The detective credited as being key to solving Karina Vetrano’s murder was personally congratulated by Mayor de Blasio Monday.
With NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce at his side, Lt. John Russo shared a moment with the mayor backstage after a Bronx press conference in which the murder case and the latest city crime stats were discussed.
Minutes earlier, Boyce remarked to reporters about how difficult it had been to track down the suspect, Chanel Lewis, 20, in the Queens jogger’s killing.
“This case was very similar to a needle in a haystack because this individual had no prior arrests,” Boyce explained.
He singled out Russo for helping crack the 6-month-old case, saying the cop “deserves a lot of credit.”
“He followed up on a memory of his when someone was stopped for suspicious behavior,” Boyce said. “We drilled down on that.”
Russo had spotted Lewis back in May, three months before the killing, while following up on a 911 call about a suspicious person in Howard Beach, Queens.
Lewis was either prowling in back yards or casing parked cars at the time, sources said. The cop, who has family in the area, called other officers to the scene to take down Lewis’ information.
Last week, Russo reminded investigators on the Vetrano case about the incident, and they went to take a look at Lewis.
Police officers caught up to Lewis on Thursday, and he agreed to provide them a DNA sample.
Investigators matched it to genetic material found under Vetrano’s fingernails, on her back and on her backpack, and Lewis was arrested Saturday.
Lewis confessed to detectives that he killed the 30-year-old Vetrano after he crossed paths with her on her daily jog along a desolate dirt path in Spring Creek Park, sources have said.
During Monday’s press conference, both NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill and de Blasio also praised Boyce.
“This was an extremely tough case to crack when it came to the murder of Ms. Vetrano, and you’ve done an amazing job,” de Blasio told Boyce.
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