Philip Vetrano
Philip Vetrano is the heartbroken father of a pretty Queens jogger who was murdered in a Queens marsh, reports say.
Philip Vetrano last saw his 30-year-old daughter Tuesday evening as she headed for a jog in Howard Beach, N.Y. He reported her missing later in the afternoon.
The body of her daughter, Karina Vetrano, was discovered in a swamp at Spring Creek Park, not far from her home, around 10:40 p.m., police said.
Philip Vetrano’s daughter was a keen runner. She and her dad would run together almost every day until he got injured.
Karina earned master’s degree from St. John’s University in 2015, and worked as a caterer at the Vetro Lounge in Howard Beach.
60-year-old Philip Vetrano –a retired FDNY firefighter –was very close to his daughter. Karina called him her hero and best friend in a picture she posted to her Instagram for his 60th birthday.
Karina was an outdoors kind of gal and fitness enthusiast who also enjoyed writing. The beautiful brunette kept a blog diary, in which she shared ‘a collection of conversations, contradictions & poetic conflicts’ with the world. As an introduction, she writes:
Not by choice, but by compulsion. I write my thoughts out, like this, to no one in particular. The majority of my life is on paper; every day, every year for the past 10 years in a collection of diaries. My very first one, however, was a Lion King diary in which I would write about how I must marry Anthony Ventucci, a boy in my sister’s eighth grade class, and would sign my name “Karina Ventucci.” I was 7.
I rattle my brain replaying the past, trying to stay in the present. I ache with missing certain people, even though I know I shouldn’t. I wish, pray, and yearn to reach a place where I have all that I want: Love, peace, success. Happiness. But it always seems like something’s missing, or something’s getting taken away, or something’s being added.
Philip Vetrano and his lovely daughter had a special bond. The father-daughter duo had lots in common. Karina ran track in her teens, at the high school were her father had imposed his own record. She writes about it in a post where she says she fell in love with the sport and was also pushed by her last name to become the number one.
She underwent surgery which left her with an eight-inch scar in both legs in order to continue competing.
Philip Vetrano was her coach while she trained for track in high school. In recent years, he made Karina’s dream trip come true by driving cross country with her.
Philip Vetrano is said to have warned her daughter not to run that path. According to authorities she was strangled and possibly sexually assaulted. She was found with her pants pulled down and her cell phone was also found nearby.
As part of the crime scene investigation, surveillance videos from nearby homes are being looked at by police.
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