The family of Karina Vetrano, who was murdered in a Queens park on Aug. 2, is still looking for answers in her death.
In a WABC radio interview with Guardian Angel Founder Curtis Sliwa, Vetrano’s father, Philip, asked for the public’s help to locate a specific jogger from the Howard Beach neighborhood, who “dropped off the face of the Earth” after the brutal murder.
“There was this one particular runner, and I want to talk to especially the people from my neighborhood, Howard Beach, they have to pay very good attention to this,” Philip Vetrano said.
“He would run down 84th St., south, towards 165th Ave., make a left heading east on 165th Ave., and return the same route. Now I would see him, I’ve seen him for three years, four or five days a week. I have not seen him since.”
Vetrano described the man as between 30 and 35 years old, 5 foot 9, and 150 pounds with a “very strange stride.”
“In the wintertime he would wear black—black gloves and a black cap. But in the summer, he might run shirtless, and the socks are bright green,” Vetrano said. “But he is very, very fit. Not a weightlifter, about 150 pounds, but extremely fit.”
“It’s very important we speak to him, ‘cause he might have seen something,” the retired New York City firefighter added.
Following Vetrano’s interview, the man matching the description turned himself in to police, reported the New York Post.
“He’s a 48-year-old man who hurt his knee and stopped jogging,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. “Nothing more heinous than that.”
“He’s not a subject at all,” Boyce added. “We spoke to him last night. He voluntarily came into the precinct, and we sat down, and we talked to him. He self-identified as that person that Phil would see jogging prior to that. It was just an injury.”
The Vetrano family have pleaded with the public to help find the killer of their 30-year-old daughter.
“Don’t protect him. He’s of no use to anyone. He’s a weak, evil piece of [expletive],” Karina’s mother, Cathy Vetrano, said. “We will get you. It’s just a matter of time.”
The family have offered the $300,000 reward money to the suspect.
Vetrano’s alma mater, St. John’s University will hold a memorial mass on Sept. 2 in the St. Thomas More Church on the campus grounds.
