A New York City jogger murder arrest was made on Saturday after DNA gathered from last summer's crime scene matched a suspect questioned by police after a hunch from a detective paid off.
Authorities said DNA from Chanel Lewis, 20, of East New York, matched that found on murder victim Karina Vetrano, who had been raped, strangled, and left in a weeded area along a jogging trail last August in Howard Beach, reported the New York Daily News.
Lewis was arraigned in Queens criminal court on Sunday evening and is expected to be back in court Feb. 21, according to NY1 News.
Lewis's DNA did not show up in any criminal databases, initially leaving police detectives stumped, but Lt. John Russo remembered Lewis being arrested and questioned in Howard Beach in late May after lurking around parked cars with a crowbar, said the Daily News.
"It occurred to him that (Lewis) was someone they should look at," one law enforcement source told the Daily News about Russo's hunch. Lewis was arrested after voluntarily giving police a DNA sample.
Vetrano, an avid runner, went jogging the evening of Aug. 2 in the Spring Creek federal park area near Belt Parkway where she was attacked, according to WCBS-TV. Her father called 911 when she did not return from the run and did not answer calls.
Her body and cell phone were found in a marshy area about 15 feet off the running path at the park. Her body was face down with broken teeth, scrapes on her legs and her sports bra and shorts pulled down.
Police said Lewis made detailed, incriminating statements about the crime, said NY1. New York Police Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said the victim scratched enough DNA from the suspect to help them make a scientific match.
"Karina helped us identify this person," Boyce said. "She had the DNA under the nails, she had touch DNA on her back, and there was more DNA on the cell phone, so three instances, that's how we were able to bring this profile up."
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