Accused killer of Queens jogger complaining about treatment in prison
The suspect in the murder of Karina Vetrano has been triggered by what he described as lewd acts on behalf of prisoners and guards at Rikers Island.
The suspect in the murder of Karina Vetrano, a woman who was sexually attacked and strangled while running near her family’s New York City home, has been triggered by what he described as lewd acts on behalf of prisoners and guards at Rikers Island, according to a report.
“Captains are trying to tell inmates to beat me up,” Chanel Lewis, 22, told The New York Post about corrections supervisors.
WARNING: DISTURBING DETAILS BELOW
Lewis added that correction officers were instructing inmates to call him a “f----t, the a-word and the p-word.”
Lewis told the Post that the semen of his fellow inmates -- who were masturbating frequently -- got into his food. He said the inmates got the semen on the hands of female correction officers who then passed him his food and water.
“Female guards hands [are a] health hazard. Food inside the hot pot is contaminated,” Lewis told the Post.
Lewis, 22, was accused of killing 30-year-old Karina Vetrano as she ran on a park trail in Howard Beach, Queens, in August 2016. Prosecutors said Vetrano had been sexually abused and strangled. Her father discovered the body.
A mistrial was declared in late November.
Prosecutors said they’ll move to retry Lewis, who is expected back in court on Jan. 20.
The closely watched case had baffled investigators, who for months were unable to find anyone who matched DNA that was found under the victim’s fingernails as she fought back. The DNA also was found on her neck and phone.
Robert Boyce, the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, said the break came after police went back through 911 calls and found one reporting a suspicious person in the area near the attack. Lewis was tested and linked to DNA found at the scene and on the victim, Boyce said.
In his taped confession, Lewis told police that he was upset with a neighbor and that when he came across Vetrano on a secluded section of a marshland park, he “just lost it.” He said he beat and strangled her but did not molest her.
“This girl jogging... and you know, one thing led to another,” he told detectives. “Hitting her and stuff like that.”
His attorneys said the confession was wrongly obtained and should not have been admissible in the trial. They said he confessed only because he wanted to go home after waiting hours in an interrogation room.
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Defense attorney Robert Moeller said the case was based on circumstantial evidence. He argued that the crime scene was corrupted and that DNA evidence was suspect.
“This case is far from conclusive, and the jury’s deadlock proves this,” the Legal Aid Society, which helped provide defense for Lewis, said in a statement. “The death of Karina Vetrano is tragic and our hearts go out to her family, but the rush to criminalize our client is not the answer nor is it justice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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