Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: (Part 4) Gorgeous Queens jogger Karina Vetrano murdered the one day dad stays behind.

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

A suspect emerges in the death of Karina Vetrano. 22-year-old Chanel Lewis is arrested and ultimately confesses to attacking the jogger. Traces of his DNA were found underneath her fingernails, on her neck and cellphone. But a conviction was slow in coming. Why? What happened during the trial? How does father Phil Vetrano remember his daughter today? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Welcome back to Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. We are investigating the disappearance of a beautiful young girl, Karina Vetrano, who goes missing in broad daylight while jogging in a popular park. Karina's dad, Phil, joins us this week, as does Newsday reporter Tony DiStefano. Also with us, renowned psychologist Dr. Robbie Ludwig and Detective Steve Lampley. Also in the house, Dr. Tim Gallagher, the medical examiner for the state of Florida.

We pick up the investigation. Police trying to piece together evidence and potential DNA without a match. What will be the key to solve Karina's brutal murder. Will that clue, that critical clue, be a long-forgotten note by an off-duty cop? 911, what is the emergency? Um, looks like a kid who's bombing a house. Nancy Grace, killers amongst us.

You know the backyard? What's the location? Howard Beach in New York. Right now he's sitting on the curb. He definitely don't belong there. Okay, is he black, white, Hispanic, Asian? He's black. What's he wearing? He's African-American, white sweatshirt, black pants with a hood. I'm sorry, white, Hispanic, Asian? He's black. What's he wearing?

He's African-American, white sweatshirt, black pants with a hood. I'm sorry, what color is his shirt? White sweatshirt, hoodie. White sweatshirt and the hoodie or the hooded sweatshirt? The white hooded sweatshirt. Okay, what color pants? Black pants. And now he's sitting in front of the house.

He's been going in and out of the backyard twice. Okay. He looks like he has a crowbar on the floor. So he's going to be dead as soon as possible, okay? If somebody is right now, my neighbor here is telling me that he was walking around yesterday, too. He was also there yesterday? Yeah, he was walking around yesterday over there. Okay, sir, I'm definitely going to make a note of that.

You are hearing the voice of Angelo Canino, who lives in the neighborhood at Howard Beach and calls in when he sees a suspicious person trying to break into a home. But that person had been spotted before, wandering around with a crowbar in his hand, looking in windows. Finally, all the tips, all the police work, all the forensics, and it boils down to a neighbor seeing a guy walking around in the neighborhood with a crowbar. That guy raises the suspicion of police, and he's apprehended. With me right now, Karina's father, Phil Vetrano, Newsday reporter, Tony DiStefano, psychologist, Dr. Robbie Ludwig, and forensic expert with Bare Bones Consulting, Karen Smith. Phil Vetrano, as a matter of fact, Angelo Ganino lives not too far from you at all. Do you think this guy, Chanel Lewis, had walked by your home?

Angelo lives about 150 foot away, and he has told me that he saw him walking down my block also. And other people have told me. So it's a good possibility that he saw Corrina before, and I believe he was waiting for her. You know, to Tony DiStefano, Newsday reporter, so they get this guy who's basically a loiterer in the neighborhood. People that see him, they know he doesn't live there because there are not that many homes there along the Howard Beach area,

and the ones that are there, everybody knows each other. It reminds me of my neighborhood growing up, Tony. I mean, there were only four houses when I grew up and we all knew who they were. I could tell you right now. It was our house, Beverly Wilson's house, her father's house. And let's see, there was one more. That would have been the Matthews. We knew all of them. Same thing here. So when they see this guy walking around with a crowbar, everybody goes, hey, who's he? You know, Lewis and his walks stood out. As Mr. Garino noted, he was doing things that raised his suspicions.

And, of course, he called the cops, called 911, and that started the ball rolling. You know, just to recap, they didn't arrest Chenault Lewis that day. They simply took his information. They didn't see him doing anything wrong, the police, at that point. But they had his name in somebody's memo book. So later on, this would raise questions in Officer Lieutenant Russo's mind as recollections about this fellow loitering in the neighborhood. So this was a crucial break. Tony DiStefano, you are absolutely correct. And what's so amazing, Karen Smith with me, with her law enforcement background, forensic expert with Bare Bones Consulting.

Did you hear what Stefano just said? I did. People see this guy loitering, and it didn't even rise to a police report. The police officer just wrote it down as a memo in a notebook. And thank God that he did. Absolutely. Yes, we did field. We called them field investigative reports. They're not official police reports.

But if we saw a suspicious person around, let's say, an armed robbery or something like that, and they just didn't look right, we could stop them. We could get their information on what's called an FIR, a field investigative report. It's not filed. You keep it in your file book. You turn it into your sergeant at the end of the day, and it just goes into a file. And those are used a lot of the time to weed down suspects. We use them all the time, Nancy. And what's so amazing, and frankly, a miracle, miraculously, this happens.

They see the guy loitering, walk around with a crowbar. They know he doesn't live there. It's not even a police report because they didn't catch him doing anything technically wrong. All right? even a police report because he didn't catch him doing anything technically wrong all right so they write it down as a memo and it's in somebody's notebook time passes and then as tony di stefano and newsday points out accurately listen to lieutenant john rusa 911 where's the emergency all right it's not emergency it's a suspicious male. A suspicious man or male, like piece of mail you hear? No, one single male.

A man? Man, one man. Okay. All right, sir, and what is the address of the emergency or cross street? It's the corner of 164th Avenue and 87th Street, Howard Beach, 11414. Okay, so it's 164th Avenue, and what was the other street, sir? 87th Street, Howard Beach, 114. Okay, so it's 164 Avenue, and what was the other street, sir? 87th Street. 87th Street, and is he in front of a certain location or a building? No, he's walking around. He keeps walking around the block.

Okay, hold on one second. So on 164th and 87th Street, and this is in Queens, correct? And you said Howard Beach? Yes, that's correct. Okay, so and there's a suspicious person just walking back and forth around the block? Yeah he's looking in yards around different blocks just by himself. And with that one phone call Chanel Lewis is apprehended. Was it a hunch or was it months and months of searching and then suddenly in the twinkling of an eye, in one twist, everything changes. Listen to this. Now, while you're in the park, did something happen? Yes. What happened while

you're in the park? While I'm in the park, there's this girl jogging and then, you know, one thing led to another because of some other situation. All right. Well, the girl that was jogging, was she by herself or with anybody else? By herself. What did she look like? What was she wearing? Well, I was going to say she looked like she was wearing a yellow tank top, maybe. Okay. What kind of pants? I wouldn't really know. Were they long or short?

Do you remember? No. Do you remember if they were long pants or short pants? No. Okay. And was she jogging? Was she coming from the same direction that you came from when you entered the park? No, we went off in the directions.

Okay. And when you first saw her, where were you? Were you in the grass or were you on the trail? On the trail. All right. And were you moving or were you standing still? I was moving to listen to music. You were walking or jogging?

Walking. Walking. And you were walking towards her? I was walking towards her and then side to side and then one thing led to another. There you were hearing this guy who ostensibly had done nothing but loitering and potentially breaking into a home. Lieutenant Russo's memory was jogged as they all racked their brains and tried every investigative tool possible to solve the case. You know, to Dr. Robbie Ludwig, psychologist joining me from her Facebook live program in Times Square. Dr. Robbie Ludwig, I say there's no such thing as hunches. We think they're hunches, but they're really born of thousands of years of evolution of things. Our

body, our body is like one big radar unit picking up on smells, things you hear, gestures, looks, sounds that other people may make. It's just the slightest thing. And we call it a hunch because we don't really know where the idea comes from. But this is one heck of a hunch. Yeah, this is incredible. I mean, it is amazing police work that took place here. I'm truly amazed, and it just underscores the importance of when you see something, say something. Because when something doesn't seem right, it certainly is worth pursuing and following up on. And so that's what this bystander did.

He saw something that seemed unusual, that seemed suspicious, and it turned out that it really solved the case. But as it also turns out, Robbie, you're right, the bystander happened to be a cop, and cops smell trouble. Also, I'm going to point out that Phil Vetrano was a longtime firefighter, so he was like a brother to these police officers, and they were just working 24-7 to help him. Before I go any further, I want to ask you, Phil, do you mind hearing what Chanel Lewis is about tois is about to say i heard it 20 times already nancy i know i know it verbatim so no i don't mind you know i just love you and your wife so much and i do not

want to be part of hurting your feelings at all you can't and what you were talking about earlier about hunches uh i got that intuition when I was sitting on the couch. And I call it intuition. And you're right. It is a primal, you can call it some kind of mechanism that we had when we were close to being animals and you have to trust your intuition and ever since that moment I always trust my intuition because that's what it is it it goes back to wherever it goes back to but it is an instinctive ability that we once had and now we disallow it. You know, you said it so much better than I did. Okay. With all that in mind, take a listen to Janelle Lewis. And when you grabbed her, what happened then? And then I started hitting her and stuff like that. All right. Now, um, did you hit her with both hands? Probably, yeah. All right. And what part of her body did you hit with your hands? I didn't hit any part of her body.

Her face? Just the face. Just the face? All right. About how many times did you hit her in the face? Around five. All right. Was she standing when you started to hit her or was she on the ground?

She was on the ground. Okay. So did she... When did she fall to the ground? After you grabbed her? All right. Now, when she fell to the ground, was he lying in the path or was he off the path? The pathway.

When she fell to the ground and you were hitting her, was she on the pathway or was she off the pathway? She was kind of on the pathway. All right. You're hearing, uh, Chanel Lewis describing how he came upon Karina Vetrano and started beating her. And I noticed, and I've noticed this over many, many years of interrogating suspects, reading their confessions, watching their confessions, they'll go right up to the moment, the critical moment, i.e. the time of the gunshot, the time of the rape, the time of the robbery. And somehow at that moment, everything kind of gets vague. They've got perfect memory up till right then. I noticed he was saying he started hitting her and quote, stuff like that.

And then his voice trails off. Take a listen to this. Did she say anything at all? No. Did she scream? No, because her tooth broke. I'm sorry? Her tooth broke?

Right. Were you covering her mouth at all? No. Okay. The tooth that broke, was it like in the front, top of the bottom do you remember okay how long would you say you were hitting her for about how long in time I mean the whole thing was about five minutes five minutes all right and did you do anything else to her besides hit her did you put her hands on any other part of her body?

No. Around her neck or anything? Yeah, there was. I'm sorry? Yeah. You put her hands around her neck? Okay. Do you remember, was it one hand or both hands?

Both. Both? All right. And how long did you have your hands around her neck? I don't know. Okay. Did you squeeze her neck when you had your hands around her neck? Yeah.

Yeah? Okay. You don't remember for how long, though? Mm-mm. Okay. I was mad at an incident. You were mad about an incident? Okay, we're going to get to that in a little bit, all right? I just want to find out what happened, all right? Mad about an incident? Okay, we're going to get to that in a little bit, all right? I just want to find out what happened, all right?

Mad about an incident. He had never met Karina Vetrano in his life. Now, I was listening very carefully, but Tony DiStefano, Newsday reporter, they're talking about Karina's tooth, her teeth being broken. But when they asked, did you hit her in the mouth, did he say no? It's hard to tell from some of that mumbling and low voice. He had indicated that her tooth broke. That's clear from the tape. He seemed to indicate to me that he had hit her,

certainly in the mouth and face. We had a broken, we had a chipped tooth that we know of from the autopsy. So it becomes, you know, there's a lot that he says that he doesn't say. And you're right, Nancy, you pointed that out. It's a little vague. Yeah. At the moment of the critical moment, he seems to veer off. Do you notice that, Phil Vetrano? Yes. First of all, he never admitted to the sexual assault because he admitted to murdering her. He admitted to strangling her, but he wouldn't admit to the sexual assault. I didn't touch her there. I didn't touch her anywhere else. And I think he's a lot smarter than people think he is.

What kind of top? What kind of pants? I mean, he knew damn well that she was wearing shorts because he pulled them down. Yeah, he just he doesn't he he kind of brings himself away from the situation as much as he could and just admitting to certain things. I want to clarify for everyone, she was raped. She was raped. He was convicted of rape.

So why do I keep hearing he didn't finish a sex attack? He raped her and he was convicted of rape. Nancy, if I may interject, this is Tony. Yes, yes. It wasn't as defined in New York as rape. It was a sexual, aggravated sexual abuse. And that, you know, there is a legal distinction, and I'm sure you can, I'm sure you can appreciate that. But there was sexual trauma on Karina. Okay, so we keep saying that she was not, he didn't finish his sex attack. They did get DNA, and he did sex attack her.

Listen. When you left her in the grass, were her clothes still on? No. What was the status of her clothing? How was her clothing? I used to pull it off. Pulled off? Yeah.

Okay, what was pulled off? Her clothes. Her shirt, her pants? Her pants. What about her shirt? Her shirt, I think it was still a thin tie. It still made me. Okay.

And when you say her pants were pulled off, were they totally off or were they half on or half off? What were they? Like, kind of half off. Okay. Were they down or up? I mean, her pants? Kind of like down.

Okay. What about her underwear? Maybe it was down too. Okay. Did you touch her in any way? What about her underwear? Maybe it was down to it. Okay. Did you touch her in any way, her vagina, her anus at all? Mm-mm. Not at all?

Mm-mm. Okay. Well, we know that to be completely false. What is it to Dr. Robbie Ludwig now we need a shrink? He will admit to beating her, that her teeth were broken, that he attacked her over some previous incident that's very vague. But when it gets down to how did her pants get pulled down? And we know the damage done to her private parts. We know all about that from the medical examiner's report. But that he won't admit to. What is that? I wonder what sex means to this killer.

You know, it's one thing to be a murderer. That almost sounds very macho, right? You're strong, you're macho, you're powerful, you're the king of your own world. But sexual assault may mean something different to him. And actually, it could have been the whole trigger for the murder, that he was sexually excited by this woman and by women in general. And, you know, this primal urge took over that he had some shame and guilt about, because I am guessing this is somebody who nobody wanted to have sex with. So therein lies some problem with him,

and on some level he knows it and feels ashamed about it. Well, if I may interject. Jump in, Phil. Okay. He has a mommy issue. The reason he wouldn't admit to the sexual assault because his mother would be ashamed of that. And we know that because he has a mother issue.

And that is the reason he would not take a plea because he could never admit in front of his mother what he had done. It was okay to kill her. And I just want to say, too, that, you know, it's very interesting that we have a rapist killer who has mommy issues, because I imagine the original rage towards women stems from his mother. But if he was ashamed to admit to rape in front of his mother, then he also has internalized that shame in himself. Sadly, that shame did not stop him from behaving in this impulsive way, because I think he just had primal urges that he couldn't stop himself from. And that could have contributed to the murder as well. To Phil Vetrano, Karina's dad with us. Phil, what do you mean? How do you know about the mommy issues? And what exactly do you mean by that? Well, we know for a fact that his mother was a very dominating, domineering

person. And, you know, even when he was arrested, her response was, God didn't give me no killer. And that's true. God didn't give her a killer. He was made and he had issues and his issues were not addressed. He was on medication until he got out of high school. And then he was just allowed to roam the streets. He had no job, no friends, no girlfriend, and he lived with his mother. And he used to, as in the defensive summation, he used to rub his mother's feet and definitely had mommy issues and female issues, very, very strong rage issues about women. Wow.

You know, I'm just a JD, a Juris Doctorate. I'm just a JD, a Juris Doctorate. I'm just a lawyer. You would need like a whole team of psychiatrists flown in from Prague, okay, to figure this thing out. But I do know that rage at one woman in your life can turn into, it can be projected on other women. And I don't understand it, but I know that it's true because I've seen it so many times. And the rage, and it's not about sex. It's about anger and rage. And that's exactly what he unleashed on Karina Vetrano. With me now, the medical examiner for the state of Florida, Dr. Tim Gallagher, a renowned medical examiner. Dr. Gallagher, thank you for spending time with us. You know, as testimony came out in trial, family members actually had to cradle, hold Karina's mother, Kathy,

while the medical examiner reviewed autopsy photos regarding the extensive bruising, the injuries, the lacerations on her daughter Karina's body. Her teeth were knocked out of her mouth. Her neck was bruised with the imprint of fingerprints. She was strangled so tightly. She was truly, truly brutalized. You have studied the autopsy of Karina Vetrano. Autopsies are very, very detailed. Dr. Gallagher, what have you learned about the injuries Karina Vetrano sustained?

Well, I learned that she received potentially fatal injuries to her neck area, most likely in the form of strangulation. The tissue around her neck, the musculature, and the blood vessels have been broken and deeply injured to the point where it appears as though she met her death via strangulation. Well, we know that her injuries were so severe that it was first believed she had been murdered by, quote, multiple assailants. There were so many injuries to her. Now, let me understand, how do they determine the COD, cause of death, was by asphyxiation, strangulation, manual strangulation? Well, the cause of death is always a product of elimination. People only die four different ways. You could die of natural disease. You can die of an accident.

You can die of suicide. Or you can die of homicide. If you are able to rule out that she died as a result of an accident, and as you can rule out she did not die of natural disease or suicide, that would leave homicide. And in order to substantiate a diagnosis of homicide, there must be fatal injuries on the person that occurred as a result of being assaulted by another person. So those are the types of injuries that we key in on when we've eliminated the other possibilities. The senior medical examiner, Dr. Margaret Priel, conducted the autopsy, and she did that just 12 hours after Karina was murdered. How could the medical examiner figure out that she had only been dead 12 hours?

How do you come up with that exact number? Well, it's not an exact number. It's often a range, and it is determined by the amount of decomposition. When somebody dies, they immediately start to decompose, and a trained medical examiner can tell by the amount of decomposition approximately when the time of death occurred. What we're learning is that Karina suffered so many injuries, including a large extensive abrasion on her right buttock, her rear end,

a laceration to her vagina, bruising around her neck, burst blood vessels across her face, teeth knocked out. How do you get a laceration to your vagina, Dr. Gallagher? Typically, in an assault case, that is a result of a sexual attack. You would not only have to find a laceration to the vagina, but you would also have to find contusions or black and blue marks, so to speak, around the pubic area and on the inner thighs. And these would support a diagnosis of sexual assault. I found something very curious. Her cause of death is strangulation, but the medical

examiner, Dr. Priel, says that Karina's hair was wet. Her hair was wet. She was not drowned. Her hair was wet, however. Her neck was marked with linear scratches. Could this be a sign that she scratched herself with her own nails while trying to pry her attacker's hands off her neck? That is an absolutely vital piece of information in this case. One of the most difficult things a medical examiner can do is try to distinguish a strangulation from a suicide. These linear marks on her neck are most likely from her own fingernails. And if samples of DNA were taken from under her own fingernails, you might find that it is her skin that is under the fingernails, as well as maybe another, the skin of maybe her attacker. Well, I would think so, Dr. Gallagher, because if she is scratching herself, trying to pull his hands off of her, then I would imagine his DNA, his skin is under her nails as well. You know, she's a tiny, tiny woman. She's only 4'11". She only weighs around 110 pounds. When she was found, her sports

bra was pulled down to reveal her breasts. Her underwear and shorts were rolled around her left thigh and pulled off her right leg. And I believe her attacker's sex attack on her resulted in her right tennis shoe being found elsewhere because her underwear and shorts had been rolled down the left thigh and completely pulled off the right leg. Would you agree or disagree? I would agree. Even though it's a sexual attack, typically they are signs of somebody dominating over somebody else and then taking their clothes and tossing it, perhaps in a fit of anger or perhaps in a show of domination, is quite common on scenes like these.

The medical examiner, Dr. Priol, also described Karina's vagina and her anus, her rear end, both bruised inside and out. As the medical examiner says, consistent with an object being inserted into her vagina and her anus. How do you determine that, Dr. Gallagher? And let me warn everyone listening right now, this is a very, very difficult conversation and testimony. Go ahead, Gallagher. It is.

So typically what you would think, was the object the assailant's penis, or was it an inanimate object that he had with him or found near the site? An inspection of the inner portion of the body, the insides of the body, if it reveals that the object had gone into the vagina, through the uterus, and up into the abdominal cavity, that would be most likely an object that was inanimate, not his penis, for instance, not a penis. And the same would go for the anal area. If the portion of the colon over there is torn, is perforated, that is most likely an inanimate object rather than being that of the assailant's penis. The brutality with which she is attacked and horribly beaten, it's overwhelming.

As a matter of fact, at trial, jurors actually had to turn away from these photos. Let me ask you, with all of these injuries to Karina Vetrano's body, how in the world could a medical examiner isolate the cause of death as being strangulation, manual strangulation, not asphyxiation, such as smothering, not ligature strangulation, such as with a rope or a pair of stockings, but manual strangulation amidst all of these injuries? Well, number one, I really have to show appreciation for the New York City Office of the Medical Examiner. They do wonderful work, and we try to model the high standards that they set in our offices in Florida. But then we have to remember that the cause of death

and the manner of death is an opinion, is an opinion of the medical examiner based on all the facts that they were able to gather during the case. And so in the medical examiner's opinion, the most likely cause of death based on the degree of injury was in the neck area. And in her opinion, that is the immediate cause of death. According to police insiders, they believe that Karina was punched multiple times with a fist in the face. What would be consistent with that theory that you have observed in autopsy? There's a couple of things. Taking the entire body into totality, there had to be at one point where she was taken off of her feet and she does have an injury to her face and she has those linear abrasions on her buttocks.

So it's totally possible she may have been attacked initially by a punch to the face that threw her on the ground and gave her a bit of road rash on her buttock cheek. Other things that I would be able to find would be broken bones in her face. We would do a procedure called a face dissection, and where we would use our instruments to remove much of the skin and soft tissue around the face and look for broken bones, especially the cheekbones, the nose bone, I'm sorry, the nasal bone, and then bones of the jaw to see if they were injured during the punching attack. With the punching attack to this four foot 11, 110 pound woman,

attack to the face, would the injuries to Karina's face be consistent with her perpetrator straddling her, a knee on each side on on top of her, and repeatedly punching her with fists to her face as she lied there defenseless. You can't rule that out, Nancy. And, you know, many, many scenarios are possible, and without a direct witness it's impossible to determine what exactly happened. But certainly that is within the realm of possibility as I am talking to a renowned medical examiner for the state of Florida dr. Tim Gallagher this is why people cry they get physically sick during murder trials when they are confronted with this type of evidence.

I remember so many times when I would leave the medical examiner's office, which I would visit for every single homicide case I tried, I would just sit in the parking lot trying to compose myself after what I had been told. Because you hear Gallagher and I talking about this so clinically, but we are talking about a beautiful young girl, just the light of her parents' life, the apple of their eyes. And we're talking about her face being beaten to mush and distortion of her vagina and her anus. It's about anger and rage. And that's exactly what he unleashed on Karina Vetrano.

At some point before she went into the water, she had stopped moving. Is that right? She stopped moving before her face went into the water, correct? Did, um... I'm sorry. Kind of did. Kind of did? Alright. Could you tell if she was breathing or not?

What did you say? Be the last question. Could you tell if she was breathing? No, the other one. Oh, before that? I said, no, at some point before she went out, she stopped moving, and you said kind of, right? This is after the water? Well, when you put her in the water, was she still moving then?

In the water, she fell in the water. She fell, was she moving then? After that, she wasn't moving. Okay. Did she fall in the water when you first threw her to the ground or when you're on the ground with her hitting her? Did she like kind of move towards the water? It was more like a strangulation and then she went into the water. So it was after you had your hands on her neck that she went in the water? Alright.

And what did you do then? After that? After that, she was just lying there, and then I got her by her ankles, and then picked her up by her back and put her in the bushes. Okay. Can you just describe to me, like, how you moved her? What part of the body were you holding when you moved her? Like, on the hands. Do you hear that, Phil Vetrato? She went into the water. And remember at the very

beginning, Phil, when you told us something led you to that precise spot, you saw one piece of grass broken or bent over and something inside, a voice inside said, go that way. You found her, and her hair was wet. Remember you told me that? And now we know how. How her hair got wet. But did you hear him say she went in the water? She didn't walk over to the water and stick her head in the water in a mud puddle. He put her there.

Exactly. Her sock was wet also. And it was bewildering to the police. Like, why was her hair wet? Why was her sock wet? And there was a puddle like 30 foot away, a small little puddle. And they surmised that she must have been dragged through the puddle. You know, and we know she didn't drown because there was no water in her lungs. So she did not walk and fall into the puddle. No, she did not, quote, went into the puddle. Exactly. You know, we were talking earlier about Tony DiStefano from Newsday was talking about how he would not admit in front of his mother. You know, Karen Smith, forensic expert, you know who this reminds me of?

Scott Peterson, because he stuck to his story no matter what. And I was there in the courtroom and he would turn around and look at his mother all the time, all the time. Jackie was her name. And he could not admit. I got mad and I strangled her because he would have probably got a voluntary on that and get 20 years to serve out in 10, but he wouldn't do it. Now he's on death row. Karen Smith, how many times have you seen somebody not be able to admit in front of their mother or their family? They did it. Many times. This is not unusual. You know, there's certain suspects out there that, like Phil said, have mommy issues. I don't know what

this stems from. I don't know what the psychological analysis is behind it, but I've seen it. You've seen it. It's not unusual, Nancy, at all. Take a listen to what Chanel Lewis tells police. You saw you were dragging her by the by the hands or the arms, right? And when you dragged her, was she facing down onto the ground or facing up to the sky? Up to the sky. Facing up. Okay. And where did you drag her to? Somewhere off the pathway.

Off the pathway? Mm-hmm. What's on the side of the pathway? Bushes, trees, grass? Some really rough kind of trees. I mean, some really rough, it's called weed and leaves. Weed and leaves. About how high would you say it was?

Was it high? Like about eight feet, something like that. Like higher than your head when you're standing? Yeah. Is that consistent, Phil Vetrano, with where you found her? Pretty much exactly, yeah. Yeah, off the path, about 30 feet. And like I said before, it just started out as one weed bent over. As I went in, the trail got more and more matted until where I found her.

There was a five, six-foot round area that the weeds were completely matted and flattened down. So it is my belief that that is where the biggest total altercation took place, and that is where he killed her. Now the question is, why? Now you said that you did this because you had some anger. Is that right? Mm-hmm. All right. Can you tell me about that anger?

Because, you know, I used to live in a different address than I currently live right now. Right. And then sometimes there's this man that comes around there. He plays a lot of music and carry a lot of friends around here and didn't like it but I feel unsafe from comfortable and I like my place private and peaceful okay what place was this that you used to live in a different place what place was the same neighborhood but different street was that Logan Street and there was someone there who got you angry do you remember who that

was do you remember who that was well no i wouldn't really want to say his name okay i don't get it. Did you hear that, Tony DiStefano, Newsday reporter? He was asked about why he was angry. In other words, why did he pick out Karina Vetrano, of all people, assault her and murder her, and he says he's angry about a guy in his neighborhood playing loud music? That was one of the stranger parts of this case. There seemed to have been something going on in either his home or in the immediate neighborhood that got him angry and made him feel

insecure. Well, wait a minute. I'm angry right now. I'm angry because John David and Lucy got a comment on their report card that they talked during band. Now, John David, maybe yes, Lucy never. I know that did not happen. Yeah, I'm mad about it, but I'm not going to go attack some soccer mom in the carpool and strangle her and drag her to the bushes. We hope not. So this is totally bogus. Why is he saying this? I think, you know, this may have been a triggering event, but I think what that may have really done is just sent him away from the neighborhood into the park where other things were taking over when he came in contact with Karina, which was his anger or sexual frustration towards women,

anger towards women, sexual frustration. Maybe there was a woman at the root of his anger, and this was his way of striking out. In any case, he did. You know, the evidence showed that he did it. Well, I think it's total BS. I believe. Phil Vetrano, this is all BS.

Trigger, schmigger. Nancy, I don't believe that incident ever happened. I do not believe that is true because we have his cell phone. We tracked his cell phone. And he left his home around 1 p.m. that afternoon and he walked deeper into Brooklyn. He walked by the water. He walked down towards Howard Beach. He didn't get into Howard Beach till about five o'clock. So if he was enraged, four hours of walking, that rage probably is going to dissipate. So I don't believe his excuse. Well, again, Phil, I'm just a trial lawyer,

okay? But I know this. He did not attack this beautiful girl, Karina Vetrano, on the inside and the outside because some guy was playing loud music. He attacked her because he hates women and she was an outlet for his rage and right now he's looking for the boogeyman wow it's not really my fault it's this guy's fault because he played loud music that's what he's doing he's transferring blame from himself to somebody else listen had you ever gone to that park like before this date would you go there on occasion or yeah sometimes when i was when i get angry and stuff like that. How many times would you say you've been there before to the park?

Like several times. More than three, four times? Yeah. Okay. Would you always go into the park by that trail? Yeah. All right. And would you always walk, or were there other ways to get there?

I always walked. Would you walk the same route? Sometimes I'd walk sometimes to a different route. Okay. Did you ever go there with someone else, with friends or anything? No. No? Okay. Did you ever, while you were in that area, did you ever once get spoken to by police in the area before this happened?

I got stopped once by the police. Yeah. How long before this was that? Probably a couple of months ago. A couple of months before the August 2nd? Yeah. Let me ask you one question. To Donnie DiStefano, Newsday reporter.

The DNA found on Karina Vetrano's body, did it match to Chanel Lewis? Yes, the DNA, the trial evidence showed, from the cell phone and from Karina's neck area matched. It was a very robust sample and it did match. There was also DNA found under her fingernails, which through a different probability analysis also was found to have been a match. So they had matches three ways in this case. Two very, very robust samples and this fingernail stuff, which was also very, very convincing. Phil Vetrano, Tony DiStefano gave me the professional Newsday reporter answer. Phil Vetrano, Karina's dad, did the DNA taken from Karina's body and her cell phone match Chanel Lewis?

It was an exact match. And the medical examiner, they made statistics, and it would take the population of nine Earth planets for it not to be him. It was one in seven trillion that it wasn't, that it could be anybody else. One in seven trillion likelihood that it could possibly be anybody else. So you've got a confession, a detailed confession, plus overwhelming DNA, right? A stunning ending in the murder trial of a jogger from Queens, New York, a judge declaring a mistrial by hung jury. Following just 13 hours, the jury deadlocked in the case with DNA evidence and the

confession tape. The jurors, seven women and five men, sending a note to the judge telling him they could not agree on whether 22-year-old suspect Chanel Lewis was guilty of killing 30-year-old Katrina Vetrano two years ago. We are split, they wrote. It doesn't seem that we can make progress. We feel that we have exhausted all of our options. Late Tuesday night, the jury asking to review evidence, photos of Vetrano's injuries, and re-watching Lewis's confession tape. On that tape, Lewis seemed telling Felice that he was upset with a neighbor, and that when he came across Vetrano in a secluded section of the park, he, quote, just lost it, saying he beat and strangled her, but did not molest her.

Lewis's defense attorneys arguing the crime scene was corrupted, and that Lewis's confession was wrongly obtained, and should not have been admissible on the trial. His attorneys say Lewis only confessed because he wanted to go home after waiting hours in an interrogation room. What? A mistrial with DNA stating it's a one in seven trillion likelihood the possibility that it's not him it matches him from her neck from her body from her cell phone he confesses in detail he's there in the neighborhood everything fits and there's a mistrial Phil Vetrano you were in the courtroom when the mistrial was announced. What went through your mind and body? Well, I was already concerned that something was going wrong.

You know, I've seen stunning and surprising verdicts before, like the O.J. Simpson, not guilty. And a handful of others of that ilk, of that magnitude. Robert Blake, this is one of those. Chanel Lewis, mistrial. Your heart had to be absolutely broken, Phil Vetrano. To wait two years for this moment and then to have the rug pulled out from under you and then have to go through this again, it was torturous. We felt like the day she died, like it was all happening all over again.

That's how badly we felt. Yeah, we were stunned. I mean, the world was stunned. I could not believe it. But I got to tell you something, Phil. During the jury deliberations, when it went on past X number of hours, I started getting really worried. And I still have the texts that you and I were sending back and forth after the court day. And as the hours went on, I really started getting worried. Now, a lot of prosecutors, hey, I've gotten a mistrial before. I got one. And it's because in the opening

statement, I called the defendant a pimp, which he was, but he was not charged with being a pimp. He was charged with child sex trafficking and child rape. Well, I got a mistrial. And a lot of people, including the prosecutors in this case, could have just taken a cheap plea and went, well, you know, got screwed up. Let's take a cheap plea and cut our losses. Oh, no. Oh, no. I had that guy re-indicted for the same felonies plus a misdemeanor charge of pimping.

And I did it all over again and called him a pimp in an opening statement with impunity. Now, in this case, the prosecutor said, okay, let's just let him plead 10 years on voluntary and get this thing done. Oh, no. Oh, absolutely not. They went back to trial. Did you agree with that decision to take it back to trial, to a second trial, Phil Vetrano?

I pleaded to have it done. Yes. I implored the prosecution. I wanted that. I was not going to see him get off easy. Making that very difficult decision to take it back to trial and not take a cheap plea. You know the old saying, one in the hands, worth two in the bush? Mm-mm. They went back to the bush.

They went back to the battleground. We the jury find the defendant guilty. The thunderous reaction from the Vetrano side of the courtroom was unmistakable when the jurors delivered a guilty verdict on each of the four counts against Chanel Lewis. The 22-year-old was retried after the first court case ended in a hung jury. Lewis is now a convicted murderer, found guilty of killing and sexually assaulting Karina Vetrano as she went out for a jog near her Howard Beach home in 2016. You're hearing CBS2 reporter Valerie Castro reporting that verdict. Listen to this. Today is a day where grieving can begin. Clutching a photo of her beautiful daughter Karina, Kathy and Phil Vetrano speaking from the steps of their Howard Beach home. I thank the jurors from the bottom of our souls and hearts. I thank them. Less than 24 hours ago,

the jury returned a guilty verdict against 22-year-old Chanel Lewis. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty. I sat for two and a half years listening to the most disgusting details of my daughter, her most horrendous death and moments, last moments of her life at the hands of a savage demon. And it has nothing to do about what color he is or who he is. Vetrano referring to a last minute anonymous letter alleging racial profiling not admitted at the trial. As for their daughter, so cruelly taken from them almost three years ago. Nobody will ever forget our daughter, Karina. I mean, it's obvious she's magical, she's special, she's an angel. You know, your voice speaking about her being special and magical and an angel,

I think about that so often, Vilvatrano. Chanel Lewis guilty of murdering jogger Karina Vitrano after a dramatic retrial. Cheers in the courtroom, justice being served. Over two years after her brutalized body was found on that lonely jogging trail. Justice. Wait a minute, even now, defense teams are trying to get that verdict reversed. But in this moment, in this moment, with Chanel Lewis behind bars to Phil Vetrano, Phil, tell me, when you wake up in the morning, as you go through your day, as you put your head on the pillow at night, I believe Karina communicates with you.

Oh, definitely. Tell me about that. I mean, in her own way and the ability that angels can. And she is an angel. And that is proven just by the fact that we're sitting here talking about her. And the fact that it went worldwide, I mean, instantly, it went viral instantly. You know, I have friends now that I've made that come from other countries.

And everybody in the world knows about Karina Vetrano. Now, that's why I say she's special because that doesn't happen. That's not normal. You know, little girls get killed every day. But when Karina was murdered, the whole world was mourning for her. And, yeah, she does communicate with me in her own way. And I think about her all the time, every day.

But I never think about him, ever. Phil, I want to tell you something. Every morning, as you know, I get up between 4 40 and 5, get everything ready for the twins, and you know, I start work early so I can try to be done by the time they get out of school, but since you and I have been talking so in-depth about Karina, when I go out in the morning, I load up my beat-up minivan with all their stuff they have to take with them, their books, their backpacks, their snacks, their soccer, their volleyball stuff, all that. It's still dark, and I've found a new star I've never seen before. It's kind of gold, and it twinkles.

And for some reason, every time I see that, say five o'clock in the morning, I think about Karina Vetrano. She's been weighing so heavy on my mind. I just want to thank you for everything you've done, not only for us here at Quake, but for every life that you've touched, every life that Karina is touching through you, your fight for familial DNA to be allowed, and in the end, it wasn't even used in this case, but you have opened up a door for so many people, so many crime victims. So I want to give our closing thought to you, Phil Vetrano. I'm just an instrument. Everything I've done, I've done for Karina. I am an instrument of her to be used for good.

And I try to do that. You know, the familiar DNA, the scholarship funding, there's a lot of things that we do in her name. And that's the only thing that gives me any kind of, I'm not going to say pleasure because I have no pleasure, but it gives me an ambition to keep going and to do more good. I don't know where it's going to stop. I'm probably never going to stop. But, you know, I'd like to get the familiar DNA testing in other states. There's only 11 states that do it. And by the way, the only reason that came about was because of Tony, Tony DiStefano. He wrote the article that I picked up on and I just ran with it. To Karen Smith, Dr. Robbie Ludwig,

Tony DiStefano, Phil Vetrano, and Karina Vetrano, who means so much to so many of us, Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. goodbye friend