A maid found a woman dead in a NYC hotel room. Next to her lay a bloody iron

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A 38-year-old woman was found dead next to a bloody iron in a room at a Manhattan hotel that was packed out for New York Fashion Week.

The horrific discovery was made by a maid in an 11th-floor room at the SoHo 54 Hotel on Watts Street near Sixth Avenue at around 10.30am on Thursday, according to New York City Police.

The woman, who has not been publicly identified, was lying on the floor under a blanket, police sources told the New York Daily News.

She had suffered a head wound and was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.

An iron covered in blood was found next to her body. It is not yet clear if the iron was used as a weapon, but police are investigating, sources said.

Police found no signs of forced entry in the room.

The woman’s death is currently being investigated as murder, police sources said.

A hotel guest staying in the room next to the room where the woman’s body was found told local reporters that she didn’t hear anything unusual coming from next door.

She said she was woken by hotel staff banging on the door next to hers.

“The manager was banging and screaming, ‘Hello? Hello? Hello?’” guest Victoria Marinucci, who was in New York from Los Angeles for Fashion Week, recalled. “Then there were detectives everywhere.”

“It was really scary because it was a long time of no response,” Ms Marinucci added. “We knew that the person didn’t make it.”

It’s not currently clear how long the woman was staying at the hotel or if she was in the area for the Fashion Week events, which kicked off on Friday.

The Medical Examiner’s office will now determine her cause of death.

Her name has not yet been officially released pending family notification. No arrests have been made.