Friday, June 12th 2009, 4:00 AM
A young woman found dead in a vacant Manhattan apartment was killed by her baby's father, police said Thursday.
Police charged 23-year-old Andre Velez with killing Glendalis Pagan, 19, and stashing her remains in an empty Inwood apartment down the hall from his own, police said.
Her family knew the violent on-and-off again boyfriend was to blame.
"She said, 'I'm scared. He keeps telling me he's gonna take me to one of those abandoned apartments, and he's gonna do something to me like choke me or tie me up,'" said Pagan's aunt Helen Ruiz, 34. Pagan had confided her fears to her aunt less than two weeks ago.
Pagan's body was found Monday, wrapped in nylon bags and trash bags, in the closet of a vacant apartment on W. 204th St. in Inwood.
The city medical examiner has not determined a cause of death.
Pagan was last seen June 3 when she left the Dyckman St. apartment she shared with her mother and son, Andy, to get her nails done.
Velez had served time after he attacked a pregnant Pagan three years ago, smashing her in the head with a hammer after climbing into her apartment from the fire escape, according to her family and police reports. He had gotten out on parole in March after doing a year and three months in prison.
Velez was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree murder.
The family said Velez hadn't been seen in the neighborhood since Pagan's body was found, but the victim's mother was terrified of him.
"She can't speak to nobody. She can't even come out of the apartment," Ruiz said. "She wants justice."
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