FORDHAM, Bronx (WABC) — After a weeklong manhunt, Robert Strother, 27, has been arrested in connection with the gruesome murder of his ex-girlfriend, Princesa Encarnacion-Soto, 21, whom police say was tortured and killed in his mother’s Bronx apartment.
Strother’s mother, Naida Jorge, 54, has also been charged with murder and manslaughter for allegedly helping conceal the crime. Investigators believe Jorge attempted to clean the apartment, eliminating key evidence by washing blood and dressing the victim in clean clothes.
Authorities say Encarnacion-Soto was tied to a bed, stabbed, beaten, and struck with a hammer over a span of days. An autopsy revealed horrifying injuries, including missing knuckle tissue and slits beneath her feet, pointing to prolonged torture.
Police were initially treating Jorge as a witness but became suspicious after detecting a strong bleach odor and finding a trail of blood and a garbage bag full of bloody clothing inside the home. She was remanded on July 24 in Bronx Criminal Court.
The victim’s mother, who lives in Rhode Island, expressed heartbreak in an interview from the Dominican Republic.
According to NYPD, there have been 22 prior domestic abuse calls to the apartment—two involving Jorge herself reporting her son, though none included Encarnacion-Soto.
Both Strother and Jorge now face serious charges as the investigation continues into what police are calling one of the city’s most disturbing cases of domestic violence and murder in recent memory.
