Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The mother of Karina Vetrano, a 30-year-old woman from Howard Beach, New York, who went for a jog last week and vanished, only to be found strangled to death, addressed her daughter’s killer directly Sunday, saying that “it’s the whole entire world against you.”
The Vetrano family addressed the media today, one day after an emotional funeral service was held for the victim in Queens.
No suspect has been found in the investigation as of yet, but Phililp Vetrano, the victim’s father, an ex-firefighter, praised police efforts in the case, and said the family “owes everything” to the search.
Philip Vetrano turned the microphone over to his wife Cathy Vetrano, who spoke directly to the killer of her daughter, using words like like “pathetic,” “puny,” and “weak.”
She called the him a “piece of filth.”
“Whoever you are,” she said, her voice hard with determination. “I’m here to remind you that it’s the whole entire world against you.”
“Justice will be served,” she promised.
The New York Daily News reported Saturday that neighbors said that Cathy Vetrano was battling cancer.
Karina Vetrano often ran on the same jogging path in Howard Beach with her father, Phil, a retired firefighter, but he was battling back pain Tuesday when she disappeared and didn’t accompany her on the evening jog.
He warned her against going alone, according to local ABC station WABC-TV in New York.
Her body was found around 9 p.m. that night by her father about 14 blocks from her home.
New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton told the press that Vetrano’s clothes were in disarray, indicating the potential for a sexual assault.
“A horrific incident, the apparent rape and murder of a young woman jogger,” Bratton said of the crime. “If I understand correctly, during the search for her, when she did not come home, her father actually found her, so my heart goes out to him.”
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