A prime suspect in the horrifying torture and slaying of Bronx woman Princesa Encarnacion-Soto is still on the loose one week after cops arrested his mother for helping him clean up the grisly scene — and on Thursday night, police released his picture in the hope that the public can help track him down.
Robert Strother allegedly tortured and killed his girlfriend Encarnacion-Soto, whose body was riddled with bruises from hammer strikes, deep cuts and stab wounds, and even had the bottoms of her feet cut open, prosecutors said at the arraignment of his mother, Naida Jorge, 54.
On July 22, Encarnacion-Soto, 21, was found dead in the stairwell of the building on Grand Concourse in Fordham where Strother lived with his mother. Cops arrested Jorge two days later. She is charged with murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution for allegedly helping Strother clean up the bloody scene and stage the body.
Jorge initially told police she found the body on the stairs outside the apartment. She had a neighbor call police and claimed at first she didn’t know who Soto was.
Strother, 26, has been missing since the body was discovered. He and Encarnacion-Soto had recently broken up, but he convinced her to get back together, Encarnacion-Soto‘s family told the Daily News.
“We believe that she was tied down to the bed, based on the blood that was on the bed,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a briefing on the case. “The wounds themselves were inflicted for pain, not to kill.”
Strother is approximately 6’2″ and weighs about 245 pounds. He has a dark complexion, and was last seen wearing a red baseball cap, black and red sweater, red sweatpants and white and grey sneakers.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
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