Thirty-year-old Queens woman Karina Vetrano made headlines last year when she was killed near her home by a man whom she crossed paths with, while she was jogging. It was her father who found her dead body in a secluded marsh. After months of investigation, the killer, a 20-year-old man from Brooklyn named Chanel Lewis, was arrested in February.
According to CBS News, he voluntarily gave the investigators a DNA sample, which matched wth the DNA found on the victim's body and confirmed that he was indeed the culprit.
Recently, Vetrano's accused killer confessed the horrific details to the police, saying that he grabbed her by the shoulders, punched her several times in the face, strangled her, and dragged her into the marsh, as reported by New York Daily News. According to him, it was over in five minutes. As to his reasons why he committed such crime, he admitted that the victim did not do anything to provoke him and that he was only consumed with a "homicidal rage" when they crossed paths.
"I was just mad at that time. I beat her to let my emotions out. I didn't really mean to hurt her. It just happened," he confessed.
According to a report on NBC New York, the accused killer's arraignment took place on Tuesday at the Queens Supreme Court, and he was charged with "four counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual abuse and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse."
However, as reported by the publication, Lewis, who has been accused of killing Vetrano while she was jogging near her home last summer, has pleaded not guilty to murder and sex abuse charges. He was sent back to jail and is scheduled to return to court on July 13.
If Lewis gets convicted, he will face a life of imprisonment, without the chance of getting a parole.
