Karina Vetrano
Police are still searching for a suspect behind Karina Vetrano's murder. Photo: Getty

Karina Vetrano's father claims police should be questioning a mystery jogger who used to run the same path as his daughter before her brutal murder in New York City earlier this month. Phil Vetrano claims a man who regularly ran in the same area in Queens as his daughter could be to blame, Pix 11 reported on Tuesday.

Vetrano shared the mystery jogger’s exact route and insisted that he would see the man four to five days out of the week during an interview with Guardian Angel Founder Curtis Sliwa on WABC radio. However, since his daughter’s death, Vetrano said he has not seen the man, the New York Daily News reported.

Giving a physical description, Vetrano explained that the man was 5-foot-9 and 150-pounds, between 30 to 35 years old. Vetrano went on to describe the man as someone who is “extremely fit” with a “really strange stride.”

Karina Vetrano was reported missing on Aug. 2 when she failed to return home from her afternoon jog. Worried about his daughter, Phil Vetrano contacted a friend who was also a member of the NYPD and went searching for her. The 30-year-old jogger's body was found by her father and officers about 15 feet from the running trail that is a part of Spring Creek Park near the Belt Parkway in Queens.

The victim was lying face down with her pants pulled down. Authorities said that although she was strangled and possibly sexually assaulted, she put up a fight against her attacker. The Daily Mail reported that authorities were unable to match the DNA found on the body to anyone in police records. The current reward for information leading to the arrest of her murder has grown to $300,000.

Despite Phil Vetrano’s suspicions, the NYPD said the mystery jogger that Karina Vetrano’s father is describing is not a suspect in the murder.