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Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185

November 16, 2023 / 58:21

This episode covers the murder of Karina Vetrano, the investigation into her death, and the subsequent murder of Vanessa Marot. Key discussions include the details surrounding both murders, the investigation process, and the profiles of potential suspects.

Karina Vetrano, a 30-year-old jogger from Howard Beach, New York, was found murdered in Spring Creek Park on August 2, 2016. The medical examiner determined she died of strangulation and may have been sexually assaulted. Her father, Phil Vetrano, discovered her body after she failed to return from her jog. The investigation revealed she fought back against her attacker, leaving behind DNA evidence.

Five days later, Vanessa Marot, a 27-year-old woman from New York, was murdered while jogging in Princeton, Massachusetts. Her body was found with signs of a violent struggle. Investigators noted similarities between the two cases, including the victims' profiles and circumstances of their deaths, leading to speculation about a possible connection between the murders.

The episode discusses the community's response, the Vetrano family's efforts to keep Karina's case in the public eye, and the police's ongoing investigations into both murders. The emotional toll on the victims' families is highlighted, particularly through Kathy Vetrano's passionate address to the killer.

Listeners are encouraged to consider the implications of these cases on community safety and the importance of vigilance when jogging alone.

TLDR

The episode discusses the murders of Karina Vetrano and Vanessa Marot, highlighting investigation details and community reactions.

Episode

58:21
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spread the word that's enough of the business Captain everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some
00:03:41
true [Music] [Music] cry [Music] the medical examiner says the missing jogger died of strangulation and was
00:04:15
possibly sexually assaulted police have new information on this murder mystery including new evidence that could lead
00:04:22
to the woman's killer we've now learned from police sources that when Katrina Karina vetrano's body was discovered she
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was still clutching grass in one of her hands an indication that she was likely dragged from the main trail sources also
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tell us that one of her sneakers and her headphones were missing from the crime scene and tonight the search for that
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evidence and her killer continues reward posters spell out the tragic news this 30-year-old woman was
00:04:48
murdered and now police need help to find her killer for those who knew Karina vrono she was much more than just
00:04:54
a face on a flyer she was a great girl she had tons of friends she lit up the room when she walked in family friends
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and neighbors came together and lit candles outside the vetro Restaurant and Lounge where vetrano worked she was
00:05:08
found strangled Tuesday night after going for a jog just a few blocks from her Howard Beach Home in the Spring
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Creek Federal Parkland near the Belt Parkway police also believe she may have been sexually assaulted they say her
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body was found with her shorts and sports bra pulled down police say vrono left her home to go for a jog around 5:
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Tuesday evening the Avid Runner often used the unpaved trail and usually ran alongside her father this time an injury
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kept him at home he asked her not to run this pth all right now without him police say vatrano was texting with a
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friend when the text suddenly stopped her father began to worry when his phone calls to her went unanswered at some
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point after that her father began to get worried where she was she didn't return
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home normally he called a member of the service uh uh police chief who lives nearby who then called 911 he helped
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police retraced their usual running route and pings from her cell phone led them to a marshy area about 15 ft From
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the Path her father discovered the body you can imagine his his angst at that point uh we found her face down in the
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ground while the community continues to mourn vetrano's death the focus shifts to finding her killer I hope they just
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catch the animal that did [Music] it August 2nd 2016 30-year-old Karina vrono was out
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for a routine jog near her home Karina lived in the Howard Beach area in the state of New York she lived in the same
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neighborhood as her parents now Karina typically ran the path with her father Phil vrono who was not with her because
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of an injury he had asked her not to go warning her it might not be safe without
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him but she went anyway her typical route would take her through portions of the
00:07:04
neighborhood and along a bike path that ran along the Belt Parkway this taking her over by Spring
00:07:12
Creek Park during her jog Karina had been listening to music and texting a friend the last known image of Karina
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vetron was captured at 5:46 p.m. on August 2nd when a surveillance camera recorded her running past a parked car
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later her father repeatedly tried to call her cell phone Karina did not answer well let's talk about who Karina
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was well she was born in 1986 in New York and we already mentioned her Father Phil her mother's name is Kathy M and
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Karina was one of three children Karina graduated from St John's with a master's
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in Speech Pathology she's an aspiring writer um I believe she was working in the restaurant Biz at the time of this
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attack now her Father Phil uh who Karina said was her best friend and obviously her jogging partner uh he is a retired
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New York City firefighter he was one of the many brave brave First Responders at
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Ground Zero after the September 11th attacks now the area where the vetrano family lives this is a this is a nice
00:08:22
area however we did hear the warning Phil had recommended to his daughter that she not go out jogging without him
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that makes it sound quite dangerous but what this really means is there is a what the people living in the
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neighborhood refer to as the high weeds area or Tall Weeds area mhm this is toward the Spring Creek Park neighbors
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have said that this area you know a lot of the girls in the neighborhood have been told not to walk alone along this
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area and one neighbor even stated that this is typically where hobos and bums would lurk it's very similar to like the
00:09:01
Gilgo Beach yeah when well when Karina didn't return from her evening jog her Father Phil called her cell phone three
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times well and her Father Phil was he he was very physically fit he's a handsome
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man yeah and then she has a you know beautiful mom so you put those two together they got a beautiful daughter
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well and she's extremely fit as well mhm Avid jogger uh when she didn't answer any of these calls Phil went out despite
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his back injury that had kept him from participating in the jog he went out he's looking for his daughter this is
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this is actually perfect because he knows the route that they would normally take he knows where to go to look for
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her right Phil does not find his daughter in fact he finds no sign or trace of her he calls the police and he
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notifies them that his daughter is missing the police respond and they join in the search they quickly use Karina's
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cell phone inform information to help narrow the search they're using the very same calls from Phil when he had called
00:10:05
her cell phone to gather cell phone tower ping information to locate her mhm from there somewhere in the brush off
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the path Karina's phone was located and then police and Phil vetrino found Karina's body at around 900 p.m. yeah
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this was in the Spring Creek Park area what's kind of interesting here though is um everybody said well was it hard
00:10:29
for you to find your daughter and he said that he would prefer that he found her than somebody else yeah I I saw a
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bunch of interviews with Phil vrono and the thing was he was extremely close to his daughter and he he also said that
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you know finding her and being a part of the search was like the one last thing he could do in a form of protection of
00:10:55
his own daughter you know all he ever wanted to do was protect his daugh daughter and be her best friend and it
00:11:00
was the one last act that he could do I I do want to to make reference to kind of his feelings and the feelings of the
00:11:09
Neighbors at the time when they were searching for her mhm I don't think they were expecting a good
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outcome um you know I hate to say that but I think you know people were some people are a little surprised by Phil's
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reaction I think he was already kind of trying to on some level accept it that this is what I'm going to find as
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they search for his daughter I believe he also said he had a feeling mhm and and we we hear this a lot of times with
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cases where somebody goes missing and and right away somebody has a feeling that it's bad yeah well the police and
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Phil they located Karina's body at about 900 p.m. that night in the Spring Creek
00:11:53
Park area she was located face down about 14 blocks from her home in the marshes of the park about 15 feet off of
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the main trail let's talk about the initial investigation into this murder first Captain what were the nypd's
00:12:11
findings and what was learned about the attack and the perpetrator that had killed this young woman well the well
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the first suspect was the the father yeah yeah and we can get into this some suspicions but I want to kind of go
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through the evidence in the investigation first before we get into that so she's found face down now her
00:12:31
clothing someone had pulled the shorts down she's wearing a typical joggers outfit sports bra and jogging shorts
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it's not just a sports bra but you know it'd be like kind of a half shirt goes down the stomach no no it's if if you
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watch the clip of her running it's you know kind of like you know I don't know I'd call them biker shorts mhm and then
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some kind of top but you could see our mid drift there there's there there's got to be names for these articles
00:13:01
clothing and we just don't know what they are right and like yeah you would you probably look at it and say sports
00:13:06
BR but normally you have a sports bra and you put something on top of it I'm assuming you just don't walk out with
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this sports bra I mean she's dressed as a runner right now her phone earbuds and
00:13:18
at least one shoe while they were all located none of these items were found with the body MH she had bruising there
00:13:26
was a lot of facial bruising and a lot of bruising on her legs her socks were wet they found quote tall grass in the
00:13:35
clutches of her hands note the grass and weeds are 4 to 5 foot tall in that area
00:13:42
at that time of year detectives said all of these factors told them where she had
00:13:47
been grabbed from and the trail that the attacker that he had dragged her yeah and she was beat up badly very badly
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they they offered this hypothesis they said they believe this was a surprise attack but she had put up one
00:14:04
hell of a fight the attacker grabbed her beat her and dragged her along a path into the wooded more secluded area now
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at this time she's biting scratching and clawing at her attacker her earbuds come
00:14:19
out and fall into the brush the attacker grabs Karina's phone and throws it into
00:14:25
the woods then one of her shoes comes off and as he continues to drag her Karina grabs at the tall weeds in the
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grass now mind you these are thick and would have almost acted like ropes like lifelines that she's grabbing at this
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slows the attacker down but does not stop him the attack is what caused the bruising on her face and the dragging is
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what caused the bruising on her legs after the attack he leaves her lifeless and face down in a wooded secluded area
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just 15 ft off of the path but that was not the only thing that the attacker had
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left behind he left his DNA the medical examiner determined that she most likely
00:15:12
had been sexually assaulted and died of strangulation well and they're going to have DNA so they get DNA from underneath
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her fingernails DNA from her phone mhm from the person grabbing the phone and throwing the phone and then touch DNA
00:15:26
from her neck and back area because that's they assume that this person snuck up behind her well after running
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that DNA through Nationwide state and local databases the police they found no matches uh since the national databases
00:15:44
were only started in 1998 the NYPD said it was also going to look at records to see who might have
00:15:52
been in jail before that time or someone younger who might not have done any jail
00:15:58
time right now one thing that they're kind of leading towards here is that their
00:16:04
suspicions are that this might be a repeat offender now we mentioned the camera footage that shows Karina jogging
00:16:12
at 5:46 p.m. unfortunately nothing is learned from this as she is she's alone in that footage she's not being followed
00:16:20
and she's on her normal route no this footage was obtained from canvasing the area the other thing that knock on doors
00:16:29
talking to people in the neighborhood en C canvasing the area produ produces is this people told police about a man seen
00:16:36
in the area no one had recognized him so armed with this info the NYPD released a
00:16:43
sketch of a man seen leaving Spring Creek Park around the time Karina vrono was killed the man in the sketch is not
00:16:50
considered a suspect however that's their announcement to the public but they but this person may have been a
00:16:56
witness to the murder or may have have seen something that could offer the police a much needed clue the
00:17:04
description of the individual is as follows He's listed as a black male 35 to 45 years old height approximately 5'9
00:17:13
or 10 medium build wearing dark pants with a red t-shirt and a dark wool hat and what were some other suspicions that
00:17:23
people were having well there was plenty of it early in this investigation that's
00:17:27
for sure the the public had their suspicions the vetrano family had theirs and the police had suspicions as well
00:17:34
and I think we can look at each of these now when you talk about the public first
00:17:39
it's obvious by comments from persons living in the neighborhood uh when you have people saying things like girls
00:17:46
know not to walk in that area alone and hobos and bums typically lurk in there they while not not shared by all of the
00:17:56
people I think it's it's pretty likely to say it's pretty reasonable to say that a good portion of that neighborhood
00:18:03
believed that some undesirable person that does not live in that Community was sneaking around maybe even lying in
00:18:10
weight to attack some woman walking alone or running alone that evening but a lot of people suspected too that um
00:18:19
that she was targeted for a while because she is you know she was such an attractive woman that they thought maybe
00:18:26
she would have been you know um you know tracked and monitored and all that stuff
00:18:31
the problem with this thought is that she ran almost every time she ran she ran with her father mhm well and that's
00:18:38
what made people think maybe the father was involved right and you know that was
00:18:44
um I saw a lot of this on the internet uh rather than in news stories um but some people suggested that the father
00:18:51
may have killed her now we mentioned that they had a close relationship he was typically the one that would be be
00:18:58
out jogging with her he did go out looking for her which some have suggested that that points towards some
00:19:04
form of guilt and then there's some other stories you know we said here that he along with the police found her
00:19:13
together there are some reports that indicate that he may have found her you know seconds before that that the police
00:19:20
were following him yeah uh that they were they were assisting him in the search that he was kind of the lead dog
00:19:28
on on this search and he was the one that found her first yeah I think that's how it went down but again he's you Avid
00:19:34
Runner that runs this track all the time so he's going to know all the areas and
00:19:40
I know we always have to look at people close you know on that very Inner Circle
00:19:44
of the victims because a lot of the times that ends up being the person that has killed the victim however that
00:19:52
that's not I don't have anything to base this off of other than just my gut feeling when when I first dove in into
00:19:58
this case I didn't see that from the relationship I didn't find anything weird about their relationship what I
00:20:05
saw was two people that were very close and that she wanted to be very close with her father and her mother you know
00:20:13
she lived she she lived in the same neighborhood as them she she was a grown woman who had her own successes she
00:20:21
could have moved elsewhere she could have lived elsewhere right but from the outside looking in somebody could say
00:20:26
well maybe she lived in that neighborhood cuz her parents made her I think what happened here was one um you
00:20:33
know her her father being a firefighter he's a firefighters are normally friends
00:20:38
with police officers MH so if there was any suspicion towards him he handled it perfectly because he probably said hey I
00:20:47
understand that you guys are just doing your job and you're trying to find out one what happened and who did this to to
00:20:53
my daughter and so he probably was pretty cooperative and they were able to clear him pretty quickly well yes they
00:21:00
were and and I want to I want to go on record saying that I just saw a healthy relationship between her and her parents
00:21:06
now yeah but okay but you're a detective right uhhuh and she goes missing on a path that she runs with her father mhm
00:21:15
you should investigate that angle oh of course 100% just because you don't have a feeling of anything weird there you
00:21:22
got to investigate and what I'm saying is because he's a part of the system he's able to say hey do your job Clear
00:21:29
me and let's move forward yeah and in fact that is exactly what happened um you know they had DNA in this case so it
00:21:37
makes it pretty easy to clear people if they're willing to submit to the DNA test which her father did her boyfriend
00:21:44
did and other family members did as well they cleared a bunch of people immediately early on in this
00:21:50
investigation because of those DNA tests and being able to compare it to something now as far as the vrono family
00:21:59
goes their Theory when this case broke I shared the same suspicions as Karina's parents that someone living in the area
00:22:08
you had mentioned maybe she was tracked because she was very attractive and she did run that same route almost daily
00:22:15
that someone living in the area was responsible for this in fact Phil vrono he had announced publicly that he was
00:22:23
looking for a man Phil did not know the name of this man but he believed this is
00:22:29
a man that must have lived in the area this is because the man regularly ran along the bike path the man Phil said
00:22:37
had not been seen running the path since the date of the murder later when Phil announced this during a radio interview
00:22:46
and then a t a TV interview the man Phil was describing was listening and the man
00:22:52
had came forward he explained that he had had some type of surgery I believe and was not running due to his recovery
00:23:00
right just like the father yeah the the man while he remains nameless to the public he did volunteer uh DNA to submit
00:23:09
DNA and was checked and he was cleared well think about this though right you're just some guy that runs a path
00:23:17
right mhm and you just happen to see this this um you know attractive woman running with her father right right but
00:23:27
you see them constantly because you guys both run the same path and then you have
00:23:32
surgery you go oh something happened I can't run and then you hear on the radio that you might be a suspect yeah that
00:23:40
the father considers you to be a suspect which which he should I would if I were
00:23:44
her father and there was like some dude that I'm used to seeing and I would be like wait a second I've not seen that
00:23:50
guy since this date right you know let's make sure this is not just a coincidence
00:23:55
which it turns out to be yeah but if you're that guy you're looking yourself in the mirror and you're thinking do I
00:24:02
really look that creepy do I really put off this creepy Vibe I'm just running I'm just running for health reasons I'm
00:24:11
running to stay in shape and you think I'm a creepo you know what I mean I'm just
00:24:16
saying you'd have to look at yourself you'd have to think about your hairstyle maybe think about the shoes you're
00:24:21
wearing and and change that you don't want people thinking that you're some creep running in the park let's get into
00:24:27
the police suspicions um and I want this is one thing that seemed pretty clear from the get-go they outwardly stated
00:24:36
that they believe that they were looking for someone with a record with a with a
00:24:40
previous record of similar type offenses one it's because it was such a violent attack right and and it's also in broad
00:24:50
daylight pretty much I mean even though you're going to be pulling this girl into this Marsh there's people out there
00:24:57
yeah I mean so rightfully so this seems like an act that somebody that had priors would
00:25:03
commit and I think it's all those elements that that makes them convinced that this was a Serial offender maybe a
00:25:10
serial rapist or serial uh murderer uh you know this because this was stated to reporters and to the public and from
00:25:20
what they said in regards to the DNA testing remember they said that they had ran it through Nationwide State and
00:25:27
local databases no matches were found since the na n National Database okay sorry about that spit it out there was
00:25:36
only started in 1998 they said they were going back to look at records to see who
00:25:42
might have been in jail before that time or someone younger who might not have done jail time the chief stating that
00:25:50
they could be looking for a teenager this might imply that Karina's attack was the killer first and that there
00:25:57
would be more to follow but the FBI actually did a profile on who they thought this suspect was well and they
00:26:04
released this criminal profile to the public in hopes that it would drum up some leads and it reads as follows the
00:26:11
person who committed the assault is likely familiar with the park and he may have spent time there for any of a
00:26:18
variety of reasons the park is routinely used by fishermen dirt bike riders environmentalists and other outdoor
00:26:26
enthusiasts certain areas within the park serve as a Gathering Place for homeless and recreational drug and
00:26:34
alcohol users he may have been frequenting or even living in the park for days weeks or months prior to the
00:26:41
assault and was likely a familiar face to others who use the park on a regular basis following the assault on Karina he
00:26:51
likely stopped visiting or living in the park abruptly he may have moved his recreational activities or residence to
00:26:58
another area he may have provided a seemingly reasonable excuse for this change in Behavior he may have even
00:27:06
suggested his avoidance of the park was due to the danger there in the hours following the assault on Karina anyone
00:27:14
encountering him may have observed him to be disheveled in appearance with possible scratches or cuts to his hands
00:27:22
arms neck or face it could have appeared that he was in some type of fight or accident and he may have given any of a
00:27:31
variety of excuses for his appearance following the assault he may have notice noticeably changed his level of alcohol
00:27:40
drug or tobacco use he may have paid careful attention to Media reporting on the assault of Karina he may have taken
00:27:49
steps to limit his exposure to the media reporting and he may have changed his appearance well that's the FBI profile
00:27:57
but what what did the chief have to say Chief Robert Boyce with the NYPD said that detectives believe that the killing
00:28:03
was a random attack he said one theory is that the killer retreated through the weeds and emerged along the Belt Parkway
00:28:12
in Brooklyn pointing out that detectives traced all possible Escape Routes with no suspect on camera and no evidence
00:28:20
indicating any one person the chief added that detectives think that the wool hat that was seen in the sketch mhm
00:28:28
of the man that they wanted to talk to he thinks that that could be the key to figuring out who this person is
00:28:35
reminding us that the murder took place on August 2nd a hot day Karina was in shorts as we had discussed stating that
00:28:43
you usually don't wear a wool hat on a hot day in fact this is what made the people that had seen him that had gave
00:28:52
his description to the police this wool hat was one thing that made these people
00:28:57
remember him and two to take a closer look at him when they had seen him to to begin with mhm the people that spotted
00:29:05
this man all found it to be strange that he was in fact wearing this on such a hot day keep in mind this profile the
00:29:13
information provided to us by the police and the sketch these are all released months after the murder in hopes that
00:29:20
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00:31:26
2023 [Music] [Music] State Police are asking for your help in the investigation into the murder of a
00:31:49
woman who left for a jog in central Massachusetts this weekend and never came home the body of 27-year-old
00:31:56
Vanessa marot was found a half mile from her mother's home in Princeton Sunday night at this time police do not know
00:32:02
whether she was a targeted or a random victim victim victim targeted or random victim all
00:32:13
right we're back cheers mates and as you just heard in that audio clip just 5 days after Karina vetrano was murdered
00:32:20
while out for a jog about 175 M away another woman is attacked and murdered while is out for a run Vanessa marcot 27
00:32:30
years old who lived in New York was found dead in a wooded area near Brooks Station Road just about a half mile from
00:32:38
her mother's Princeton Massachusetts home Vanessa was in Princeton visiting her mother she was getting ready to
00:32:46
return to her home in New York later that day but was going to go out and get some exercise first police said the town
00:32:55
of Princeton they have haven't had a homicide in three decades we're talking about a smaller town Captain I believe
00:33:02
it's like 4,000 people live there MH um so yeah this is not a common occurrence for the Princeton police department now
00:33:12
who was Vanessa marot well she grew up in Leominster and attended the ban craftt
00:33:18
School in warer and then she graduated from Boston University in 2011 with honors uh she
00:33:25
was known for her love of running she spent her free time volunteering and helping others marcot was living in New
00:33:33
York City where she worked for Google as an account executive now the breakdown of how this last day went goes like this
00:33:43
around 1:15 p.m. Vanessa leaves her mother's house this is at 109 Brooks Station Road at 2:11 p.m. is the final
00:33:55
transmission from her cell phone she's not heard from police actually believe that her phone was either disabled or
00:34:04
turned off at this point so at 300 p.m. her mother Rosanna is going to report her missing this triggers a search that
00:34:12
expanded into neighboring towns and eventually the local police department there they brought in the state police
00:34:20
helicopter into the area as the hours dragged on and Vanessa was not found it it wasn't until 8:30 p.m. that Vanessa's
00:34:29
body is found just about A4 mile from her mother's home her feet and hands had been burned with gasoline all of her
00:34:39
clothes had been removed except for her sports bra one of her shoes was found at
00:34:44
the scene but the other shoe in her clothing including a baseball cap and her iPhone were not found right when
00:34:53
investigators searching with dogs found her body her nose was fractured and her throat was crushed evidence showed
00:35:01
Vanessa put up one hell of a fight against her attacker now regarding the initial
00:35:08
investigation on August 8th one day after she was killed investigators with the state police and with the warer
00:35:15
District Attorney's office they stated that they had recovered DNA evidence from the victim's body the district
00:35:23
attorney told the public we do not know if this is is a random act we are asking
00:35:29
residents to be careful to be very careful right now we have an active homicide investigation going on and you
00:35:36
can't be too careful now police did open up a 24-hour tip line specifically for this unsolved murder case yeah and the
00:35:45
tips really started coming rolling in eventually you know after several months had gone by they had received over 1,300
00:35:53
tips regarding this case now some of the more notable and helpful tips that came
00:35:58
in uh are as follows one according to to a local witness Vanessa stopped at a Mountainside Market on on harbon Road in
00:36:08
the afternoon to purchase a drink and this witness saw her leaving that market walking and talking on her cell phone
00:36:17
the best that the witness could provide is that this would have happened sometime after 100 p.m. on that day and
00:36:24
wasn't there another tip where some saw a vehicle possibly following her that day yeah someone had seen a person that
00:36:34
resembled Vanessa walking in the area that that was told that she was walking and they believed that they had seen a
00:36:42
vehicle that they thought to be following this person now there's not a whole lot of information with inside
00:36:50
this tip it sounds to me like it's something that was observed that was seen by a witness and not you know some
00:36:56
sometimes you see things and you just don't really pay attention to them because you're you're you're going along
00:37:01
about your ordinary business on an ordinary day oh I pay attention I we do a podcast every week
00:37:08
that tells me I need to pay attention you carry around a little uh stopad and just write down the events of the entire
00:37:15
day I have these Google Glasses that record everything now maybe the tip that would provide the most information came
00:37:22
from a Princeton resident by the name of Andrew squire he provides a tip that on
00:37:28
the day that Vanessa was murdered he had been driving on the road that she was believed to have been walking and
00:37:35
jogging on he told investigators that at around 1:45 p.m. on that same road he had saw a man standing next to a dark
00:37:45
Ford Escape that's a uh SUV okay when he passed the vehicle he noticed that the hood was up and a man
00:37:54
was standing next to the SUV the man was on a phone now Squire Andrew Squire believed that the man had been talking
00:38:02
to someone about getting help for his car it appeared to him that the vehicle had broke down possibly but we've seen
00:38:08
this ruse before yeah you know act like my car is broken and hey lady can you help me he then drives Andrew Squire
00:38:16
then drives past a second time this is a few minutes later right uh and the SUV is now closed and locked so Andrew must
00:38:26
have stopped to see if the vehicle was not locked according to his statement it's locked that's weird he stated that
00:38:32
no one is standing near the vehicle at this time and that the windows were so dark that he could not see inside the
00:38:39
vehicle right so he drives past the area where where marot's body uh is eventually found he sees this man
00:38:48
standing next to a dark Ford Escape the hood is up on the SUV and the man is on the phone appearing to talk to somebody
00:38:55
now one thing I I want to get into here a little bit Captain is I you know when we said that that he drove by a second
00:39:02
time this wasn't like he saw this and immediately thought it was suspicious so he turned around and he came back there
00:39:09
immediately to check on the situation no Andrew was going somewhere I believe he
00:39:14
was dropping uh either his family off or people he knew he was dropping them off
00:39:19
at church that day so he had drove them to the church from picking them up or from his home
00:39:27
and then drops them off at the church and then he returns going back the same route uh to return to wherever he'd come
00:39:34
from now the thing I want to point out here is the as far as what time that was we have this uh 145 time marker of the
00:39:42
time that he first saw the vehicle according to newspaper accounts it's all over the shop what time he saw the
00:39:48
vehicle to be locked and no man standing next to it so I don't even want to begin
00:39:53
to give a time for that but he drops these people off and he's traveling back through the area he must have thought
00:40:02
well you know what if this vehicle's still on the side of the road maybe I should see if this guy ever got a hold
00:40:07
of anybody to to to receive help right you know this is a smaller Community um I don't know that everybody would do
00:40:14
this in every Community but I can certainly see this going on in a strong in a smaller Community stopping to see
00:40:20
if the person had received any help this time the hood is closed on the truck it's locked up and he can't see into the
00:40:29
windows so he just goes about his business yeah but if your car breaks down and and maybe your cell phone dies
00:40:34
then you got to lock your car up and then go to a convenience store to make a call or whatever but okay so we have two
00:40:43
women that are attacked why running mhm we have under 200 mile distance yeah it's approximately 175 miles uh from
00:40:53
Howard Beach to the Princeton Massachusetts area and the strange thing here Captain is we
00:40:58
have two attacks that are so very similar we all we have victims that are so very similar in areas where you
00:41:07
wouldn't expect these type of attacks to go down and this is occurring just 5 days apart yeah from one another and it
00:41:15
makes you wonder because in the first case we go this possibly is a teenager this is possibly the per this is
00:41:22
possibly the suspect's first attack according to NYPD those are their words yes right did this person
00:41:30
drive you know uh 200 miles which would then also explain the car breaking down possibly is this person uh responsible
00:41:40
for both attacks well and the other strange thing that links these two uh crimes together as well is like like I
00:41:48
said the victims are so similar you have in Karina's case a 30-year-old uh woman from New York and
00:41:57
in Vanessa's case you have a 27-year-old woman from New York as well she's she's
00:42:02
in Massachusetts visiting her mother and her her extended family so we have a very similar victimology it's a very
00:42:09
strange situation and both of these cases really jumped in the spotlight at the time and think about it it's just
00:42:18
one less than a week apart the media immediately linked these cases together and these two victims will forever be
00:42:27
linked together because of the media putting these both in the spotlight now in the venessa case in Vanessa marot's
00:42:36
case we have something similar here as well because it's about 6 months later in February of
00:42:43
2017 the district attorney in that area released more information regarding a suspect an actual suspect in Vanessa's
00:42:51
murder and a profile was based off of DNA colle Ed where her body was found and based off of witness statements and
00:43:01
this is what they released to the public they believed Vanessa was most likely attacked at random by a stranger and
00:43:10
that the killer most likely lived in or frequented the area surrounding Princeton the Killer is a Hispanic or
00:43:18
Latino male in his late 20s to 30s with an athletic build average height in either short or shaved hair it is also
00:43:29
believed that the suspect either owned or had access to a dark colored SUV on the day of the murder would have had
00:43:37
visible injuries to his upper body in the days following the attack yeah it's just very eerie how similar they are
00:43:45
well the thing that jumps off the page to me here Captain is we're talking about 6 months later okay February of
00:43:53
2017 both these murders occurred early in August of 2016 and what I'm seeing here is a
00:44:01
concerted effort by both police departments to really take these cases on H very Hands-On because we're seeing
00:44:10
a lot of information coming out and being released to the public yeah and why because both of these cases they
00:44:16
have DNA evidence found on each of the victims this means guess what if you can get us and point us to the right guy
00:44:26
if we can get him to take that test or or or make him take that DNA test we got this dude we just need we need the
00:44:34
Public's help to come forward and point us in the right direction I find it very
00:44:39
interesting that um you know we're talking about two cases where you don't typically see the FBI come out and
00:44:48
release a profile yeah uh usually based on not not always based on a single attack or a single
00:44:56
case and in both instances we're getting a criminal profile of this individual now when I say individual there's a good
00:45:06
chance these these attacks are not linked other than through the media now what do we see in the first one we see
00:45:12
an FBI profile where they're specifically talking about an individual that that has some kind of Link he's
00:45:20
anchored to this park for some reason that's what the FBI believes and then you have the NYPD which I don't want to
00:45:28
get into this whole whole thing here but um it's it's interesting when you when you trace back criminal profiling and as
00:45:36
far as the you know the FBI being involved in this whole thing if you trace it back far enough you can
00:45:41
actually find that the Genesis of criminal profiling kind of started with the uh NYPD with a with an old case from
00:45:51
a long time ago so one thing that I'm curious about and we have a lot of New York listeners we have some uh officers
00:45:58
that are in the New York area if you guys know this let me know because one thing I've always been C curious about
00:46:04
with how big the police force is there if they actually do some criminal profiling themselves um because you have
00:46:12
the FBI information coming out about this suspect that's anchored to this park they believe that this person was
00:46:19
somebody that was in the park up to that actual murder and then poof he's not in
00:46:24
that Park anymore and then you have the New York Police Department stating that we believe that
00:46:31
sketch that we released is the secret this guy that was spotted in the area wearing a wool cap on a very hot day
00:46:38
this is the guy that we need to talk to we don't know if if he's the suspect for
00:46:42
certain we just know we need to speak with this guy and they're able to release this information they don't
00:46:49
always want to release profiles you investigators don't always want to release these things they they
00:46:55
don't want to show too much of their hand but in these cases where you have DNA and you only need to be pointed in
00:47:02
the right direction to get that guy right you have to keep this in the Public's attention you have to keep this
00:47:09
on the Public's mind and that requires releasing new information from time to time to keep the case in the spotlight
00:47:15
and provide tidbits of knowledge and Nuggets of information where people somebody somewhere goes aha aha I
00:47:25
remember something or I know somebody like that yeah and you see that in the situation with Vanessa marot's case as
00:47:33
well where we have we have even more information and the Curious Thing here is they're saying this information in
00:47:41
our profile is based off of DNA that was collected on her body and compiled with
00:47:47
witness statements remember we have Andrew Squire stating that he saw a man standing next to a dark colored SUV in
00:47:55
the criminal profile that they give they're saying that they believe that this man is a Hispanic or Latino male in
00:48:01
his late 20s to to 30s so we know that that Andrew Squire and maybe even others provided law enforcement with a physical
00:48:09
description of this man right they're not just pulling this out of the air they're also stating that this this
00:48:15
individual had access or owned a dark colored SUV which was described as right right like with Andrew Squire but with
00:48:23
the these cases possibly being connected they both have DNA so and the fact that
00:48:28
the media is connecting these cases they could do a DNA test to see if these DNA
00:48:33
even match correct and I'm curious to I'm curious if they did do that uh that's one thing that was never
00:48:40
mentioned in any report that I could find where we have the media linking these cases together we don't see that
00:48:49
from either Police Department we don't see that publicly but you're in law enforcement you don't have to show your
00:48:55
whole hand but this has to be an angle that you're looking at mhm especially if you're in Boston and you go well [ __ ]
00:49:01
this just happened you know uh 5 days ago yeah 170 some miles away yeah and so we have two young successful women both
00:49:12
murdered within the same week under similar circumstances we have um Karina vatrano murdered on August 2nd 2016 and
00:49:22
then Vanessa marott murdered just 5 days later on August 7th now one thing that was very obvious and very apparent from
00:49:30
the get-go and we talked about how close of a relationship that the vetranos had
00:49:37
with their daughter yeah and one thing that they were not going to do was let this case fall from the Public's eyes
00:49:46
they wanted to keep this her name in the news they wanted to keep her name and picture where everybody can see it to be
00:49:53
reminded of what had happened until we can get this thing solved it's the old John Walsh theory that if you can keep
00:50:01
the public reminded of this situation that's the only way to keep the tips and information coming in yeah and we have a
00:50:09
very powerful piece of audio here where we have Kathy vrono addressing the killer of her daughter yeah and she uses
00:50:18
um let's just say captain language so if you have kids in the car you probably want to not let them listen listen to
00:50:27
this I reiterate everything that my husband said 100 fold I thank Howard Beach beyond words every single one of
00:50:46
you and now look into my eyes everybody because I'm going to address the coward whoever you
00:51:04
are whether you're one whether you're 10 I'm going to just use singular but I'm here to remind you in
00:51:14
case you don't already know that now it's the whole entire world against you the whole entire
00:51:30
world knows what a pathetic puny weak piece of Filth piece of [ __ ] that you are the whole world knows that and
00:51:48
soon I know they're all going to know your face as well soon we're going to have a face to the
00:51:59
[ __ ] piece of garbage that you are and above and beyond you all you know that my daughter was a force to be
00:52:16
reckoned with and I guarantee you I guarantee you you [ __ ] that you will be Reckoning
00:52:27
with that force not only for the rest of your pathetic life but for the rest of Eternity as you
00:52:36
[ __ ] burn in hell I guarantee you that my daughter was a big believer of Karma and as you could see she's
00:52:51
magical the whole world knows she's magical and I guarantee you you will pay [Music]
00:53:09
forever good for them I love these parents yeah I wish they were my parents yeah they're very good people
00:53:18
and it it's easy to see why uh Karina was so close with her parents they were a big influence and a big part of her
00:53:25
life and we see that as well with our other victim Vanessa marot I mean she she lives in New York she's very
00:53:34
successful I mean that's a hell of a job to work at Google MH and she is she goes
00:53:40
goes home every other week to visit her mother and her extended family so we're talking about two very good people yeah
00:53:48
but I love this mom because she doesn't hold back she says you're weak you're coward and then you hear her dad in the
00:53:57
background he says piece of [ __ ] cuz that's what you are you're piece of [ __ ]
00:54:05
so I applaud her and him I think that's uh the right approach all right there's a lot more to get to in both cases in
00:54:12
the murder case of Karina vetrano as well as Vanessa marot and Captain you keep saying that there's
00:54:28
some kind of announcement to make um are you leaving the garage I'm leav I'm pregnant is what what happened uh I had
00:54:37
to had a little too much fun had too much uh Bourbon and now I'm pregnant no um some of the stuff we can't talk about
00:54:44
yet because it's not finalized but one of the things that we are working on trying to figure out how to do and we'll
00:54:50
be doing pretty soon is we'll be doing a 20 to 30 minute extra episode every week
00:54:57
um I don't know how this will be released yet uh calling it Loosely titled you know True Crime garage off
00:55:04
the Record there's a lot of conversations that me and you have about true crime documentaries about other
00:55:11
cases that we covered in the past that maybe there's a new update that we haven't been able to get to um because
00:55:17
it's really hard some sometimes people say hey there's some new information on the deli murders or or the Brian schaer
00:55:24
case or something right and sometimes that information is only 15 20 minutes worth of new information or less and and
00:55:34
unfortunately this here our regular weekly show is not really the platform to get that information out and back to
00:55:42
you uh we're very lucky lucky and thankful that we have listeners that stay active on some of these cases if
00:55:49
not all of them checking for news that's coming out checking for updates and then
00:55:54
a lot of times the listeners are providing us with those updates and and I I do want to make a clear announcement
00:56:00
I did not respond to all the emails but I must have had 40 or 50 people tell me that there's been an update in the boys
00:56:09
on the tracks case I if I didn't respond to your email I apologize but I got so many of them and I appreciate the update
00:56:17
um that's something that we'll discuss here on our blog and we've always used our blog as kind of a way to keep the
00:56:23
discussions going about the different cases and to provide some updates whether it be coming from the listeners
00:56:29
or from us ourselves so this if we're able to get this off the ground here Captain this will not only allow us the
00:56:38
opportunity to do and discuss some different things on a weekly basis but it will also provide us with a good
00:56:45
solid platform for where we can provide updates to cases that we have already covered yeah it's going to be a little
00:56:51
bit of a catchall really I mean cuz there's some sometimes that we're on the phone for 4 hours talking about cases
00:56:57
and maybe we'll be able to um you know record some of those clips and and re release those as well so that is part of
00:57:05
the big announcement there is more to come but I didn't want to keep teasing you you know right I don't want to I
00:57:11
don't want to be like that all right see you back here in the garage tomorrow until then everybody be good be kind and
00:57:18
don't [Music] litter [Music] [Applause] [Music] Angie's List is now Angie and we've
00:57:51
heard a lot of theories about why I thought it was an Eco move few your words less paper no it was so you could
00:57:57
say it faster no it's to be more iconic must be a tech thing but those aren't quite right it's because now you can
00:58:05
compare upfront prices book a service instantly and even get your project handled from start to finish sounds easy
00:58:12
it is and it makes us so much more than just a list get started at angie.com that's ngi or download the app today

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most emotional
  • 80
    Most intense
  • 75
    Most shocking

Episode Highlights

  • Karina Vetrano's Tragic Murder
    30-year-old Karina Vetrano was murdered during a routine jog near her home.
    “She was much more than just a face on a flyer.”
    @ 04m 54s
    November 16, 2023
  • Community Mourning
    Friends and family gathered to remember Karina, lighting candles in her honor.
    “She lit up the room when she walked in.”
    @ 05m 00s
    November 16, 2023
  • A Father's Heartbreaking Search
    Phil Vetrano searched for his daughter, hoping to protect her one last time.
    “Finding her was the one last act of protection.”
    @ 10m 55s
    November 16, 2023
  • Two Murders, Five Days Apart
    Just five days after Karina Vetrano's murder, Vanessa Marcot is attacked and killed while jogging.
    “Another woman is attacked and murdered while out for a run.”
    @ 32m 20s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Investigation Begins
    Police launch a search for Vanessa Marcot after she goes missing during a jog.
    “Her mother reports her missing, triggering a search that expanded into neighboring towns.”
    @ 34m 09s
    November 16, 2023
  • DNA Evidence Found
    Investigators recover DNA evidence from Vanessa's body, indicating a possible lead in the case.
    “We do not know if this is a random act.”
    @ 35m 18s
    November 16, 2023
  • Keeping the Cases Alive
    Families of victims emphasize the importance of public awareness in solving murders.
    “They wanted to keep her name in the news until we can get this thing solved.”
    @ 49m 43s
    November 16, 2023
  • A Mother's Vow
    Kathy Vetrano confronts her daughter's killer with fierce determination and emotion.
    “The whole world knows what a pathetic, puny, weak piece of filth you are.”
    @ 51m 01s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • She lit up the room when she walked in.
    Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185
  • Finding her was the one last act of protection.
    Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185
  • I'm just running for health reasons.
    Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185
  • This is not a common occurrence for the Princeton police department.
    Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185
  • The whole world knows what a pathetic, puny, weak piece of filth you are.
    Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185
  • I love these parents. I wish they were my parents.
    Murdered Joggers /// Part 1 /// 185

Key Moments

  • True Crime Garage01:41
  • Running for Health24:11
  • Small Town Shock33:09
  • Public's Help Needed44:34
  • Criminal Profiling Insights45:38
  • Emotional Confrontation51:01
  • Victims' Families Unite53:48
  • Announcement of New Episodes54:31

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown