The mom of a Bronx woman who police say was tortured and murdered by her brutal ex never thought the time they spent together in May would be their last Mother’s Day.
Princesa Encarnacion-Soto’s mother said the doomed 24-year-old was living with her in Rhode Island, where she grew up after moving from Puerto Rico 15 years ago, but ended up back in the Bronx less than two weeks before her death.
“I never think this is the last time I see my daughter,” said Jecebelle Soto, 39. “I never think it’s the last birthday together and the last Mother’s Day together.” Soto’s birthday is also in May.
Police are still looking for the accused killer, Robert Strother, 26. Investigators believe he tortured Encarnacion-Soto for more than a week before she died inside the Grand Concourse apartment in Fordham.
Cops believe Strother tied her down to the bed — based on the bloody clothes, sheets and bungee cords discovered at the scene — and beat and cut her to cause her pain, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny has said.
Encarnacion-Soto’s body was covered in bruises from hammer strikes, deep cuts and stab wounds. The bottoms of her feet were cut open, and a piece of a knuckle on her finger was missing.
“I’m so sad. I’m so mad. I’m so angry. I want everybody (involved) to go to jail,” Jecebelle Soto said.
Strother lives in the Fordham apartment with his mother, Naida Jorge, 54, who is accused of trying to clean up the murder scene to protect her son.
Jorge told police she found the body on the stairs outside the apartment, and had a neighbor call police, claiming at first she didn’t know the victim, cops said.
She allowed cops to check her apartment, where they found the torture chamber, and smelled bleach on spots where Jorge was trying to clean up, Kenny said. Jorge became combative and tried to get police to leave the apartment, but she was taken into custody, and cops got a warrant to conduct a thorough search, he said.
Encarnacion-Soto’s body was cleaned up, and garbed in fresh clothes when police found her on the staircase, Kenny said.
Jorge was seen dropping off a black garbage bag near the building’s boiler room after the victim was discovered, neighbors said. Inside the bag were bloody clothes and cleaning supplies, according to neighbors.
She faces murder for “rendering criminal assistance” to her son, as well as manslaughter, hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a human corpse.
“My daughter is beautiful,” Jecebelle Soto said. “My daughter liked dancing together, eating together, going to a picnic together. My daughter never disrespect me. My daughter is such a sweet person.”
Encarnacion-Soto would often help homeless people when she saw them, giving them food and clothing. She wanted to become a certified nursing assistant, so she could take care of the elderly, the mom said.
She met Strother on Instagram about two years ago, and the two were together on-and-off for about two years.
Strother has a history of 22 prior domestic violence incidents, but none of those calls involved Encarnacion-Soto, Kenny said.
“He’s broken my heart because my daughter is not a bad person,” the victim’s mom said of Strother. “This my only baby daughter. This my twin. This my clone. This my everything.”
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