Syracuse, NY -- A 93-year-old woman murdered a month ago inside her Skyline apartment was last seen alive on security video walking into her apartment with a 23-year-old woman tailing her, authorities revealed Thursday.
The younger woman, Victoria Afet, is now accused of killing the older woman in an attempt to steal from her, Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner announced Thursday. Afet is facing first-degree murder and burglary charges.
Security video of Afet following the elderly woman led authorities to believe that Connie Tuori, 93, was murdered Feb. 26. But what happened after the murder might be even more disturbing.
Tuori remained dead in her apartment for nearly three weeks before police went to check on her on the afternoon of March 17.
During that time, multiple people went in and out of Tuori’s apartment, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said at the news conference Thursday.
No one from Skyline reported the elderly lady dead in her own home.
“I just kind of got got sad thinking about it,” Fitzpatrick said. “You gotta look out for each other.”
It wasn’t until Tuori’s family got concerned and asked police to check on her that the murder was eventually discovered 19 days later, Fitzpatrick said.
By then, Tuori’s body was badly decomposed, the DA said. It took days to confirm her identity.
Connie Tuori
Much remains unknown about Tuori’s death. The county’s former medical examiner, Dr. Robert Stoppacher, is still investigating exactly how she died.
Police and prosecutors say they have evidence that Afet was stealing from Tuori at the time she entered the elderly woman’s apartment. But Fitzpatrick said he’d save details of the alleged theft for trial.
Authorities are still questioning others seen entering and exiting Tuori’s apartment in the days and weeks after her death, the DA said. None of those people are believed to have been involved with her murder.
Police have spent several days watching security video to see who came and went from the apartment over those several weeks.
If those witnesses cooperate, they will not be charged for their entry into the dead woman’s apartment, Fitzpatrick said. If they don’t, the DA vowed to prosecute them under any charges he could prove.
That cooperation will help authorities get a picture of what happened in Tuori’s apartment after her death.
The same day Afet is accused of killing Tuori, she was arrested on charges of driving a stolen car. But she was ticketed and released.
Two days later, Afet was jailed after being arrested in another stolen car case, state police have said.
That timeline means Afet was free for roughly two days after the murder. During that period, she may have spent time in Tuori’s apartment, but was not believed to be living there full-time, the DA said.
Afet was officially homeless at the time of Tuori’s death, though tenants at Skyline said she was a regular presence in the building, roaming the lobby and hallways at will.
Afet has a lengthy history of arrests, including a robbery charge stemming from an attack on a 74-year-old at Skyline on Feb. 18, records show. A judge released her the next morning. Tuori was believed to have been killed a week later.
Afet remains jailed now with no bail. She will be arraigned on the murder and burglary charges this evening. If convicted of first-degree murder, Afet faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner and DA Bill Fitzpatrick share details about Connie Tuori's murder at Skyline Apartments. March 25, 2021.Katrina Tulloch
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Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.