Howard Beach intersection named Karina Vetrano Way in honor of slain jogger

It was on an August evening nearly eight years ago that an athletic, vivacious 30-year-old Karina Vetrano donned her jogging clothes and left her Howard Beach family home for an evening run through nearby Spring Creek park. Hours later, Vetrano's battered and sexually abused body was found by her father and police, dumped in a weedy grove.

The killing shocked the city and reverberated around the country. Friday night, during an emotional ceremony just yards from the front door of her family home, Karina Vetrano’s memory was honored in a ceremony in which the intersection of 165th Avenue and 84th Street was named in her honor: “Karina Vetrano Way.”

Current and former NYPD investigators who worked the case, as well as members of the Vetrano family, neighbors and city officials gathered for the unveiling of a commemorative street sign bearing Karina’s name.

“Karina lit up the room whereever she went, and her impact was undeniable,” said City Council member Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who sponsored the street naming resolution.

“People told us we would never solve the case, I always thought we would,” former NYPD chief of detectives Robert Boyce said.

The evening of Aug. 2, 2016, Karina had just returned home from her job as a speech therapist. After quickly eating a slice of pizza, she told her father, Philip Vetrano, that she was going to run in the park, something her father told her she might not want to do alone. Her father often ran with her but couldn’t that night because of a lingering back problem.

Around 6 that evening, Karina left for her run and was seen on a private video camera running toward the nearby park entrance. But after Philip Vetrano didn’t hear from his daughter and couldn’t raise her on her cellphone, he became concerned. After a brief attempt to look in the park, he called a neighbor who was a chief with the NYPD, and nearby cops soon began a massive search.

Within hours, Philip Vetrano and police found Karina Vetrano’s body off the running trail. She was partly unclothed, her face and body bruised and battered.

An extensive police investigation over the ensuing six months finally led to the identification of a suspect, 20-year-old Chanel Lewis, who lived in nearby East New York and admitted frequenting the park.

Under questioning by police and Queens prosecutors in February 2017, Lewis admitted attacking Karina as she ran in the park, authorities said. DNA evidence, cellphone triangulation and other items also pointed to Lewis, and he was convicted after a jury trial of murder in April 2019 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. At sentencing, Lewis denied the murder. He is appealing his conviction.

During the sometimes frustrating murder investigation, Philip Vetrano and his wife, Catherine, became proponents of the use of familial DNA searching, a method of using DNA databases to narrow down searches for suspects. New York State eventually adopted the use of familial searching for law enforcement.

Boyce said the familial method was Karina’s gift to world.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.