Jogger-slay susp said ‘sorry, ma’
MINUTES AFTER his arrest, the man charged with strangling Queens jogger Karina Vetrano asked a detective to pass along an incriminating message to his mom, the investigator said Tuesday.
“When I put him in the cell, he said, ‘Tell my mother I’m sorry,’ ” Detective Christian Quezada testified at a pretrial hearing in Queens Supreme Court.
Chanel Lewis, 21, is accused of pouncing on the 30-year-old Vetrano as she was running along a remote path near her Howard Beach home on Aug. 2, 2016.
Prosecutors say the babyfaced suspect confessed to punching Vetrano several times in the face before wrapping his arms around her throat and squeezing the life out of her.
“I was just mad at the time,” Lewis (photo) said in his confession. “I beat her to let my emotions out. I never really meant to hurt her, it just happened.” Lewis, of East New York, Brooklyn, was arrested in February after he was linked to the murder by DNA found under Vetrano’s fingernails.
After initially signaling that they would pursue an insanity defense, the suspect’s lawyers changed course after doctors told them he’s not legally insane.