After neighbors reported smelling a foul odor, NYC police discovered the body of 20-year-old Boitumelo “Tumi” McCallum “wrapped in a sheet and wedged between the bed and the wall” at her mother’s Greenwich Village apartment on Sunday. Condom wrappers and empty malt liquor bottles were also found in the bedroom. Her bed was splattered with blood. While the official autopsy report hasn’t been concluded, the police suspect she died from blunt force trauma.
Both of her parents are NYU professors. McCallum moved to New York from her native South Africa with her parents when she was very young and grew up in Manhattan. Her mother, Teboho Moja, was overseas, traveling with a foreign study group. Her father, Robert McCallum, had gotten remarried last Wednesday and she had thrown a party after the wedding. Detectives turned their suspicions towards her boyfriend, Michael Cordero, 23, who was allegedly upset that he wasn’t invited to the party. Apparently, he is known to be jealous and possessive, and has a criminal record that includes assault. The Daily News reported a source who said, “Everyone is calling, asking for information about this young woman – except her boyfriend. The sense is that he’s not calling because he knows what happened.”
On Tuesday, Cordero tried to commit suicide. He was found bleeding with slits across his wrists, and was hospitalized at Roosevelt Hospital in stable condition. While being treated, Cordero made statements implicating himself in McCallum’s murder. On Wednesday, the NYPD arrested and charged Cordero with murder.
McCallum was a sophomore at Mills College in Oakland. She attended the Beacon School for high school and participated in the American Museum of Natural History’s after school program.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment