NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A Lower East Side man dismembered his older roommate, stuffed him in a suitcase and dumped it in the East River after the two fought about food, law enforcement sources said Thursday, as neighbors said the victim trusted the suspect and treated him like “his grandson.”
Christian Millet, 23, was charged Wednesday night with second-degree murder in the death of Edwin Echevarria, 65.
The NYPD’s Harbor Unit recovered Echevarria’s headless and limbless torso from a suitcase floating in the river near Governors Island last Wednesday evening.
Millet and Echevarria were roommates who lived in the same building at the NYCHA Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side, police sources told 1010 WINS.
According to the sources, Millet allegedly used an ice pick to stab and cut up Echevarria's body in the bath tub and also stomped on his head before putting the torso in a sleeping bag stuffed in a suitcase that was dumped in the East River.
The two roommates had been fighting over several issues recently but their biggest dispute was over food, the sources said.
The medical examiner has been working to determine Echevarria's exact cause of death, as the NYPD continues to search for the rest of his body.
Missing posters were put up on the Lower East Side after Echevarria went missing on Sunday, Feb. 2.
One neighbor held back tears Thursday as she remembered the victim, who she said took the suspect in and treated him like his own family.
"He called that boy his grandson," she said. "He called him his grandson and he trusted him, and look what happens. You know? You trust somebody—you've got to just be careful who you trust."
Carmon Santiago, who lived down the hall from the roommates, remembered the victim as “a good guy, you know, very responsible.”
