Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Gorgeous Queens jogger Karina Vetrano murdered the one day dad stays behind. (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 17, 2020

She was driven, accomplished, beautiful and MURDERED. On August 2, 2016, Queens, New York native Karina Vetrano left home to go for a run, but never returned.  Jogging was a passion this speech pathologist shared with her father. In fact, the pair was training for a marathon in Cuba. In a new Killers Amongst Us, Phil Vetrano reveals why he didn't go running with Karina that day . Listen as he explains how within minutes of Karina's departure, he knew something was wrong.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Welcome to Nancy Grace, Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. Each and every month, we investigate the mystery surrounding a different homicide. Family members, investigators, reporters, and experts join us to unravel the mysteries, examine the clues left behind, and nail the bad guys. We will not turn criminals and killers into celebrities, but we will tell the stories of crime victims so they are never forgotten. Every day, a gorgeous young girl, Karina Vetrano, laces up her running shoes, grabs her cell phone and earbuds, and heads to her favorite jogging path, one she knows by heart, typically, her firefighter dad, Phil Vetrano, would go with her. But this day, of all others, he doesn't join her.

And this day, of all days, Karina Vetrano never comes home. Today, firefighter dad, Phil Vetranoano is with us, describing heartbreaking insight into his premonition that something is horribly wrong. Almost as soon as his beautiful daughter, Karina, steps out the door. He describes his efforts to find Karina and retrace her steps. Also with us, Newsday reporter Tony DiStefano on the case from the very beginning. But let's start with one simple question from Karina to her dad, Phil. Daddy, you want to go for a run? I asked her, are you going to go in there? Meaning in the weeds where we had just run the Saturday before.

Saturday before Tuesday. And she said, yes. And I said, I don't think it's a good idea, Range. And she said, don't worry, Daddy. I'll be okay. Nancy Grace, killers amongst us. 30-year-old Karina Vetrano went out for a jog around 5 o'clock Tuesday and never came home. Concerned, her father called police

and went out looking for her on a path they often ran together. You can imagine his angst at that point. Karina Vetrano. That's what it's all about. Karina Vetrano. If you could see her face right now, like I'm seeing, absolutely perfect. Have you ever seen one of those people that they don't even look real? I remember I was rushing from Court TV, which was on the east side, to CNN HLN, which is on the west side of New York. And I saw a mob of people. Traffic was slowed. So I looked over to see what they were doing.

Uma Thurmond was there. And I looked at her. She didn't even look real. She's so beautiful. She looked like an angel on earth. She didn't even look like a human. When I look at Karina Vetrano, that's how she looks. Perfect. The skin, perfect. The eyes, the lips, the hair, the everything. But Karina, not only beautiful on the outside, but beautiful on the inside too. The day Karina Vetrano goes jogging is a day that lives forever in the mind of her dad, Phil. With me now, Phil Vetrano, Karina's dad, and Newsday reporter, Tony DiStefano. When I first read the story, all I could think about was my dad, Mac, who I miss every single day. We exercised together. He had a coronary thrombosis when he

was like in his thirties and started a regimen of diet and exercise. I would run and he would fast walk beside me always, every time we were together on vacations with my mom and dad at home always we'd exercise together and it just struck me I had to meet Phil Vetrano and I finally did. Phil and Tony thank you for being with us. I want to start with you Phil. Tell me about how you would go exercising with Karina every day? Well, it started when she was in high school. She joined the track team, the Archbishop Malloy track team, which I was on 30 years earlier. And we would train together. We would go to Van Cortlandt Park.

We would go to tracks. We would run in the neighborhood. And whenever we could, we ran together. We would go to tracks. We would run in the neighborhood. And whenever we could, we ran together. We trained together. And she would slow down to keep up with me because I'm a lot older and she was a lot faster. But we both, you know, enjoyed that. And we ran together whenever we could. And we were actually training at that point to run in the Cuba marathon. That's what we were training for at that point in time. Wow. Cuba, you were going to Cuba. Yes. And run. I didn't even know Cuba had a marathon. I run, but not at that level.

They did it that year. Wow. So you were training that year to go run a marathon with her in Cuba. Yes. Okay, this is something I've never asked you, and I've asked you a lot of questions, Phil, on and off the air. You've never told me about Karina as a little girl. Well, she was always special. She was always inquisitive. Like Karina, she didn't speak a word until she was two years old,

but she always two years old. But she always took everything in. And when she started to talk, when she started to speak, she spoke in paragraphs. It wasn't like mommy, daddy. I knew you were going to say that. I thought you were going to say she spoke in full sentences. I'm telling you, paragraphs. She spoke in paragraphs. Paragraphs.

Right off the bat. So she was always taking it in. And we all know she was brilliant. She got a master's degree. And she was a phenomenal writer. But as a little girl, she was fearless. She always wanted to explore, to discover, to see, to seek out new things.

Always was very inquisitive. And the biggest thing about Karina was that she was a writer. And she describes herself as being a writer. And she describes herself as a writer, not by choice. She was born to write. And she wrote many, many, many, you know, short stories. She had a blog. But as a little girl, you know, she was always special. Always special. Now, something, everything you say just struck me. But when you said she was fearless fearless what did you mean by that well that's one of the things that got her in trouble she took away took after her father she would never think twice about doing anything she traveled the world when when she was in high school

i'm going to tell you a little story. We met this couple, came over to my house. They were from Amsterdam. And I was showing a piece of skin-dyeing equipment. And they came from Amsterdam, and they're sitting in my backyard. And Karina was probably 15. She was still in high school. And, of course, they said, well, if you ever want to come over,

want to come to Amsterdam, you can stay with us. You know, two weeks later, Karini was on an airplane, going to spend two weeks with a couple that we don't even know. We didn't know them. We just met them. And she stayed on a 400-foot decommissioned destroyer. That's where he lived. He happened to be found.

We found out he was very wealthy. But she didn't think twice about doing anything. I got a call from her one day, and I hear all this wind in the background. And I said, Karina, where are you? And she says, I'm on a camel by the pyramid. So she was afraid of nothing. Nothing. Okay. I've got to tell you a story, Phil. And then I'm going to get back to what we're supposed to be talking about. But hold on. You know, I tell Phil Vetrano about my children all the time. I took them to scout camp and they've never been to sleep away because of me, Phil. Because when I hear sleep away camp, I immediately think murder and molestation, right?

So I go and train and force my husband to take a week off and we go in the rough and camp out for a week as volunteers at scout camp. My daughter got up, you know, she's very shy, unlike her brother. He was doing his thing. She was doing horseback. Phil, she got up on a horse. Of course, I was trailing at a discreet distance. The horses got into a fight in a creek with my little girl up on top of this huge horse. Can I tell you, I don't know what she did. She got that horse calmed down and on its way in about 30 seconds. Really? When we finally made it down off that mountain, I prayed to God, thank you, Lord, for her not falling down the mountain. And I said, Lucy, how did you do that? She said, I don't know, Mom, because I don't

remember riding a horse before. And I said, well, you've ridden a camel and I've, Lucy, how did you do that? She said, I don't know, Mom, because I don't remember riding a horse before. And I said, well, you've ridden a camel, and I've got a picture to prove it. I know that's not PC Tony DiStefano reporter news day, but she has ridden a camel. And when you just said that, it made me think. See, okay, we could talk forever about our daughters. Yes, we can. Okay, and my son. I want to talk to you about the day

Karina decides to go jogging, but you didn't go with her. It was all a lot of happenstance, you know, things that normally didn't occur were happening that day you know but but little things that you didn't notice you really didn't pay any attention to it like Karina would carpool with one of her girlfriends and they would drive to the train station and take the train to the city and that day it was her girlfriend's day to drive so Karina didn't have her car. So her girlfriend got a call from home and she left work early. So Karina didn't have a ride home from the train station. That's the first thing. And she calls me up and she says, Daddy, I don't have a ride from the train station.

Do you think you could pick me up? And I said, I don't know. I don't know, Ringe. You know, I was picking her mother up, my wife, Kathy, at the hospital that day because she just had abdominal cancer related surgery. And I said, I, I can pick you up at the train station. So that was one thing that happened. And then she asked me, what's for dinner tonight? I said, well, we're going to have steak. I'm making steak. She says, I don't want steak. Can we stop at a pizza place and I'm going to get a slice of pizza. And I said, sure, fine. So we get home and she goes up in her room she eats a half a slice of pizza and she comes right back down and she says I'm going for a run now that's not normal that you're going to have something to eat and you're automatically going to go for a run

but she decided to go for one she said daddy you Daddy, you want to go? And the day before, I had pinched my back. It was a little bit out. So I said, you know, my back hurts a little bit today. I said, I'm not going to go. And I asked her, are you going to go in there? Meaning in the weeds where we had just run the Saturday before, Saturday before Tuesday. And she said, yes. And I said, I don't think it's a good idea, Range.

And she said, don't worry, Daddy. I'll be okay. So she comes down. It's about a quarter to six, 540. And I sit down and I start having my dinner, and I'm watching the news. And around 6 o'clock, she's only gone about 20 minutes,

I start to get this feeling of uneasiness. You know, but I ignored it. By a quarter after 6, it was getting stronger. 6.27, you know, I called her. She's only gone 40 minutes.

6.28. Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I want to go through what you're saying because many people in the world think we're crazy. But Tony DiStefano is with me, Newsday reporter, and you've reported on everything. But, Tony, I have intentionally asked crime victims' families, almost always, did you get a sense something was wrong

did you feel any differently that day and I was listening to Phil talk about the little nuances details of the day that at the time didn't mean anything I can't tell you Tony

how many times I've gone back over the day my fiance was murdered and remembered this detail and that detail. What if this and what if that? Things that really didn't amount to a hill of beans, but maybe they did. Tony, have you ever heard other crime victims state they had that sense of foreboding that Phil is describing? I have, yes. And what particularly made Phil's feeling very palpable was that it underscored for me the closeness that he had with Karina on so many levels. And, you know, people poo-poo the psychic and poo-poo the, you know,

the bonds that develop between parents and children and spouses and, you know, siblings. But this seemed to me to underscore that kind of attachment when I heard that story. And I've heard it a number of times, and he's also talked to me about it. But I've heard it from other, you know, crime victims. Well, you know, another thing, Tony DiStefano joining me, Newsday reporter. Tony, when Phil described the weeds, give me a visual about where Karina went jogging. I mean, the area

is beautiful. Could you describe it for us? What does it look like? Yeah, I could. It used to be an old landfill, but it is a federal park at this stage. And it has these tall, in the summertime, certainly, and in the spring, these tall, they call them phragmite weeds, which are very tall weeds, which can go up to eight to ten feet and the hiking trails and the running trails that course through it uh you know are surrounded by these tall weeds which give it kind of like a fence almost around around your trails it's all green by the way uh there are some trees sprinkled in in the park and in the area karina went jogging There are some trees sprinkled in the park and in the area of Carina when jogging. There are some trees. It borders adjacent wetlands. So, you know, it abuts

on the south side water. And on the north and sort of west sides or the highway. Okay, wait a minute. Tony, Tony DiStefano, what water? Oh, that would be, I think that's Jamaica Bay. That is Jamaica Bay, yes. Jamaica Bay, Jamaica Bay. And it borders Spring Creek Park on two sides, basically. Those are the south and sort of the southeastern side. And there are fishermen who occasionally, you know, work the area,

and some homeless people too in some parts of it. Let's, you know, let's give a complete picture. But it's a nice place if you want to jog. It's not a bad place to jog. I can think of better places to jog. Well, I mean, it sounds, it sounds beautiful. And Phil, I've run and jogged my whole life. Well, really, actually, when I got out of law school is when I really got serious about it. Every day through inner city Atlanta, I don't know

what I was thinking. And in New York, up and down the East River at night, I don't know what I was thinking and in New York up and down the East River at night I don't know what I was thinking and you know a lot of people have attacked Karina for running in um tights and a midriff shirt which is what I I mean I that's what I would always run in and never thought anything about it well they were running close it sounds like a running close that's what goes running they were running running close exactly exactly yeah and i was just thinking about this area everybody it's on long island and on either side is an expanse of water it's beautiful it's absolutely beautiful imagining her jogging along with those tall, green, you're saying weeds, but I think of things that look like sawgrass or bamboo on either side. They're similar.

Just running through there. And Phil, you said she left 530-ish. About 540, yeah. You sat down. I was eating steak. So she had pizza and you had steak. Yes. All right.

That was always a big deal when we would grill out steak when I was growing up because, you know, we didn't have any money. And my mom would send me to the grocery store and say, go ask the meat guy for five steaks a quarter inch thick. Now, at the time time i did not realize you know that was to save money but i mean it's like a piece of paper yes but so you're eating you're watching the news and i want to explore what you just told me about that feeling that came over you well you know karina called that her happy place. She always, she called it a happy place to me, to our friends. You know, she would, she would love to be out in nature.

And that's where she was. And she was enjoying herself. And this feeling started to come upon me. And I called her at 627, 628, 630. But I mean, what is the feeling? What did it feel like? I knew something was wrong. Something was not right. I didn't know what. I didn't know if she got hurt. I didn't know if she got attacked or bitten by a dog. I didn't know what it was, but I knew something was wrong. So at 6.30, I yell out a curse. And then my wife is upstairs in the bedroom recuperating, and she hears me yell. And she said, what's the matter? And I said, Karina went out running, and she's not answering her phone. Now, Kathy was not even aware that Karina was out. So I said, I'm going out.

And I left the house just with my phone, a pair of shorts, and a pair of boots. And that's all I had on. And I started to walk the trail to from where we would start to where we would turn around and constantly calling her name. Karina, Karina, Karina. Now, I called her phone and I left a voicemail. I think it came over at 640, around there, 641. And at that point, when I got to the point where we would turn around and I couldn't find her I didn't know what to do so I called the house I said is Karina home and Kathy says no I said what should I do

oh right right right there right yes there you've walked the entire route. She's not there. She's not home. She told you the route she was going so you know she didn't deviate. Was it dark by that time, Phil? No, it was August. It was 6 o'clock in the evening.

We still had another 2 1⁄2 hours of daylight. I remember seeing a video of Karina, just a glimpse. It must have been from someone's home security. And she was just jogging by. Yes, it was. And I saw she had earbuds in her ears. Yes, yes, she was wearing earbuds.

Did she listen to music or a book on tape? What would she listen to? No, no, she always listened to her music. She was wearing earbuds. Did she listen to music or a book on tape? What would she listen to? No, no, she always listened to her music. She would listen to her music, and that is another thing, you know, because she couldn't hear if anybody was coming after her. She couldn't hear any rustling. She was just in her own state of grace, you know, listening to her music and running where she loved to run.

I'm thinking about when you are there and you call back home and Kathy tells you she's not home. What went through your mind? I said, I asked her, what should I do? And she said, call John. Now, John is a lifelong friend of mine. I grew up with since we're eight years old, who happened to be a three-star chief in the police department. And I said, John, you were a firefighter your whole career. Yes. I said, and John's father was a fireman also. So I said, John, Karina went running in the weeds because people of our age that grew up there, we call it the weeds. And I said, I can't find her. She's not answering her phone.

He didn't ask me when she left. All he said to me was, Phil, where are you? I told him where I was. He said, stay right there. I'm sending a patrol car with a sergeant in it, and I'm on my way home. And that's how it started. Okay, I just got to tell you something, Phil. Right now, Jack, you look at my, I'm just getting chills all up and down my legs and arms

because I'm just thinking of you standing there amongst all those tall, like, sawgrass, bamboo growth, and you're looking for her, and you can't find her, and she's not at home. I'm just thinking, like, looking down on you in the middle of all this expanse, looking for your girl. And when you call him, and he says, we're on our way, what did you do? Did you just stand there, keep calling her, what did you do? Just stand there? Keep calling her? What did you do?

Well, I called her a number of times. She didn't answer. Then the patrol car pulled up. I had since moved on to the street, which was only about 100 foot away. The patrol car pulled up and they said, what's going on? And I told them. And they said, okay, you wait here. We're going in on the entrance, about a half a mile away. There's an entrance to get in there with a vehicle.

They said, you stay here. And I said, okay. So I stayed there for probably about 30 seconds. Then I said, no, the hell with this. And I backtracked the trail back to my house. I changed my clothes. I got into a long pants, long sleeve shirt. And I started to look for her again. I went on a different trail that went in a different

direction. And at that point, why did you feel that you could not stay there and feel I haven't told you this. I took the twins on a Disney cruise, which was awesome. And they had this like a tween hangout spot where you can like play foosball or cards and all that. Lucy, my daughter, who's shy, did not want to hang around. She came back to the room. Well, I brought her back. John David stayed and they had walkie talkies. They were and the people were to tell me when he was ready to leave and I would come get him. It was all the way on the other side of this giant ship.

The Fantasy, I think it was. Well, finally it got to be 10 o'clock. And yes, we were on vacation, but I thought they should be ready to leave because he'd been there since 8. So I called and they go, oh, he left. He left. I nearly, my head nearly blew off. I could imagine. And my husband went, I he left. He left. I nearly, my head nearly blew off. I could imagine. And my husband went, I'll go look for him.

All right, good, go look for him. And I sat there. I had on my PJs, which are shorts and a T-shirt. And I said, I can't sit here after about 15 seconds. I said, Lucy, put on your shoes. We're out. She and I go out in our pajamas and tennis shoes. And I started running and running. put on your shoes. We're out. She and I go out in our pajamas and tennis shoes.

And I started running and running toward the other end. I had no idea what level he may be on screaming his name. Exactly. And when I saw him at the end of that hallway, I'll never forget it. And I'm just thinking about you. And they say, stay put. And you're like, oh, hell no. No, no.

That's what I said. Okay. So what happened? So I started looking on another trail. And this is only a half hour after I called John. Above me appears a helicopter. He had already had sent out two helicopters, you know, heat seekers that can see, you know, pick up body images. So there were already helicopters there within 45 minutes after I called him.

And when I came out of the trail again, there were probably 30, 40, 50 police officers. There was a command post set up already. John was there. Canines came in. We had two bloodhounds already. This was within an hour and a half. This is the whole command post was set up. And we're looking everywhere.

Now, he asked me what was her phone number. The whole command post was set up, and we're looking everywhere. Now, he asked me what was her phone number, and, of police department unit, pinged her phone, and they found it within 700 feet of my house. Now, they pinged it from a location wherever they were, either Brooklyn or Manhattan. And then they came down to the site and were able to locate the phone. And that was about 10, a quarter after 10. This is after we had been in there with the bloodhounds and me giving them Karina's clothes that she wore that day, her bed sheets, her pillowcases. And they let the canine smell it, and we left my house.

And the dogs basically, they asked me to show them where she would have gone in because it's such a large park. So I took them to that area, and the dogs basically walked in a circle, and they walked back to my house. And that was it. The dogs didn't help at all in finding her. So I'm trying to figure out what that means. But when that happened, what did you do? Where were you during this? I was with them. They needed me to lead them on the trail because it was dark,

we had no light. And I knew the trail like the back of my hand. So I would take them on the trail that we would run on okay wait wait wait i'm just imagining all of this happening it did it even feel real did you think that any minute she was going to come in the front door and go dad i just got a ride with so-and-so and we went to the convenience store on back what's why why is there a helicopter overhead? That was an outside hope. I mean, the back of your mind, did you think that was going to happen? In the back of my mind, I was hoping that, but I knew something was wrong.

I knew that my baby was somewhere where she could not answer me. Yeah, I knew. At. Yeah, I knew. At that point, I knew. But when I left the house at 6.30, I knew something was wrong. I knew. Don't ask me how, but intuition, we were so close, like Tony said, I knew she was in danger. And as we were doing this, they got a call from a police officer who said we had located the phone. And I said, where? And they told me the

location. And I said, that's not good because it was further down on the trail where we never ran. It was further into the weeds. So I said, let's go. And I started booking. I was moving. I was practically running. And I had maybe six, seven police officers. My friend was with me, and the dogs were with me,

and I was going to that location. Now, I got to the location. There was one cop standing on the trail looking into the weeds, and I said, where is the phone? And he said, it's in there, and he pointed inside about 50 feet. And he said to me, you can't go near it. You can't look at it. You have to stay here. And I said, okay.

So then I started to walk the trail. I started to walk further into the trail towards Brooklyn and I made it about 50 feet. And that's when something told me, no, not here. And I turned around and I started to walk in the opposite direction, past where the phone was, past towards where we lived. And again, something just told me, stop. And I stopped and I looked and I just, I saw one weed that was bent in the opposite direction and I just walked in. I just walked in by myself, my friend.

Another fireman was behind me, and I walked exactly, directly to where she was laying. And that's when, you know, she was calling me. She needs her daddy to find her, and that's how I found her. Just like that. She needed her daddy to find her. And that's how I found her. Just like that. Phil Vetrano, when you say she was calling. Yes. She needed her dad to find her.

She did. What do you mean by that? That was the last act that I could do for her. Because she needed to be found, number one, and she needed me to find her. Even though it was a horrible, horrible sight that I'll never forget, she needed her daddy to find her, and I did. I keep coming back to something you told me a long time ago.

You told me you felt you heard her call you what did you hear what what was that it was just something in my mind that said no stop here and you know because there was a right side of the trail and the left side of the trail and we had no idea where she was but I just stopped looked into the right side of the trail and that's when my mind or Karina but something said come in and that's when I went in. She was telling me to go this way. And I walked, it was probably 30 feet off the trail in these thick 10 foot high weeds that, you know, police already had passed past. And I just walked right in directly to where she was. You know, when my fiancé was murdered, I did not want to see his body at all. I just couldn't do that at that time in my life.

And I remember at the funeral home, it was just before his service, I was standing out in a greeting area and I glanced in and I saw just a sliver of Keith's face above his coffin and feel in my youth, I passed out. I completely passed out with the shock of seeing that. And I'll never forget it. I can't stand to this day to smell a carnation. You know those heavily scented carnations they always have at funerals? That when I came back to, that was the smell that I smelled.

And to this day, when I smell carnations, I physically feel sick. I feel like I'm going to throw up. And I remember when my dad passed away, which I told you about, everybody left the room and I said, I'm not leaving him in here. I'm staying with him until we get him where he's supposed to be. And it hurts me to think back, seeing them change the sheets out from under him and kind of fold his body up and put it on a gurney. And I walked it to the elevator. And I remember in the hospital hall, everybody took their hats off and stood there. And I hate to even think back on that moment because I don't want to remember that. I don't know how you stand it.

Just when you walked into that area and you saw her lying there, what did you think? Maybe she's still alive. What did you think? Maybe she's still alive. What did you think? Well, you know, you could listen to the police officer that was still on the trail. I made a sound.

A sound came out of me that is indescribable. It wasn't a scream. it was more of a whale of pure anguish pure pain and I've never made that sound before and I've never made that sound after it just came out of me and my first reaction was I have to take her home so I picked her up and being that the cop has heard me that scream they started to run into the weeds so I I had her in my arms and I was starting to take her out of there and they said sir this is a crime scene. You have to put her down.

And I said, no, I have to take her home. And they basically dragged me off of her. And I put her down the same way I found her. And I don't remember if they dragged me out onto the trail, if I walked myself. That's a complete blur. But next thing I know, I'm on the trail. And now all of these cops are starting to go in.

They're coming over to me. And, you know, I kept saying, we got to get her out of there. We got to get her out of there. Now I know better that, you better that it was a crime scene. They had to wait for the forensic teams, you know how it works. But I didn't know that. I just thought we had to get her out of there into some kind of safe environment, not in a weed, bug-infested where she was.

I still wanted to protect her. Phil, you are bringing back a memory to me. I don't know that I've ever shared it with anybody. After Keith was murdered, it was, you know, hours later. I was at home with my mom and dad. Everything was like a blur. And if somebody were to say that on the stand, I'd tear them up about not being able to remember.

But the truth is, it was like a blur. And I remember feeling not like a human. I felt like an animal. And all I wanted to do was just go outside and howl and wail. I couldn't not cry, not say a word. It was just, I can't really describe that feeling in people talk, in regular words. It was not even human. The pain was just, the shock and the pain was just too much. I understand exactly because from that point on,

the rest of that entire night, I was just like a zombie. I was standing, I was breathing, I was seeing, but it was all mechanical. Like I was a zombie and I had no control over my, my bodily functions, you know, my mind. I was just standing there like it was a mannequin that happened to be alive. You know, I couldn't even comprehend. I guess my mind was protecting my body. Because if I would have really realized what had just happened, I might have just died like that in there. But my mind was protecting my body from just dying and collapsing

right there. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.