New York - Body-dump fiend caught on camera

New York - Moments before the body of a strangled woman was found stuffed in a suitcase on a Harlem street yesterday, these surveillance pictures captured a man wheeling it there.

The body of Betty Williams, 28, was discovered at 12:15 a.m. in luggage abandoned on East 114th Street near First Avenue, sources said.

The gruesome find was made on a tree-lined block a half-block from the exclusive Italian eatery Rao's and directly opposite bucolic Thomas Jefferson Park.

In a video obtained by The Post, a man can be seen dragging the suitcase down East 114th Street.

The man, wearing a black-leather jacket, light-colored pants and wool hat, stops for about 60 seconds as three people walk by.

"He's got a body in his suitcase and he's just standing there like nothing's going on," said the source who provided the shocking footage. "I freaked out when I saw that."

In the video, the man pauses in front of a stoop, stands the suitcase upright and adjusts his hat before wiping his face with his gloved left hand. He also fusses with his jacket collar before slightly turning and looking up the block.

"It's f--ked up. [He's] just standing there," said the source.

Once the group passes, the man resumes pulling the case along the sidewalk.

A few steps later, he stops a second time, then walks out of camera sight.

Soon after, area resident Jody White, 32, stumbled upon the suitcase, sources said.

"I unzipped it and saw it was a body. I just saw from the knee down," White said.

When White opened the luggage, a leg sprang out, sources added. The body of Williams, whose rap sheet includes drug arrests, was clothed, sources said.

"I wish I never found it," he said. "I wish I never came across it. It's the holidays. You don't want to find a body."

A startled White called 911 and cops found a black garbage bag wrapped over a portion of the upper body and head, which bore signs of trauma, police said.

"I came out of the building and saw the suitcase. Her foot was sticking out. It had a sock on it," said a horrified resident who declined to be identified by name.

"It smelled bad . . . seeing something like that is terrible."

Blood was pooled in the suitcase and on the sidewalk where it was abandoned, sources added.

"I feel sympathy for her and her family. I wouldn't know how to deal with a situation like that," said neighbor Samantha Rivera, 22.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls are kept confidential.

NY Post