Investigators have successfully recovered DNA from the 30-year-old jogger slain while running alone through a Queens park last week but haven’t been able to match it to anyone so far, police sources said Tuesday.
Cops were still combing through DNA databases looking for a match to the sample found on Karina Vetrano after she was killed in Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2, the sources said.
Vetrano was beaten and raped before she was strangled to death, officials said. Investigators believe the killer was a stranger who jumped the jogger in the remote area, where weeds can reach 10 feet high.
Cops combing through the high weeds surrounding the small jogging path recovered a sneaker and a set of headphones.
Vetrano went out around 5 p.m. last Tuesday for her nightly jog through a park just a few blocks from her family’s home and never returned.
Her father became worried, setting off a search that ended when the dad found her body.
On Sunday, a day after Vetrano’s funeral, her mother Cathy Vetrano, a cancer survivor, fired off a profanity-laced tirade against her daughter’s killer.
“My daughter was a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “And I guarantee you, you motherf—–, 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 f—— burn in hell.”
A $10,000 reward has been offered for any information that will lead to the killer’s arrest and conviction.
Calls can be made to NYPD CrimeStoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
