his face before cameras as law enforcement escorted him in handcuffs. He had been arrested at New York City’s Penn Station.
“He was also charged with an active bench warrant,” cops said in a statement. “In addition, MTA Police charged him with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd Degree.”
Schroeder reportedly did not show up for his arraignment; his attorney said the defendant was sick and waived his right to appear in person. The judge said there would be no bail or bond.
“I’m looking and I’m looking, and I can’t find her, and I come back from vacation, and I see on the news that my daughter is in a suitcase,” Jones’ mother Yolando Terrell said. “Where do we do this at? So, someone has to give me some answers.”
“I’m here today to say that my sister Seikeya Jones has a family that was standing beside her,” Jones’ sister Shasia Correnthi said. “Unfortunately, we could not help her get a hold of her mental illness, and with this being said, that does not give anybody the right to put their hands on my sister and put her in a suitcase, and stuff her inside these bushes like she was nothing.”
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