Police are revealing what may have led Chanel Lewis to allegedly strangle Queens jogger Karina Vetrano and what in his past could have pointed to the brutal murder.
Five years ago, when the 20-year-old was still in high school, Lewis said “I want to stab all the girls,’’ the New York Post reported. Lewis, then 15, also asked an aide at the HS for Medical Professions in Canarsie, Brooklyn, “What would happen if I bring a knife to school?” sources told the publication. School officials contacted police and Lewis was reportedly taken into custody as an “emotionally disturbed person” and evaluated at a local hospital before being released. RELATED:Police have ‘solid case’ against man arrested in slaying of Karina Vetrano: NYPD That alleged rage may have never been resolved, according to DNAinfo, which reported that anger over a noisy neighbor sparked the violence against Vetrano. During his confession, Lewis told investigators that a neighbor playing music too loud caused him to storm off from his mother’s East New York home, sources told the website. When Lewis encountered Vetrano jogging on a path inside Spring Park in Howard Beach on Aug. 2, he allegedly decided to take out his rage on her. An official told ABC7 that Lewis said he just “lost it,” before strangling the 30-year-old woman. After six months with no suspect, police began looking into Lewis after checking summonses in the area. The NYPD said Lewis made “detailed, incriminating statements” about Vetrano’s killing and then provided a DNA sample that matched genetic material found under her nails. He has been charged with second-degree murder in Vetrano’s death.
Despite the DNA evidence, Lewis’ family maintains he’s innocent, according to DNAinfo.
“I think they faked it,” his sister Theresa Forbes, 36, said.
“He would never do something like this.”
-Reuters contributed to this report