Dead Jogger's Family Raises Money for Massive Reward

Original goal of $100K was met within hours
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 11, 2016 11:41 AM CDT
Dead Jogger's Family Raises Money for Massive Reward
In this Aug. 6, 2016 photo, mourners carry the casket of Karina Vetrano from St. Helen's Church following her funeral in the Howard Beach section of the Queens borough of New York.   (Steven Sunshine/Newsday via AP)

The parents of Karina Vetrano, the jogger murdered in Queens last week, teamed up with others in their close-knit community, Howard Beach, to try to come up with a reward to supplement the $20,000 being offered by the NYPD to catch Vetrano's killer. The goal of their GoFundMe campaign was to raise $100,000—a goal that was met in hours, the New York Daily News reports, and, in just one day, nearly $200,000 has been raised. New fliers featuring Vetrano's picture and noting a $100,000 reward have already been put up, per an update on the fundraising page. The initial $100,000 fundraising goal, announced Wednesday morning, has been raised to $200,000, Newsday reports.

Meanwhile, the Vetranos are in close contact with the NYPD and are talking to the media about their daughter. Her father, Phil, who normally jogged with her, recalled their last conversation: "I said, I don’t think it’s a good idea that you go in there. And she said, it’s OK Daddy, I’ll be all right," Vetrano tells PIX 11. Not long after that, when she failed to return home from the run, "I got a feeling. It came over me," Vetrano says. "And I got off that couch, and I went looking for her." Vetrano says the reward money is being offered with no questions asked, DNAinfo reports: "I don’t care if he turns himself in for that money. Somebody knows something, and somebody's going to say something." (More reward stories.)

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