Nisaa Walcott found dead in storage container in the Bronx; cousin Khalid Barrow arrested, charged with murder
NEW YORK -- A suspect has been arrested in connection to the death an East Harlem mother.
The body of 35-year-old Nisaa Walcott was found in a plastic storage container in the Bronx on Friday, and now her cousin is charged with murder in connection to her death.
CBS2's Kiran Dhillon spoke exclusively to her family.
"I'm feeling very numb and empty right now," Eugene Butler, Walcott's brother, said.
Butler struggled to find the words to describe his emotions.
"Nisaa was a beautiful person. She was a caring, loving woman that really loved her family," he said.
Investigators say a passerby noticed Walcott's body inside a plastic container on University Avenue in the Highbridge section and called 911.
The day before, her brothers reported the young mother missing after repeated attempts to call her were returned with what they deemed suspicious text messages.
"The language that was being used was like, wait a minute, that's not my sister," Butler said.
Saturday, grief-stricken members of the community lit candles outside her home in East Harlem.
Walcott's father and other brother were too distraught to speak to CBS2 on camera.
Her longtime friends say they are horrified by the violence.
"Good person, free spirit and kind, loving, entrepreneurial ... She was a good woman. She did not deserve to be discarded like trash on the street," friend Delia Soto said.
Walcott's family and friends say her main priority was her 14-year-old son. They say the two were extremely close. The teenager is now with his father, trying to process what's happened.
"She was just a really good person. She really took care of her son. She was a hard worker. Her last job was working with ACS, so, you know, she was involved with wanting to help people. She was an entrepreneur. She was a beautiful spirit, strong woman," Droz said.
Twenty-one-year-old Khalid Barrow, Walcott's cousin, has been arrested and charged with murder and concealment of a human corpse in connection to her death.
Her brother is grateful for the quick arrest.
"This is barbaric, very gutless. The person who did this had to have been a person who had no soul because all she wanted to do was help this person," Butler said.
The family's priority now is that there is justice for their loved one.