This week, Karina Vetrano, 30-year-old jogger from Howard Beach, NY, was pronounced dead after being brutally beaten, raped and killed by an unknown suspect. The police believed the attack was not planned and random. I asked my mom the other day if this happened to me, how she would react. She looked at me and said “I would be outraged. I would do everything in my power to find you justice.” She also answered, “If I found out who the killer was, I would attack him and probably kill him myself”. I was also thinking, this is how Karina’s dad probably feels right now. It saddens me that someone who is talented, beautiful and well-known could be killed. "This woman put up a ferocious fight right to the end," New York City's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said during the news conference. From reading the news articles and hearing the side of people who live in Howard Beach, it is so infuriating to hear that people are frightened to go outside in a neighborhood they knew as a “close-knit” community.
Coming from a heavy Italian background, I know for a fact how important family is. To lose anyone from your family is like losing a part of you, no matter where you're from. I could imagine how distraught her family is. Especially her father, whom she was close with. It was shocking to read that he found her body alongside with the police. So many thoughts and feelings ran through my head as I read that in an article. If this can affect a whole community, she must have had a great impact. When I first heard about this story, I thought to myself, how can someone so cruel do something like this so randomly. What was their motive and why her? Plus no one was around in broad daylight to see what happened? So many questions need to be answered. The weed land area and the park weren’t safe to go there because residents believed that there was suspicious activity around that area. Many have reported a lot of activity around the marshes of homeless people living there and setting up tents.
Rino Bresciani, co-owner of SRG Fashion in Astoria where she regularly visited his brother, a close friend, said, “She was always bubbly. Never judgmental.She had a big heart.” With many leads like finding her sneaker and a used condom, the police could be one step closer to finding the killer. Close friends and family described Karina as a loving, outgoing woman who enjoyed her life to the fullest. She was a beautiful soul and a huge sweetheart according to one of her closest friends. She was talented and had a smile that would light up the room. They have posted a $10,000 reward to find the killer. I hope for the family that justice will be served.
