Today Hot Report

A 26-year-old prep school grad was chopped into pieces by her suicidal boyfriend and dumped in her Chelsea apartment bathtub, where she was found by her horrified younger sister Saturday night, police said.

It was a shocking end to the life of Margaux Powers, who grew up in a wealthy Glen Cove, L.I., family and graduated from a boarding school in Connecticut.

Body of Jonathan Smith lies at base of 15 Broad St. Saturday night, hours after the body of his girlfriend Margaux Powers was found chopped up in Chelsea.

Several hours after the grisly find, Powers’ boyfriend, Jonathan Smith, 34, jumped to his death from a high-rise in the shadow of the New York Stock Exchange, cops said.

“They seemed so successful as girls,” Barbara Mates, a neighbor of the family in Glen Cove, said of the Powers sisters, Margaux and Dana. “They seemed to have a healthy lifestyle and do well in school. I thought it was remarkable. Maybe she made a bad choice in her boyfriend.”

The murder was discovered after Dana and her dad, Michael Powers, became concerned when they could not reach Margaux for several days. Dana went to her sister’s building at 235 W. 22nd St. about 7 p.m. Friday to look for her, said the building’s veteran doorman, Constantine Ionescu.

Ionescu and the sister entered Powers’ apartment with a key and searched. Powers’ cell phone was there, the apartment appeared orderly and there was no odor, Ionescu said.

But they did not think to check behind the closed bathroom door, he said.

About 6 p.m. Saturday, Dana Powers returned to the building with two family friends, and Ionescu accompanied them into the apartment. This time they opened the bathroom door, pulled back the shower curtain and found Margaux mutilated, her body parts wrapped in a green blanket, he said.

“[Her sister] started crying, going crazy,” said Ionescu who has worked in the building for 19 years. “She said, ‘I can’t believe it. Tell me it’s not true.’ I felt like praying. I felt like crying.”

Police also found a written apology from the murderer in the apartment, but the note was unsigned.

While police swarmed the Chelsea building, Smith was downtown, where he jumped from an apartment house at 15 Broad St., landing on Exchange Place in two pieces, cops said.

“I was walking with my girl. Somebody just fell off the building,” said a stunned Chao Williams, 21, of East New York, Brooklyn. “I just heard the noise. It was like a loud boom.”

Police believe Smith was the killer, but it was not clear when the murder took place.

Ionescu said he had not seen the victim or her boyfriend in six or seven days.

The doorman said Powers was known to call her father every day. She lived with Smith in the six-story brick building, and fought with him regularly, he said.

“[The sister] said he had a bad temper. That’s why they fought all the time,” Ionescu said.

Mates said Margaux and Dana attended the private Green Vale School as youngsters. Michael Powers is the son of the owner of Powers Chemco, a supplier of graphic design equipment to printers and newspapers. He raised his daughters mostly by himself and was close to them, Mates said. The father and daughters recently went on a trip to China.

Mates described Margaux Powers as thin and athletic. She used to see her jogging through the neighborhood regularly.

Mates said she had seen Powers and her boyfriend visit Glen Cove take walks with their Jack Russell terrier, the same dog Ionescu said lived with them in Manhattan.