As running clubs across the nation, as well as individual joggers, take the streets to run a racially symbolic – a white guilt penance? – 2.23 miles (#IRunWithMaud) to show solidarity with the black male who died in Brunswick, Georgia, a story from just three years serves as a reminder white privilege is nothing more than a pernicious myth.
Karina Vetrano was a white woman who went out for a jog in her Queens (New York City) neighborhood. She never came home, as she was sexually assaulted and murdered by a black male.
Karina Vetrano: Where the case into the Queens jogger’s death stands now, AMNY.com, April 23, 2020
Chanel Lewis, the man convicted of murdering Karina Vetrano when she went for a run near her Howard Beach home on Aug. 2, 2016, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday.
Vetrano was found strangled and sexually assaulted in a marshy area of Spring Creek Park, police said. More than six months later, on Feb. 5, 2017, police arrested Lewis, then 20 years old. He was charged with second-degree murder in connection with Vetrano’s death.
In November, a jury could not agree on a verdict and a mistrial was declared. Lewis’ retrial ended April 1 when the jury returned a guilty verdict after five hours of deliberations. His defense attorneys motioned to toss the verdict, citing claims of jury misconduct, but a judge on Monday denied the request.
Scroll down for more about Lewis and the investigation leading up to his arrest.
The suspect
Chanel Lewis confessed to committing Vetrano’s murder, according to his taped statements to police. His DNA, which he gave voluntarily to police, was matched to samples recovered from Vetrano’s neck, under her fingernails and on her cellphone, police said.
Lewis was unemployed and lived with his mother in East New York when he was arrested, police said. He doesn’t have a criminal record, but police identified three quality-of-life summonses dating back to 2013 that Lewis received around the Howard Beach crime scene.
Lewis became a possible suspect the first week of February 2017 when NYPD Lt. John Russo recalled a complaint from May 2016. In testimony, Russo said he had become suspicious when he saw Lewis wearing a hoodie and sweatpants on a hot day, looking at houses in Howard Beach. The next day, he saw Lewis pacing in a parking lot, and residents reported seeing a similarly dressed man carrying a crowbar and going in and out of backyards, he said.
Russo called the local precinct and officers stopped Lewis. They didn’t find a crowbar and did not observe any crime, but took down his name and address, officials said.
When investigators located the patrol report, they interviewed Lewis at his Essex Street home. During interviews, Lewis described a puddle near the location Vetrano’s body was found, which helped convince investigators that he was at the park the same time of her killing, a law enforcement source said.
Lewis told police the alleged attack was impulsive, sparked by problems at home.
“I never really meant to hurt her, it just happened,” he said. “I was just mad at that time. I beat her to let my emotions out.”
Police said Lewis tried to complete a sex act but apparently didn’t.
Lewis’ family has denied that he is capable of committing the murder and his defense attorneys argued that his confessions had been coerced.
His lawyers also argued that the stop on May 31, 2016, that ultimately led to Lewis’ arrest, was based on a vague description that escalated to an improper detention, according to court filings. As a result, the DNA evidence and his confession are tainted, they said.
Queens State Supreme Court Gregory Lasak rejected the argument that the stop was illegal and ruled on Feb. 26, 2018, that the evidence was admissible in the case.
No video of this murder exists, so it won’t be run 24/7 online, or on CNN, MSNBC, BET, or via Black Twitter to create an anti-white lynch demanding the concept of innocent until proven guilty in a court of law be retired for immediate, Old Testament-inspired expiation.
The name Karina Vetrano is one you’ve probably never encountered, but the name Ahmaud Arbery is being seared into your brain.
Karina Vetrano was a white female murdered by a black as she went for a jog; we are supposed to believe Ahmaud Arbery was going for jog, though he was wearing cargo shorts (again, John Cena is the only athlete to work out – or wrestle – in cargo shorts) and boots.
One final note on how Karina Vetrano fought for her life to the last breath:
Police said Vetrano was strangled to death and possibly sexually assaulted. She was face down with her teeth broken, scrapes on her legs and her sports bra and shorts pulled down, sources said.
Police sources also said one of her hands was clutching grass, indicating she may have been dragged. Police said she was found 15 feet off the path.
“This woman put up a ferocious fight right to the end,” Boyce said.
Karina Vetrano “put up a ferocious fight” during her murder, NYPD says, CBS News, August 5, 2016
No running clubs across the nation, or even individual joggers, took to streets to run in the memory of Karina Vetrano, for her murder was just another black-on-white killing, the likes of which polite white people aren’t supposed to publicly acknowledge as ever occurring.
White people hoping to maintain their status in Black-Run America (BRA) must never, ever notice racial patterns in crime or give any hint to other whites they are aware of Karina Vetrano’s story.
The next time you go for a jog, do it in the memory of Karina.
Because if you don’t, no one else will. They’ll be too busy prattling on about Ahmaud Arbery.
Social policy in America should be based on the documented facts surrounding what happened to Karina Vetrano, not the highly suspect story being manufactured around the purportedly angelic (hunted down by stereotypical white southern rednecks for sport) Ahmaud Arbery.
Her name is Karina Vetrano.
