THE JOGGER AND THE SHADOW A QUEENS MURDER UNRAVELED

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to True Detective Stories podcast, a podcast where homicide
detectives share their most intense cases. Let's begin unlock the

(00:22):
secrets of your soul with the new book The Soul's Odyssey,
written by doctor Carlos. This transformative book blends mythology, psychology,
and epic tales like Dante's Inferno to guide you to
know yourself better discover practical tools for healing and growth.
Perfect for clinicians, clients, or anyone seeking a deeper connection
with their inner work. It's going to be adding a

(00:43):
new component to this podcast. We'll be sharing a true
detective story every week. If we don't have a guest,
It's been a little harder to get guests sometimes. So
today's story starts in the summer of twenty sixteen in Queens,
New York. We're it hummed with life, but a shadow
fell over Spring Creek Park. Karina Vetanaho, a thirty year
old artist with a radiant smile, set out for her

(01:04):
daily jog on a hog a second. She thrived on
the rhythm of her runs and the crunch of gravel
under her feet, but this time she didn't return. Her father, Phil,
a retired firefighter, scoured the park as dusk settled, his
heart was sinking. In the tall reeds, he found her beaten, strangled,
and assaulted. The vibrant runner was gone, and a city recoiled.

(01:28):
Detective Barry Brown, an NYPD homicide veteran, took the case.
The crime scene offered a sliver of hope DNA under
Karina's fingernails evidence of a fight, yet searches through criminal
databases yielding no matches. Brown's team pounded the pavement, interviewing
park regulars and chasing whispers of suspicious loaners. The trail
grew cold, and fear kept joggers off their paths. Karina's

(01:50):
family refused to let her fade, though, Phil spearheaded community rallies,
plastering flyers and raising over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
offering a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar reward. Months
dragged on the case, a stubborn puzzle. In early twenty seventeen,
a breakthrough came from a neighbour's memory. A young man
loitering near the park months before they took us honed

(02:13):
in on Channel Lewis, a twenty year old with no
criminal history. Brown's stream secured a voluntary DNA sample, and
the lab confirmed and matched to the crime scene. Under interrogation,
Lewis unraveled, confessing to a sudden, unexplicable rage that drove
him to attack Carena. The confession stunned investigators no motive
fully explained the brutality. Like dase, went to trial, but

(02:36):
a hung jury in twenty eighteen forced a retrial. In
twenty nineteen, justice landed Lewis was convicted and sentenced to
life without parole. You may be asking why did they
get a hung jury in the first place. One of
the jurors deliberated for about two days but could not
reach the unanimous verdict on whether Lewis, accused of sexually

(02:57):
assaulting and strangling Vitronto in two thousand and six teen,
was guilty of murder key factors contributing to it with
circumstantial evidence. The defense argued that the case relied heavily
on circumstantial evidence. The crime scene was potentially compromised. Lewis's
videotaped confession, which she allegedly admitted to strangely and beating Vitronto,
was a focal point. He claimed, Betronto drowned, contradicting the

(03:20):
official cause of death, which was strangulation. The jury was
split on whether Lewis was guilty of murder, despite agreement
they had sexually assaulted Vitronto. Some jurors felt the evidence
was not strong enough to convict on the murder charge.
The defense arguments Lewis's attorney emphasized weaknesses in the prosecution case,
such as the lack of direct evidence tying Lewis conclusively

(03:42):
to the murder. While in the retrial of Channel Lewis
or Channel Lewis with the murder of Karina Vitrano, he
was found guilty on all charges, this time first degree
and second degree murder and sexual abuse. So what happened
this time? Well? Prosecutors relied on videotape confession where Lewis
admitted to attacking Madrona, though he claimed she drowned, which

(04:02):
contradicted the medical examiner's findings. The DNA evidence, though contested,
linked Lewis to the crime scene, and his statements about
being in Spring Creek Park on August second, when Vitronto
was killed, was pivotal. The jury delivered it for less
than a day it start, contrast to the first trial's
Deadlocke and reached the unanimous guilty verdict. This time, the

(04:22):
quicker decision was attributed to a stronger presentation by the
prosecution and possibly a different jury composition. The defense continued
to argue that the evidence was circumstantial, the crime scene
was mishandled, and Lewis's confession was unreliable. However, these arguments
were less effective for the second jury. Lewis was sentenced
to life in prison without the possibility of parole for
the murder. So as we continue with the story for Queens,

(04:49):
the resolution brought relief, but no joy in Spring Creek Park.
Once Karina's sanctuary now held her ghost, Detective Brown, haunted
by her courage, visited the small memorial where runners left flowers.
The Retronto family found closure, yet the ache of loss lingered.
Karina's fight captured in that DNA fueled a relentless investigation
that cracked an impossible case. Her story, though tragic, proved

(05:11):
that persistence in community could pierce the darkest shadows. One
of the things they did with the DNA is to
give you an insight investigation wise, is the polymerase chain
reaction the PCR in short tandem repeat analysis. The pcr
amplifies small DNA samples, making them usable for analysis. In
Karina's case, DNA under her fingernails was analyzed using STR

(05:35):
to create a profile. Initially, it didn't match CODIS, but
when Channel Lewis provided a voluntary sample in twenty seventeen,
the STR confirmed a direct match. The STR is highly
reliable for individual identification, requiring only trace amounts of DNA,
for instance blood or skin cells. It was widely used
in twenty fifteen. In twenty twenty for its accuracy and compatibility.

(05:58):
The other one who's touched DNA analysis, and this was
the DNA under Vitrono's nails, likely included touch DNA from
her struggles she scratched her attacker. The trace evidence was
critical when larger samples weren't available. Touch DNA expanded forensic
capabilities into twenty tens. So there's our murder mystery, and
thankfully they solved it and there was justice brought to

(06:22):
Karina Vitronto. You can also find our other podcast called
Cold Cases Solved, where we actually share cold cases that
are solved, and that one's really to give hope and
inspire people out there that have lost a loved one
to murder. Thank you for listening.