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Baldwin Man Accused Of Murdering Young Woman Allegedly Bludgeoned Her To Death With Hammer

BALDWIN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The man accused of murdering a 25-year-old woman and leaving her body behind a row of businesses in Baldwin arranged to meet his victim inside his apartment before bludgeoning her to death with a hammer, Nassau County police said.

"The encounter was for sex. There was supposed to be compensation for that sex. There was an argument that ensued, and our subject hit our victim with a hammer multiple times," Nassau Homicide Commanding Officer John Azzata said.

Police said Raphael Oyague carried the young woman's lifeless body down a staircase leading from his apartment above an insurance company and adjacent to several restaurants and the public library, CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported.

Neighbors seemed shocked that no one witnessed the crime.

"When we got here, we saw this and they told us to stay outside, they had to do an investigation," one young neighbor said.

Droplets of blood tracked to the rear of the Merrick Road building, just steps from Grand Avenue where the woman's body was discovered in a grassy area.

"Partially clothed from the pants down to about her knees, clothing on the rest of the way -- a jacket, hood over her head," witness Charles Harris said.

A police source told CBS2 the victim was from a loving home on the North Shore. She recently turned to prescription drugs and then sex to pay for her addiction. She advertised on Craigslist, where Oyague contacted her.

"It's so horrifying because it's so close to where I live -- she was literately five or six feet from where I was sitting," one woman said. She told McLogan she'd never seen or met Oyague in all the time she's lived there.

A cat was removed from the suspect's apartment.

Family and friends had little to say.

Oyague was held without bail after pleading not guilty.

The victim's name has not been released. Police said her parents could not bear to go to the morgue on Thanksgiving Day to identify their daughter's body.

Oyague had prior arrests for assault, drunk driving and violating protective orders.

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