Dad finds body of his murdered daughter less than a mile from her home after she disappeared while out jogging
Karina Vetrano was sexually assaulted and strangled to death in a horrific attack
A FATHER has been left devastated after discovering the body of his murdered daughter less than a mile away from her home.
Karina Vetrano, a keen jogger, was sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
Karina had gone for run in her native Queens, near Howard Beach, New York, on Tuesday but failed to return home.
Her father Phil, was supposed to join her on the run but couldn't due to a back injury.
The ex-fireman raised the alarm that his daughter had gone missing and was with cops when her body was discovered late on Tuesday evening.
Police said she had been strangled and that her trousers had been pulled down.
Karina, 30, was a caterer, avid runner and aspiring writer.
Her father reported her missing at 5pm - he was so worried when she didn't return - so called a police chief who lived nearby and then phoned 911.
Cops found her mobile phone near a bike path and her body nearby.
NYPD's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce revealed on Wednesday Karina had been warned by her father not to run down the path.
It was he who took them to the spot where the cops found her body, thinking she may have headed for the beach.
Phil saw her phone and then started running - moments later he saw her lifeless body in the grass.
It appeared she had been texting a friend when she was attacked.
He said: "Right now we're investigating anybody who uses this park."
The police have questioned two homeless people in the area and are looking at CCTV footage from nearby cameras, but are yet to make an arrest.
NYPD chief spokesman, Stephen Davis, said: "The [medical examiner] needs to confirm that, but there were marks on the body that were consistent with sexual assault."
A neighbour, called John told : "She used to go jogging with her father.
"If the weeds were not that tall, we would have seen the girl jogging on the path... You can grab that girl, and we wouldn't know it."
Karina was a keen poetry fan and writer and said of herself she had a "beautiful" but "chaotic" life.
After news of her death hit social media, tributes poured in for the fitness fanatic from friends as well as those who did not know her personally.
One tweeted: "RIP KARINA. I am heart broken, mortified.
"You were amazing and full of life."