What to Know
- Karina Vetrano's beaten body was found Aug. 2 in a marshy park in Queens
- A new profile suggests the killer was a parkgoer who stopped visiting the area after he strangled Vetrano
- Investigators developed a DNA profile based on samples under her fingernails and on her neck, but found no match in law enforcement database
The person who strangled a woman who went on a run in a Queens park earlier this year likely would have "given any variety of excuses for his appearance" after the killing, according to a profile obtained by Newsday.
The criminal profile assembled for the NYPD in the Aug. 2 killing of Karina Vetrano revealed that her killer -- likely a man -- is thought to still be at large and may have been a frequent visitor at Spring Creek Park before the 30-year-old's body was found there that evening.
But he probably stopped visiting the area near Jamaica Bay and could have even moved following the killing, possibly telling friends that he was avoiding the area due to the "danger" at the park, the newspaper reports. He may have even changed his appearance and habits following the killing.
The killer was likely to have suffered scratches and cuts in a struggle with Vetrano, who NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said fought "ferociously" with the attacker. The profile suggests that the killer probably gave friends excuses for his appearance. He also probably kept a close eye on media reports about Vetrano and the investigation.
The profile comes a day after the woman's father, Phil Vetrano, appeared on the "Dr. Oz" show, telling the host he had a "bad feeling" not long after she left for her run.
"I knew something was wrong," he told the talk show host, adding "I knew she was in trouble."
Local
Phil Vetrano and his family, who have raised more than $285,000 for a reward for information leading to an arrest in the case, have also been campaigning to have investigators use a technique known as familial DNA searching, which uses DNA found at the scene to look for the killer's relatives.
Prosecutors and police have also asked state forensics officials to allow the technique, saying that other investigative techniques have been exhausted.
State officials intend to discuss the topic at a meeting Friday. It's not clear when or what they'll decide, Janine Kava, a spokeswoman for the state Commission on Forensic Science, said Thursday they'll continue working to provide law enforcement with "cutting-edge tools" to solve crimes "without compromising individual protections."
Vetrano's death isn't the only unsolved killing of a New York City runner this year. Five days after Vetrano's body was found, Google employee Vanessa Marcotte's body was found in the woods near her mother's Massachusetts home after leaving for an afternoon jog.
