Man arrested over death of New York jogger Karina Vetrano who was raped and strangled to death after ‘DNA links him to scene’
A suspect was being held in Brooklyn overnight cops said
A MAN has been arrested in connection with the death of a female jogger hours who was raped and murdered in New York last summer.
Karina Vetrano, 30, was found dead with her jogging pants pulled down to her knees after being reported missing by her father when she didn’t return from her regular 5pm run in Queens on August 2.
Her dad Phil, an ex-fireman raised the alarm that his daughter had gone missing and was with cops when her body was discovered at around 10.30pm later that evening.
Police believe she was punched in the face before being dragged into the park, sexually assaulted and strangled in the Howard Beach area of Queens.
On Saturday night a suspect was being held at an address in Brooklyn, reports, .
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No charged have been filed and no details of the individual have been released, however sources told the New York Post the man is in his 20s and lives in Brooklyn.
He is believed to have been held after DNA linked him to the scene, the Post reported.
Police had been using CCTV footage of the young woman's last moments to hunt down the mystery man who used to jog “four or five days a week” on the same trail as Karina.
Police said Katrina had been strangled and that her trousers had been pulled down.
They said a used condom was found near where the jogger was attacked.
Her teeth were smashed before she was strangled to death.
Police also found her mobile phone near a bike path and her body nearby.
In , her devastated father said he had a premonition something wasn't right soon after his daughter left that evening.
The avid jogger would usually run the trail with her father, but on the evening of her murder she went alone as her dad, Philip Vetrano, was recovering from an injury.
In an interview on in December, Mr Vetrano revealed the “bad feeling” he had on the day his daughter was murdered.
He said: “She asked me to go for a run and I said I couldn’t go.
“And about 25 minutes later I got a bad feeling. I knew something was wrong. Like something was wrong.”
Mr Vetrano admitted that his daughter, whose killer is yet to be found, was missing less than half-hour after she went on her final jog.
to boost the $20,000 reward offered by police to $100,000.
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.”
During Thanksgiving last month, Mr Vetrano — who is a retired firefighter — said that while everyone was celebrating the holiday season, he wouldn’t be doing the same this year.
“We’re not going to celebrate. There’s nothing for me to celebrate,” he told the New York Post.
“We have a grandchild, only seven months old, who was only two months old when Karina, you know, died.
“There’s going to be trigger days, I’m sure, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries. They’re going to be harder than normal, but normal is hard.”