Father of slain NYC jogger to daughter's killer: "You will pay"
QUEENS, New York -- The New York City man who found his 30-year-old daughter slain in a marsh after she vanished on her jog has a message for the woman's killer.
"I'm sorry for you, because you will pay," Phil Vetrano said at a news conference Wednesday. "You will pay here, you will pay now and you will pay for an eternity. There's no way to hide. We're going to find you."
Vetrano pleaded for help solving the Aug. 8 murder of his daughter Karina, who was murdered Aug. 2 as she jogged through a marshy area of Spring Creek Park near her home in Howard Beach, near the Queens coastline. Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said her father went into the woods and found her body as he searched with investigators.
Police said Karina Vetrano was strangled and possibly sexually assaulted. She was face down with her teeth broken, scrapes on her legs and her sports bra and shorts pulled down, sources said.
Police sources also said one of her hands was clutching grass, indicating she may have been dragged. Police said she was found 15 feet off the path.
The NYPD believes the attack was a random one, and Boyce has said police believe there to be a "severe community threat." Officials are offering a $20,000 reward in the case.
Wednesday morning, Phil Vetrano said his family has launched a GoFundMe page to help increase that reward to $100,000. The campaign has raised well in excess of that since -- more than $125,000 by Wednesday evening.
"Somebody knows something," Vetrano said. "Somebody's gotta say something and with this amount of money, maybe they will."
Phil Vetrano, a New York City firefighter and Sept. 11 first responder, has visited the crime scene every day since his daughter's murder to speak with investigators, reports CBS New York. His daughter worked at a local catering hall and as a speech pathologist, earning a master's degree from Saint John's University in Queens last May. Friends said she was widely traveled and well-educated.
Sunday, the young woman's mother also issued a passionate statement directed at her daughter's killer.
"The whole entire world knows what a pathetic, puny, weak piece of filth that you are," Cathy Vetrano said.
She went on to say her daughter was a "force to be reckoned with" and the killer will be reckoning with her force from now until eternity.
"I guarantee you, you [expletive] that you will be reckoning with that force, not only for the rest of your pathetic life, but for the rest of eternity as you [expletive] burn in hell," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.