A distraught dad discovered his missing daughter’s strangled body near the remote Queens jogging path where the tightly-knit pair usually ran together, police said Wednesday.
Karina Vetrano, 30, was jogging alone Tuesday evening because her retired firefighter father was nursing a bad back when she was attacked, said Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
There was “possible evidence” that the killer sexually assaulted the victim, but Boyce declined to give any additional details.
A police source said the victim’s pants “were not in the same position as when she left the house” for her daily run.
No arrests were made, and police did not identify a specific suspect. Cops have spoken with two homeless people who may live in the nearby Gateway National Park.
“Right now we’re investigating anybody who uses this park,” the chief said Wednesday.
Philip Vetrano, who reported his daughter as missing after she failed to answer several phone calls, went with police along the pair’s usual running route and came upon the murder scene around 11 p.m. Tuesday, Boyce said.
The father and cops first discovered the victim’s cell phone near a bike path, and her body about 15 feet away in the marshes near 161st Ave. and 78th St. in Howard Beach late Tuesday.
“Her father then ran... and then found the body,” said Boyce. “He found her facedown on the ground. Right now there's evidence of strangulation, asphyxiation.”
The victim and her father were particularly close, with her Instagram feed including shots at the pair at a U2 concert in Los Angeles and out for dinner.
“#likefatherlikedaughter,” was her hashtag on the latter photo.
Cops recovered “a lot of forensic evidence” at the scene and were reviewing video surveillance footage from nearby homes as they hunted the killer.
The dad specifically asked his daughter to take a different route and avoid that particular path when she left around 5 p.m., according to Boyce.
“She's an active jogger. She's out here normally every day with her father,” said Boyce. “Her father was not running with her last night.”
The path is an unpaved roadway typically used by joggers, bicyclists and all-terrain vehicles. Neighbors said that vagrants live in the woods off the bike path.
The slain woman also loved to write, and recently posted a particularly poignant piece.
“I think the most painful truth of existence,” she wrote, “is that nothing lasts forever ...”
Vetrano earned a master’s degree from St. John’s University in 2015 and worked as a caterer at the Vetro Lounge in Howard Beach, her neighbors said.
She described herself as a “thrill seeker” and “day dreamer” on her Instagram page, where friends posted messages mourning her death Wednesday morning.
“This was not gods will some animal stole (her) from the world... one of his most perfect creations,” wrote one poster, who identified herself as Heathercb28. “Beauty, brains and a heart of gold... your legacy will forever impact the world I hope your family and friends will one day find peace.”
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