August 7, 2007
Police Investigate Greenwich Village Death
Police are handling the death of a young woman, found in her mother's apartment at NYU-owned 4 Washington Square Village, as a possible homicide. The woman, Boitumelo McCallum, last seen either on Wednesday night or Thursday morning, was found on Sunday, after subletters smelled a foul odor coming from the locked room and called the super.
The Daily News reports that the police discovered McCallum's decomposed body "wrapped tightly in a bedsheet and wedged between the bed and the wall." A police source said, "It would be difficult to get tangled up in the bedsheets this way. It looked as if the body had been laid down on the sheet, and then rolled up in it." Condom wrappers and empty malt liquor bottles were also found in the bedroom. Cops suspect she died from blunt force trauma; however, the ME's office is conducting further tests.
McCallum's mother, Teboho Moja, a professor at NYU's Steinhardt School specializing in globalization and higher education, was overseas, traveling with a foreign study group. McCallum's father Robert, an adjunct professor at NYU who lives in Harlem, had gotten married last Wednesday, and she had thrown a party after the wedding. Attention is on McCallum's 20-year-old boyfriend, who was allegedly upset that he was not invited to the party. The Post adds that the boyfriend was possessive" and that he "stressed out" McCallum. The News' source 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."
Police were searching the grounds and trash compactor room of 4 Washington Square Village (part of the complex between West 3rd and Bleecker, LaGuardia and Mercer) for evidence. David Lee, a neighbor on the 8th floor, told the Times, "It’s crazy, it’s shocking, it’s an absolute anomaly." Another resident, Latoya Jackson, said to WABC 7, "It's very hard to believe that there's so many persons walking around and no one missed her until a couple of days later. I'm so sorry to hear about it and my heart really goes out to the family."
McCallum was a sophomore at Mills College in Oakland, attended the Beacon School for high school and participated in the American Museum of Natural History's after-school program.
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What a sad story. Hope they catch the cretin quick.
On an unrelated note- Good for LaToya Jackson! All this time I thought she was the dullest tool in the Jackson clan shed, turns out she's an NYU student.
Leave it to the Post, to refer to the victim's "rotting corpse."
she went from a plain high school girl to a cosmo sipping college girl. shades of other jealous boyfriend murders.
Damn, JRod5417 made the first Latoya Jackson comment.
Sad story.
The police know that the "The young student's on-again-off-again beau has had at least two prior arrests, including busts for assault and possession of marijuana".
But the police aren't releasing his name or a description.
Weird.
A shame what happened, since this girl was a hot. I know she's hot, because I'm drooling while looking at her rack.
unbelievable that someone would comment on a murdered girls breasts. that is very low. karma is real buddy. imagine if this were your family.
I hate it when Killers kill Hotties like this chick and that "Falls" Bar girl. Why don't killers kill ugly chicks like Rosie O Donnell. Fuck You Killers!
Re: #5 & #6:
Maybe he's applying for a job at the Post... or at the WSJ...
such a bunch of IDIOTS
they named the boyfriend. I think it's michael cordero, I know it's cordero.
You don't say? A jealous hispanic boyfriend?
She is very pretty, though. Probably wants her on a very short leash.
My daughter was in 9th grade at Beacon H.S. with this girl. My daughter called me this morning in shock. Post and News reporters were already contacting my daughter via internet to ask questions. My daughter said she was the sweetest girl and so smart and beautiful. This is so tragic. What a horrible thing to happen to a beautiful life. R.I.P. Tumi. I hope they string up whoever did this to you. As the mom of a 20 year old G.V. girl...this just breaks my heart and scares me to death.
as a member of the nyu community, i am especially disturbed by this incident. many people i know live in that building, and i teach in the same school where mccallum's mother teaches. i know news reports say such incidents are rare in the neighborhood, but nyu has had its fair share of tragedy in recent years, including the string of suicides a few years back. it's also interesting, though somewhat creepy, how these students who pass away live on on places like myspace and facebook. condolences to her family, friends, and university communities.
Ask any cop or DA: if the body is carefully wrapped or covered after the murder it means the killer and victim knew each other. Random murderers don't care what condition they leave the victim.
NBC/Channel 4 news just reported that they arrested the boyfriend at 8:40 PM tonight. They said he had tried to kill himself on a building rooftop on West 62nd Street.
I KNOW MICHAEL CORDERO..I'VE KNEW HIM FOR YEARS, WE LIVED IN THE SAME PROJECTS, SAME BUILDING, 90 AMSTERDAM AVE..WE CHILLED SEVERAL TIMES..HES NOT THAT KIND OF PERSON TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT..HE MUST HAVE BEEN ON SOMETHING..OR MAYBE THERES MORE TO THE STORY THAT ONLY THEM TWO KNOW...IM NOT MAKING EXCUSES FOR HIS ACTIONS BUT I KNOW THERES MORE TO THE STORY BUT MY CONDOLENCES GOES OUT TO THE FAMILY AS WELL AS FRIENDS...YOU'VE LOST YOUR FRIEND, AND NOW I LOST MINES...WE HAVE A LOST
Why didn't they let the boyfriend jump off the building? Now we have to spend possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars to get his guilty @ss in jail and then spend hundreds of thousands more for room and board.
And why do people even hook up with crazy possessive people? My advice to females who get stuck with crazy possessive boyfriends who threaten to kill them if they leave them: make a first move and kill your boyfriend first.
Why are hispanic men so jealous???????
Did you read what she did in the After school program? She was isolating DNA or something.
Why did she have to hook up with a crazy guy?
What is it with hot chicks and these abusive lowlifes?
blogs are entertaining sometimes, but, maybe people should read the newspaper instead and see that the killer confessed.
I guess you should know that Boitumelo's mom has been working with a lawyer. Usually, if you know "your own", sometimes when inner city black families become successful, they show off a little. I know that when an american family is sucessful, after the home and expensive cars, they usually get a family attorney. They usually aren't famous at all, so they tell their attorney/their attorney gives them the option to have anything that happens in the family publicized. That means if they find a million dollars, if they trip over a live wire and are miraculously saved, if they somehow die, no matter what it is, it gets publicized. That's what's happening here.I knew her and Michael because they frecuented a healthfood store in Greenwich Village where I used to work called Lifethyme Complete Natural Market. The cashiers are all women and two of them are older. They would go on and on about how this one girl who usually came in with another girl (Jennifer, the 21 year old who speaks out against him in the media)knew a girl who just happened to be african was set for life since she had parents who both taught at one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. etc. Tumi was arrogant but was a bit refined and always seem to remind him that no matter how hard he tried, he would never in life, as long as he lived on planet earth, achieve what she had. She lived in a really prestigious area in the city and when he'd come over she'd remind him "well, YOU couldn't afford to live here." That doesn't mean she was bad, but that helps, especially when your boyfriend is real and grew up living a regular life. Later, she came to the store with another friend and she got her to admit that she liked him a lot and was just jealous. They met at a party and she was upset that he had chosen to meet Tumi instead of her. She said "Tumi is WEAK, and I could give him a run for his money." I don't think he wanted that. Guys like him don't take that type of girl seriously. He wanted a good girl.She said that hispanic guys were like the black guys. When they're in a mixed setting, they usually go for the other blacks & hispanics. I noticed Michael and really wanted to meet him. I was carrying a secret. I worked for a living and my dad was a singer. He sang during the time of Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Chi-Lites(Oh girl, Have you seen her, etc.). Music was changing then. Performers were adults, but children were being discovered and the children of entertainers were being signed. Whitney Houston, Janet & Michael Jackson, 3T Tito Jackson's sons and Gerald Levert are some of the kids we knew who got the chance to record since their parents said it was okay. People in new york know what I mean when I say that the music industry is just like they are. The blacks are like the blacks in the south. My father knew that I and my brother were being looked at and asked about, but during that time, older more mature singers were turning their backs on us and had vicious plans for the younger people there since they felt that they would be taking their place. People like Aretha Franklin (who has three sons in their 30s), the group WAR (The world is a ghetto)Diana Ross' daughter Tracey Ellis Ross Maxwell (now an actor on the UPN show "Girlfriends")and others have children who have NEVER recorded or done anything. That's because their parents thought they'd be taking their place and that they'd be deemed "washed up." Gerald Levert sang for awhile, but Mr. Levert (Eddie Levert)reminded us that his music would always be for the old so that he won't pass him up and he will eventually die from some kind of health issue because of his eating habits. "I'm gonna cultivate that now" he said. My family, in the meantime, was bannished from the industry and sent to live in a regular neighborhood in Chicago. My dad was a singer, so he got us a home and paid the mortgage for 14 years. That means, we moved in when I was 4 years old and the next payment wasn't due until we turned 18 years old. In this neighborhood, The Chi-Lites told neighbors who we were and designated a Bete Noir for me, personally. That person was 6 year old Lisa Raye, you know the actor from the player's club. I've known her since I was 4 years old. She then knew a pair of teenage girls who knew that my father was a singer. "Why are they living in THIS neighborhood" they'd say. One day while I was playing alone in our backyard they brought over a little light skinned girl who would otherwise be cute except for the Chicago girl scowl on her face and said to me "Do you see this little girl, she's your age and I'm gonna make sure that she follows you through life little boy!" From that day on, she has always been around nagging me, spreading things, telling the world "One day I'm gonna be a star." People would go, "what do you mean?" Then she'd tell them my story. Later, when I began my second year in high school, I saw the same teenage girl Lisa would come around with and she told me that they were paid by some guys from the music industry-the Chi-Lites to terrorize me and besmirch my reputation but that if I could deal with the fact she will always be around to nag me and make sure I had absolutely NO friends (because of rumors), that one day I would be able to sue if nothing else. The key was to relocate to New York. You could find a spanish new yorker like Tumi's boyfriend who would love to hear your story or one of the guys from the Latino Fan Club (in Chicago we always have hopes that they'll become more main stream). Through the years Lisa has made sure that I have been fired or downsized or written up at every job I've ever had. I forgot to mention that there was a kid who Lisa knew when I was about 12, Lisa was 14. He had convinced his mom to relocate from the south because he had dreams of becoming famous, but didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't even know if he himself had talent. Anyway, Lisa had become a flower. In Chicago there are no girl gangs, but some gangsters would select girls in the neighborhood to represent them. That meant the new kid could hang out with the popular crowd. He worked and was about 19 or 20. This is turning into a book. Anyway, Lisa had actually met this guy out. She has always had older friends, in this case, she used to go out with that teenage girl since she was older now. She later found out that this guy started offering money to some of the guys from my block to "do" him. He couldn't get the gangbangers, because he would've gotten beaten up, he only wanted one or two of them anyway. He wanted them to be pure, so they had to be younger. He couldn't get spanish guys because they all have supportive moms and dads. A little black boy only has his mom because they are the way they are and they refuse to change, so he chose them. So he went to my block since most of us were young. He got to know my brother and offered him money just because. Later, he asked about his little brother, me! He later would go on about how ripe I was going to be when I turned 13. When I did turn 13 he would say, "That d*ck is ripe now, you better get it now, there are a lot of girls out there that will mess it up for later." This was a guy and this guy was as my brother said "old enough to be out of high school even though he dropped out lightyears ago." Everyone just laughed because he couldn't be serious, but he worked on them mentally, even Harold. I later heard my big brother say that Damon had offered some of the kids $200-$400 to let him come over and sleep with them,especially the ones he really liked. There was a kid named Harold Mac who can be found on myspace.com whose mom lived on the next block who had been bad as a child and had somehow gotten sent to a juvenile detention center for hot wiring a car and driving around in it. Harold lived in Altgeld Gardens-the black housing projects. There, he new some guys who taught him about what they referred to as "the other kind of sex" so by the time he was 13, he knew all about it and when he went to the detention center, he was forced to there. When he got out he was 14 and told everyone he was ready for sex, but this type was a little different. When Damon came around, after hearing things from Harold, we were all shocked that Damon wasn't only willing and old since most of us were in seventh and eight grade, but he offered money! He'd mostly offer $200, but he'd only pay $100-$150 a visit.The guy who lived across the street from Harold got $150 $200 a lot. Paris Heller, a light skinned kid from my block, always got $400 a visit. Paris told us "he said he worked hard for the money, you know, like the song." I didn't have to worry because they all knew my dad was sort of famous and were forbidden to talk or play with me because of it. That's how I grew up-alone. They never ever talked or played with me at all. I was so afraid for our neighborhood. Our parents had careers, but were not spanish, so there were a substantial number of single parent families there. This went on until the guy became famous. He's now Damon Williams the comedian. When he became famous, Paris, or "P" as Damon would call him, would come up to his shows and tell the crowd that this had all happened, and for many years. It started when Prince was becoming famous and ended around the time of the Selena movie. All the comedians would come out to quiet him down, all of them, Mr. Mac, Mrs. Givens, Sommore, etc. and they'd beg him to come back stage.By this time since Damon said Paris was embarrassing him regularly, he had somehow given the kid A.I.D.S., so that was something else for the neighborhood to deal with. We had never known anyone with it before. Damon is a decent friend, but he 's got a bad side. Damon got fed up and plotted his demise. Paris was 13 when he met Damon and 25 or so when Damon had him killed. He was murdered around the time of the Selena movie. I guess I just thought that with Michael's help, I could be protected since Damon knows I'm the only one brave enough to tell this story. I miss Paris dearly, he didn't have to die. I didn't mean to write so much, but I don't know who to turn to. Finding a lawyer to take the case has been extremely difficult and I'm afraid of what Lisa and Damon may have planned for me. Michael, I wrote you a couple of times in the hospital, I'll write again. I hope you can help.
I guess you should know that Boitumelo's mom has been working with a lawyer. Usually, if you know "your own", sometimes when inner city black families become successful, they show off a little. I know that when an american family is sucessful, after the home and expensive cars, they usually get a family attorney. They usually aren't famous at all, so they tell their attorney/their attorney gives them the option to have anything that happens in the family publicized. That means if they find a million dollars, if they trip over a live wire and are miraculously saved, if they somehow die, no matter what it is, it gets publicized. That's what's happening here.I knew her and Michael because they frecuented a healthfood store in Greenwich Village where I used to work called Lifethyme Complete Natural Market. The cashiers are all women and two of them are older. They would go on and on about how this one girl who usually came in with another girl (Jennifer, the 21 year old who speaks out against him in the media)knew a girl who just happened to be african was set for life since she had parents who both taught at one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. etc. Tumi was arrogant but was a bit refined and always seem to remind him that no matter how hard he tried, he would never in life, as long as he lived on planet earth, achieve what she had. She lived in a really prestigious area in the city and when he'd come over she'd remind him "well, YOU couldn't afford to live here." That doesn't mean she was bad, but that helps, especially when your boyfriend is real and grew up living a regular life. Later, she came to the store with another friend and she got her to admit that she liked him a lot and was just jealous. They met at a party and she was upset that he had chosen to meet Tumi instead of her. She said "Tumi is WEAK, and I could give him a run for his money." I don't think he wanted that. Guys like him don't take that type of girl seriously. He wanted a good girl.She said that hispanic guys were like the black guys. When they're in a mixed setting, they usually go for the other blacks & hispanics. I noticed Michael and really wanted to meet him. I was carrying a secret. I worked for a living and my dad was a singer. He sang during the time of Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Chi-Lites(Oh girl, Have you seen her, etc.). Music was changing then. Performers were adults, but children were being discovered and the children of entertainers were being signed. Whitney Houston, Janet & Michael Jackson, 3T Tito Jackson's sons and Gerald Levert are some of the kids we knew who got the chance to record since their parents said it was okay. People in new york know what I mean when I say that the music industry is just like they are. The blacks are like the blacks in the south. My father knew that I and my brother were being looked at and asked about, but during that time, older more mature singers were turning their backs on us and had vicious plans for the younger people there since they felt that they would be taking their place. People like Aretha Franklin (who has three sons in their 30s), the group WAR (The world is a ghetto)Diana Ross' daughter Tracey Ellis Ross Maxwell (now an actor on the UPN show "Girlfriends")and others have children who have NEVER recorded or done anything. That's because their parents thought they'd be taking their place and that they'd be deemed "washed up." Gerald Levert sang for awhile, but Mr. Levert (Eddie Levert)reminded us that his music would always be for the old so that he won't pass him up and he will eventually die from some kind of health issue because of his eating habits. "I'm gonna cultivate that now" he said. My family, in the meantime, was bannished from the industry and sent to live in a regular neighborhood in Chicago. My dad was a singer, so he got us a home and paid the mortgage for 14 years. That means, we moved in when I was 4 years old and the next payment wasn't due until we turned 18 years old. In this neighborhood, The Chi-Lites told neighbors who we were and designated a Bete Noir for me, personally. That person was 6 year old Lisa Raye, you know the actor from the player's club. I've known her since I was 4 years old. She then knew a pair of teenage girls who knew that my father was a singer. "Why are they living in THIS neighborhood" they'd say. One day while I was playing alone in our backyard they brought over a little light skinned girl who would otherwise be cute except for the Chicago girl scowl on her face and said to me "Do you see this little girl, she's your age and I'm gonna make sure that she follows you through life little boy!" From that day on, she has always been around nagging me, spreading things, telling the world "One day I'm gonna be a star." People would go, "what do you mean?" Then she'd tell them my story. Later, when I began my second year in high school, I saw the same teenage girl Lisa would come around with and she told me that they were paid by some guys from the music industry-the Chi-Lites to terrorize me and besmirch my reputation but that if I could deal with the fact she will always be around to nag me and make sure I had absolutely NO friends (because of rumors), that one day I would be able to sue if nothing else. The key was to relocate to New York. You could find a spanish new yorker like Tumi's boyfriend who would love to hear your story or one of the guys from the Latino Fan Club (in Chicago we always have hopes that they'll become more main stream). Through the years Lisa has made sure that I have been fired or downsized or written up at every job I've ever had. I forgot to mention that there was a kid who Lisa knew when I was about 12, Lisa was 14. He had convinced his mom to relocate from the south because he had dreams of becoming famous, but didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't even know if he himself had talent. Anyway, Lisa had become a flower. In Chicago there are no girl gangs, but some gangsters would select girls in the neighborhood to represent them. That meant the new kid could hang out with the popular crowd. He worked and was about 19 or 20. This is turning into a book. Anyway, Lisa had actually met this guy out. She has always had older friends, in this case, she used to go out with that teenage girl since she was older now. She later found out that this guy started offering money to some of the guys from my block to "do" him. He couldn't get the gangbangers, because he would've gotten beaten up, he only wanted one or two of them anyway. He wanted them to be pure, so they had to be younger. He couldn't get spanish guys because they all have supportive moms and dads. A little black boy only has his mom because they are the way they are and they refuse to change, so he chose them. So he went to my block since most of us were young. He got to know my brother and offered him money just because. Later, he asked about his little brother, me! He later would go on about how ripe I was going to be when I turned 13. When I did turn 13 he would say, "That d*ck is ripe now, you better get it now, there are a lot of girls out there that will mess it up for later." This was a guy and this guy was as my brother said "old enough to be out of high school even though he dropped out lightyears ago." Everyone just laughed because he couldn't be serious, but he worked on them mentally, even Harold. I later heard my big brother say that Damon had offered some of the kids $200-$400 to let him come over and sleep with them,especially the ones he really liked. There was a kid named Harold Mac who can be found on myspace.com whose mom lived on the next block who had been bad as a child and had somehow gotten sent to a juvenile detention center for hot wiring a car and driving around in it. Harold lived in Altgeld Gardens-the black housing projects. There, he new some guys who taught him about what they referred to as "the other kind of sex" so by the time he was 13, he knew all about it and when he went to the detention center, he was forced to there. When he got out he was 14 and told everyone he was ready for sex, but this type was a little different. When Damon came around, after hearing things from Harold, we were all shocked that Damon wasn't only willing and old since most of us were in seventh and eight grade, but he offered money! He'd mostly offer $200, but he'd only pay $100-$150 a visit.The guy who lived across the street from Harold got $150 $200 a lot. Paris Heller, a light skinned kid from my block, always got $400 a visit. Paris told us "he said he worked hard for the money, you know, like the song." I didn't have to worry because they all knew my dad was sort of famous and were forbidden to talk or play with me because of it. That's how I grew up-alone. They never ever talked or played with me at all. I was so afraid for our neighborhood. Our parents had careers, but were not spanish, so there were a substantial number of single parent families there. This went on until the guy became famous. He's now Damon Williams the comedian. When he became famous, Paris, or "P" as Damon would call him, would come up to his shows and tell the crowd that this had all happened, and for many years. It started when Prince was becoming famous and ended around the time of the Selena movie. All the comedians would come out to quiet him down, all of them, Mr. Mac, Mrs. Givens, Sommore, etc. and they'd beg him to come back stage.By this time since Damon said Paris was embarrassing him regularly, he had somehow given the kid A.I.D.S., so that was something else for the neighborhood to deal with. We had never known anyone with it before. Damon is a decent friend, but he 's got a bad side. Damon got fed up and plotted his demise. Paris was 13 when he met Damon and 25 or so when Damon had him killed. He was murdered around the time of the Selena movie. I guess I just thought that with Michael's help, I could be protected since Damon knows I'm the only one brave enough to tell this story. I miss Paris dearly, he didn't have to die. I didn't mean to write so much, but I don't know who to turn to. Finding a lawyer to take the case has been extremely difficult and I'm afraid of what Lisa and Damon may have planned for me. Michael, I wrote you a couple of times in the hospital, I'll write again. I hope you can help
You guys, lets not forget how important it is to write Michael. I guess Tumi's mom doesn't realize that it looks bad that she hasn't actually dignified him in person. He's a kid who was dating a kid from another family-her kid. We know what happened, but we also know that Mike is young, he's been an adult for two whole years now. She should show him support. She's a kid she's known for 2 1/2 years. For those who might be interested, his address is as follows:
Bellevue Hospital Prison Unit
c/o Michael Cordero
462 1st Avenue
New York, NY 11234
Please be supportive. We know that sometimes things happen in relationships between college age children. Let's not judge. Let's just hope that this will bring the two together. Professor Moja, I'm really sorry for all you've had to indure. I hope that you realize that having Michael around will help you heal quicker. If I get my way, maybe we can get Whitney, Mrs. Ciccone Ritchie and the Rosses to take us all to lunch-they owe me big time. Celebrities have an uncanny way of making everything alright just with their smiles and a few hugs. I know they can help heal where you hurt. I'll be in touch m'am.