New York City police have released a sketch of a man they say could help solve the murder of murdered jogger Karina Vetrano.
Vetrano’s battered body was found off a beaten path in a Queens park nearly six weeks ago after she failed to return home following a routine jog on Aug. 2.
The man in the sketch isn’t a suspect, but was in the same vicinity of Spring Creek Park near the Belt Parkway around the same time Vetrano was murdered, police said.
“We want to speak to this person because we feel that he was there,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Wednesday, reported the New York Daily News. “He is not a subject. He is not even a POI (person of interest).”
Boyce described the man in the sketch as a black male between 35 and 45 years old, about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a medium build and wearing dark pants, a red shirt and a dark wool hat, reported CBS News.
His choice of attire—given the summer month—is what made him stand out to several people, including a utility worker who helped an artist come up with the sketch, Boyce said.
Detectives have developed a DNA profile of the suspect and it was entered into a national database known as Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). However, the alleged suspect’s DNA profile was not a match for anyone currently in the database.
The Vetrano family have asked the public’s help to locate the killer of their 30-year-old daughter. On Aug. 30, in a radio interview with WABC, Philip Vetrano asked the residents of Howard Beach to help find a familiar jogger he hadn’t seen since his daughter’s death. That man was cleared by police shortly after the man turned himself in for an interview.
The family have offered the $300,000 reward money to the suspect.
“Turn yourself in. I will make sure that reward money goes to the person of your choice. The sister, your mother, your brother. It’s a life-changer,” he said. “You will be caught, so take advantage of that.”
