Vetrano’s father Philip, in a radio interview Monday on WABC with Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa, claimed that a man who ran the same Howard Beach jogging route as his murdered daughter could help in her murder investigation.
Mysterious jogger has no connection to Karina Vetrano murder: Police
Katrina Vetrano’s GoFundMe page
NYPD officials say that a man described by Karina Vetrano’s father as a person of interest in the slain runner’s death has no connection to the investigation.
“I just want to talk with him. I would see him almost every day. Now, he dropped off the face of the earth,” Phillip Vetrano reportedly said in the interview.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Tuesday that this mystery jogger heard Vetrano’s comments and contacted police, according to NBC4. His DNA did not match samples found at the crime scene, Boyce added, and the man said he stopped running because of an injured knee.
Boyce also said Tuesday that DNA collected — from her cellphone and various parts of her body — hadn’t matched anyone they’ve run through their databases — citywide, statewide or nationwide, ABC7 reported.
Karina Vetrano, 30, was found murdered and raped in Spring Creek Park near a jogging path on Aug. 2, just hours after she told her father that she was going for a run.
Currently, there is a $300,000 reward for any information leading to her killer.
According to ABC7, Boyce said police are now looking at suspects who were possibly jailed before 1998 when the nationwide database began, or younger suspects who don’t have a rap sheet.
“As you can imagine, that’s quite an undertaking,” he said.
