Seikeya Jones was found dead in a suitcase last week, leading to the arrest of Ronald Schroeder, police said
Suffolk County Police Department; FOX 5 New York/YouTube
Seikeya Jones (left); and a vigil for Seikeya Jones
A New York man has been arrested in connection with the discovery of a woman’s remains in a suitcase near a Long Island apartment building in early September.
Authorities in Suffolk County, New York, found the body of 31-year-old Seikeya Jones in a suitcase in Huntington on Tuesday, September 3, local police said in an earlier statement.
Suffolk County police arrested Ronald Schroeder, 41, on Friday, Sept. 6, on suspicion of concealing a body in connection with the remains found, police said in an updated statement.
Jones’ remains were found weeks after she was reported missing on August 16, police said. She leaves behind a 4-year-old son, her family said, per ABC 7 NY.
Suffolk County Police
Seikeya Jones
Related: Remains of missing 31-year-old woman found in suitcase outside Long Island apartment: reports
On Sept. 3, detectives responded to a 911 caller alerting them to “suspicious activity in the wooded area” near a building in Huntington, police said in their news release. Once there, they found a suitcase containing a body, later identified as Jones.
Her mother, Yolando Terrell, told ABC 7 NY about the horrific way she learned of her daughter’s death.
“I search and I search, and I can’t find her. And then I come back from vacation and I see on the news that my daughter is in a suitcase,” she said.
“Somebody has to give me answers,” Terrell added.
Jones’ family said she struggled with mental illness, according to ABC 7 NY and FOX 5 NY. Police said Jones was homeless at the time of her death.
“I’m here today to say that my sister Seikeya Jones has a family that stands by her,” Jones’ sister Shasia Correnthi told ABC 7 NY, adding that her mental illness “doesn’t give anyone the right to touch my sister, put her in a suitcase and stuff her in these bushes like she’s nothing.”
At a vigil for her on Friday, Jones’ friends remembered her as the “joy of life” who always had such a big smile on her face that she earned a special nickname, Terrell told FOX 5 NY.
“Every time you looked at her, she had that big, bright smile on her face, so we nicknamed her ‘Cheese,’” Terrell told the outlet.
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Authorities have yet to determine how Jones died, Suffolk County authorities told PEOPLE.
Schroeder has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to online New York state court records. He is represented by the Suffolk County Legal Aid Society, which declined to comment to PEOPLE on the matter.
An investigation is ongoing.
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