Gas found on slain jogger Vanessa Marcotte's body, police say

DNA match leads police to jogger murder suspect

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Police say socks and a hair tie found on the body of a Google employee slain while out for a run near her mother's Massachusetts home tested positive for gasoline, and the man charged with killing her bought $5 worth of gas on the day of her death.

The police affidavit in the death of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte was filed in a Massachusetts court.

Marcotte lived in New York City but was visiting her mother in Princeton, Massachusetts, in August 2016 when she failed to return from a run and her body was found in the nearby woods.

"Her hands and feet had been burned," the affidavit said, "presumably in an attempt to destroy potential DNA evidence."

Vanessa Marcotte is shown in a photo on Instagram. CBS Boston, Instagram

A Worcester man, Angelo Colon-Ortiz, faces a murder charge in her death based on DNA evidence.

While announcing Colon-Ortiz's arrest last spring, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said Marcotte put up a fight during her deadly assault, which helped police piece together a profile of her murderer, CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil reported.

"DNA from a possible suspect was obtained at her autopsy from an examination of her hands," Early said. "State police found a match for that DNA."

Marcotte was one of three women killed while running over a nine-day period that summer. The other two women died in Michigan and New York.

f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.