The father of murdered New York jogger Karina Vetrano lives every day seeking justice for his daughter. His current fight is to convince New York officials to approve a groundbreaking new DNA analysis that he hopes will help find the killer.
Karina, 30, was sexually assaulted and murdered while jogging along a bicycle path in Queens, New York, on August 2, 2016.
Phil Vetrano shares emotional details of the day of his daughter’s death. Although he normally goes with her to the park, he didn’t that day. “She was only gone for 20 minutes when this feeling came over me that something was wrong,” Vetrano said.
Instinctively, the father began searching for his daughter. Unable to immediately find her, he called police. Although hundreds of people were helping search for Karina that evening, it was her father who discovered her body. He says he believes his daughter led him to her. “I just walked into the weeds and found her.”
“She needed her father, she needed me to find her,” he told Grace.
Despite recovery of DNA, traditional analysis has failed to point to a killer. The murderer’s DNA apparently has never been collected by police, suggesting the killer has never been convicted of a crime. “It is so hard for me to believe that he has never been in trouble before,” Grace said.
Vetrano is asking for the public to help his campaign to convince New York’s Commission on Forensic Science to approve use of the controversial “familial DNA search.” The new type of analysis should reveal any close relatives of the killer whose DNA is in government databases. The commission’s subcommittee will vote on the matter on February 10, Vetrano said. “We put so much pressure on them that they called for a special meeting.”
You can help by signing the online petition at Change.org.
[Feature Photo: YouTube/Dr.Oz]
