DNA evidence has led investigators to make an arrest in last yearr's strangling of a woman who encountered her killer while on an evening run in New York.
Chanel Lewis, 20, of Brooklyn, faces a murder charge in the August 2 slaying of 30-year-old Karina Vetrano, whose body was found amid the weeds in a marshy park not far from her Queens home.
The closely watched case caused fear among women who run alone and baffled investigators, who for months were unable to find anyone who matched the probable suspect's DNA that was found under the victim's fingernails as she fought back. The DNA was also found on her neck and phone.
New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said the break came after police went back through 911 calls and found one reporting a suspicious person in the area near the attack.
Investigators interviewed Lewis on Thursday and obtained a DNA sample from him, which Boyce said was tested and linked to DNA found at the scene and on the victim.
"Karina helped us identify this person," Boyce said. "She had the DNA under her nails. She had touch DNA on her back and there was more DNA on her cellphone. So three incidents. That's how we were able to bring this profile up. And that's how we made the link."
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