Elderly woman found dead near 'bloody skateboard' on LES: police sources

nypost.com

An elderly woman was found bludgeoned to death inside her lower Manhattan apartment with “a bloodied skateboard” near her body – and police believe a family member may have killed her, police sources said.

Zhu Hou, who also had injuries to her body, was pronounced dead on the scene Friday night inside an apartment in the Lower East Side’s Knickerbocker Village complex on Monroe Street, police said.

The 76-year-old was found on the floor by her son, who called 911, the sources said.

Medical Examiner’s Office personnel at a crime scene on Monroe Street. — The 76-year-old was found bludgeoned to death in an apartment in NYC’s Knickerbocker Village, cops said. Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

There were no immediate arrests but police are looking at a family member with a history of mental illness as a possible suspect, the sources said.

Two people from the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner pushing a stretcher along a walkway. — A family member is suspected in the killing, police sources said. Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

As of Saturday afternoon, nobody was in custody in association with the death, cops said.

The Office of the City’s Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.

A white NYPD Crime Scene Unit van parked on a street at night. — A second family member found the woman dead on the floor of her apartment, the sources said. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post

The NYPD requests that anyone with information about the case contact the 5th Precinct in Manhattan.

Knickerbocker Village is a sprawling, federally subsidized middle-income housing complex that borders Chinatown and the Lower East Side and was built in the 1930s.