NEW WINDSOR – The body of a 32-year-old woman who had been killed was found at the Southgate Village apartment complex Wednesday morning, police said.

Police identified the victim as Deborah A. Waldinger, of New Windsor.

It is the second homicide in the town in less than three weeks.

At a late afternoon news conference, town police Chief Robert Doss said despite no arrests being made yet in either case, the community at large is safe.

“This is not who New Windsor is,” Doss said. “New Windsor is a safe, family-friendly community … All indications are that these were two separate and unrelated incidents. We do not believe either location was randomly targeted.”

Doss said the preliminary indication is that Waldinger died due to “blunt force trauma,” but that must still be confirmed by the Orange County Medical Examiner’s office.

Doss said his officers have not previously responded to any calls for service at that Southgate apartment.

Doss said a maintenance worker discovered Waldinger's body at 8:21 a.m.

The apartment building, at the corner of Vails Gate Heights Drive and Old Forge Hill Road, was surrounded by yellow crime scene tape for hours Wednesday as investigators looked for clues.

Neighbors did not appear overly concerned about their own safety in the wake of the homicide.

Tito Maldonado, a 75-year-old retired handyman who lives on Vails Gate Heights Drive, was pruning his hedges, which were overgrown after he spent a month in the state of Florida, as the investigation proceeded across the street. He did say it was unusual for him to wake up and find police cars across the street.

“This is the first time something like this has happened,” Maldonado said. “I’ve been here 19 years, and nothing ever happens around here. I love this place, it’s always nice and quiet.”

He added he did not hear anything during the night to wake him from his sleep.

In the previous homicide case, just after midnight on Sept. 21, Chelsea Debidin, 21, of Walden, was shot to death at the Knox Village apartments, about a mile from Southgate Village. A 20-year-old man who was never identified by police was also shot, but survived.

Doss reiterated his promise to bring the person or persons responsible for Debidin’s death to justice. He said police have “developed persons of interest” in that case, and he expects one or more arrests to be made “in the very near future.”

State police are assisting town police in both cases, along with the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and Orange County’s sheriff and district attorney’s offices.

mrandall@th-record.com