Daughter, 7, answers door when cops find woman beaten to death in Washington Heights home

A woman was found beaten to death inside her Washington Heights apartment — and her 7-year-old daughter was inside the home when cops arrived.

Cops responding to a wellness check about 1:35 p.m. Saturday found 27-year-old Lovay Williams lifeless with trauma to her head and neck in her home on W. 156th St. near Amsterdam Ave., cops said.

Williams’ daughter answered the door when police arrived. It was not immediately clear how long Williams had been dead for.

The slaying is believed to be domestic, police sources said.

“She was a gentle person. She always had time to laugh, to have fun,” said one family friend, a 29-year-old woman who didn’t give her name. “She was an amazing cook, an amazing mother.”

When asked victim’s daughter, the friend said, “I believe that she’s OK but I don’t know anything other than that.”

A man identifying himself as Williams’ father posted on Facebook Sunday about a man he claimed was responsible for her death.

“He murder my daughter in front of my grandchild. Tell him … to turn himself in. Please bring him to me ASAP,” he wrote Sunday.

And the victim’s mother added in a separate all-caps post, “PLEASE ANYBODY WITH ANY INFORMATION ON HIS WHEREABOUTS INBOX ME ASAP! JUSTICE FOR LOVAY.”

The NYPD has not named a suspect.

One neighbor, Jim Aiken, 73, said he saw a man coming and going from her apartment Saturday. He helped police review security footage from the building.

“I’ve watched the videos. He left at 10:49 (a.m.) and then he came back at 11:55 (a.m.), and then he left again at 12:24 p.m. with a bunch of trash bags full of stuff and then got into a car,” Aiken said. “First time he left he just hopped down the stairs and walked down the block.”

Neighbors in the building were stunned by the slaying.

“Things like that don’t happen around here,” said building resident Luz Perez, 54. “She was nice. She was cordial … She was to herself and her little girl was always with her.”

No arrests have been made.

The Chief Medical Examiner is working to determine Lovay’s exact cause of death but police have deemed the case a homicide.

It’s the first slaying this year in the 33rd Precinct, which saw just one homicide in all of 2025, according to NYPD statistics.

Crime is down overall across the city, with 172 slayings through Aug. 30, compared to 228 in the same time period last year. The city has reported one of its safest summers on record, though felony assaults in transit and hate crimes have both seen increases, by 9% and 15% respectively, according to NYPD stats.