Family of NYC jogger brutally killed in 2016 watches video of alleged killer's confession

Karina Vetrano was killed in 2016 while she was running in Queens, New York.

The parents of a New York City woman brutally killed in August 2016 watched video of her alleged killer explain to investigators how he murdered their daughter.

Karina Vetrano’s parents and more than a dozen relatives were present in the Queens courtroom, breaking into sobs as they listened to Chanel Lewis recounted to a cop the graphic details of the beating. Lewis confessed to breaking Vetrano’s teeth, beating her unconscious, and finally strangling her, The New York Post reported.

Through tears, Vetrano’s mom clutched a golden crucifix as she watched footage of Lewis’ confession played at a pre-trial hearing. Lewis could be seen describing how he was mad to the point of seeing red and grabbed Vetrano as she ran past him through a marshy swamp. Vetrano allegedly clawed at Lewis’ face, as he hit her five times, rendering her unconscious, Lewis told the cops, according to the report.

“I finished her off, I strangled her. She fell into the puddle and drowned,” he said in the footage. “I got up and wiped off the blood. And she was calm, she was in the pool [of water].”

After confessing to Vetrano’s murder during a Feb. 2017 interview, the 21-year-old Lewis asked a prosecutor how he could pay his way out of the charges, according to the report.

“I can straighten out my stuff?” Adding, “Well, you’re the DA, right? Where do we go from here? Is there a restitution program or something?”

Vetrano’s jogging shorts were found to be pulled down but Lewis insisted he did not molest her. Asked why he killed Vetrano, he replied, “Because a guy moved into my house and the neighborhood.”

Lewis’ family had evidently left the courtroom during the tape of his confession. Vetrano’s father chastised Lewis’ relatives for their unwillingness to watch, The New York Post reported.

“His family left the room,” he said. “They couldn’t listen to his confession. We know where the coward got his cowardliness from.”