Man found dead in garbage bags under bed in Queens home was collecting rent, NYPD says

A man who was found dead and wrapped in plastic bags under a bed in a Queens apartment on Tuesday had gone in to collect rent and never emerged, police officials said on Thursday.

NYPD officials said they were investigating whether a dispute over late rent had anything to do with the death of 55-year-old Jose Portillo, whose body was discovered around 5 p.m. Tuesday by officers conducting a wellness check at a home on 70th Avenue and 137th Street in Kew Gardens Hills.

Portillo’s body was located under a bed, with one garbage bag covering the top half of his body and another covering the bottom half, according to police. Neighbors in the row of homes on 70th Avenue identified him as their longtime super.

The city medical examiner’s office was working to figure out Portillo’s cause of death, police officials said. Detectives on Thursday were still questioning the two people who lived in the apartment where he was found, but no charges had been filed.

Family members of Portillo said over the phone on Wednesday they were too distraught to speak about the case and did not have much information about what had happened.

At the scene on Wednesday, neighbors said they were shocked by the incident, and said they had seen Portillo working around the buildings only days before.

“I always thought my block was relatively safe, you know?” said Jasmin Halil, who has lived in the building for about four years. She said the Portillo’s death made her “very nervous.”

Rosemarie Sanks, a more-than-50-year resident of the property, said her upstairs neighbors told her the super had died, but she did not know how.

“It’s a sad, sad situation, really,” she said.

This is a developing story based on preliminary information from police and has been updated.