BY THE VILLAGE SUN | Police are hunting for a suspect in the brutal murder of a Queens woman in a Hudson Square hotel last week.
According to police and news reports, on Thurs., Feb. 8, around 10:30 a.m., officers responded to the SOHO 54 Hotel, at 54 Watts Street, and found Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38, of Queens in a room, unconscious and unresponsive under a blanket on the floor. E.M.S. medics pronounced her dead at the scene.
A maid had initially found her lifeless body, with a broken iron next to her.
Police said a pair of bloody pants were found inside the room, and that a male suspect was seen on surveillance camera leaving the hotel wearing light-colored women’s leggings, a tan jacket, a dark hooded sweatshirt and a black cap. He also sported a mustache. Surveillance footage showed the slain woman apparently wearing the same leggings when she checked into the hotel the previous afternoon.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner subsequently determined the cause of death to be homicide.
Oleas-Arancibia was an Ecuadoran immigrant with two sons. Her oldest, 18, said she was a hard worker and good provider for the family. Police believe she was a sex worker.
Just a brief reminder. This hotel is not in SoHo. The westernmost border of SoHo is at Sixth Avenue. This hotel is west of SoHo.