Phillip Vetrano, the father of a murdered jogger from Queens, made an unusual offer to his daughter’s killer—the reward money, reports NBC News.
“Turn yourself in. I will make sure that reward money goes to the person of your choice. The sister, your mother, your brother. It’s a life-changer,” he said. “You will be caught, so take advantage of that.”
It’s been two weeks since Karina Vetrano left her Howard Beach home for a 5 p.m. jog on Aug. 2. Her badly beaten body was discovered by her father in a marshy area nearly 15 feet away from a bike path. An autopsy determined that 30-year-old was strangled and sexually assaulted.
The older Vetrano—a retired NYC firefighter—established a GoFundMe page that has since raised over $250,000 to catch murder suspect.
“We need your help in bringing this vicious animal to face the most sever [sic] punishment allowable by law,” he wrote on the crowdfunding page. “Every dollar from you will help to bring her family and our community one step closer to the only thing that can help now and that is an arrest and conviction.”
The donations will supplement the $25,000 reward currently offered by the New York City Police Department.
Karina’s mother, Cathy Vetrano said that anyone with information about her daughter’s killer should not harbor a criminal.
“Don’t protect him. He’s of no use to anyone. He’s a weak, evil piece of [expletive],” she said. “We will get you. It’s just a matter of time.”
Karina’s death is similar to the death of Vanessa Marcotte, a 27-year-old New York City employee at Google, who was murdered after she failed to return from a 1 p.m. jog on Aug. 7.
Her naked and burned body was found by a police K-9 unit just a half-mile away from her mother’s Princeton, Mass. home.
No arrests have been made in either case, and investigators have not ruled out a possible connection between the two deaths.
