Police search for 5 women, 1 man in New York dismemberment death

NEW YORK (WPIX) — Police on Sunday launched a search for six people wanted in connection with the dismemberment death of a 22-year-old New York City woman.

Officers found D’Asia Johnson’s remains inside two suitcases in a Linwood Avenue home on Sept. 21, officials said. Police on Sunday said they were looking for five women and a man in connection with Johnson’s death. Their pictures are below.

Police found Johnson’s remains as they performed a wellness check. The building’s superintendent, who’d received complaints of a foul odor coming from an apartment, let police in to check on the woman.

At the start of the investigation, police sources indicated that investigators were seeking the victim’s boyfriend and possibly an accomplice as well. On Sunday, police described six individuals being sought as witnesses in the case as:

• Individual 1 is a woman believed to be between 20-25 years of age. She has a slim build. The woman was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, red shirt, black pants, and black shoes. She was carrying a black book bag. 
• Individual 2 is a woman believed to be between 18-25 years of age. She has a slim build, red hair, and brown eyes.  She was last seen wearing a black shirt with writing on the front. The woman had on dark-colored pants and was wearing a nose ring.  
• Individual 3 is a woman around 30 years of age. She has a slim build and black hair. The woman was last seen wearing a multicolored dress and white crocs. 
• Individual 4 is a woman believed to be between 25-30 years of age. She has a medium build. The woman was last seen wearing a black tank top, white pants, and slippers. She was carrying a blue purse.  
• Individual 5 is a woman believed to be between 18-25 years of age. She has a heavy build, black hair, and brown eyes. The woman was last seen wearing a tank top with stripes, gray pants, and slippers.  
• Individual 6 is a man believed to be around 30 years old. He has a heavy build. The man was last seen wearing a gray shirt,  camo pants, dark-colored shoes, and a tan baseball hat.  

A neighbor who lives on the same floor who did not want to give his name, said that the woman and her boyfriend had long had a contentious relationship.

“You’d hear arguing, banging, loud stuff,” he said about arguments in the woman’s apartment that many neighbors couldn’t avoid.

“If you tried to break it up,” he continued, “you’re just putting yourself in a problem you can’t solve.”

He said that there was often evidence that the fights between the woman and her boyfriend got very physical.

“Somebody gets hit very hard in the mouth, right?” he said. “The blood trail will lead from the door to the elevator. They stood in the elevator obviously to the first floor, came back out to the front of the building. The blood trail stops there, and you’d see them both arguing in front of the building.”