On Sunday, the mother of a 30-year-old jogger who was strangled to death last week in a New York City park delivered a pointed message to the killer:
You can run, but you can't hide.
During a news conference less than 24 hours after she'd buried her daughter, Karina Vetrano's mother, Cathy, unleashed a profanity-filled tirade directed at the unknown assailant who sexually assaulted and killed the woman she called "a force to be reckoned with."
Standing outside her Howard Beach home, surrounded by friends and family, Cathy promised her daughter's killer that he'd "be reckoning with that force not only for the rest of your pathetic life, but for the rest of eternity as you f------ burn in hell."
Before speaking, Cathy — a cancer survivor — had removed her sunglasses and briefly shuddered with anger.
"The whole world knows what a pathetic, puny, weak piece of filth you are," she said at the news conference. "Soon, we're going to have a face to the d---less piece of garbage that you are."
According to police, Karina was killed Tuesday night, but she ferociously fought her attacker until her dying breath. Her father found her body face-down in Queens' Gateway National Park on Tuesday night, about a dozen feet from the jogging trail, hours after she left for her daily run.
A police source told PEOPLE that Vetrano bit her attacker so hard that her teeth cracked. The source also said investigators have recovered DNA from Vetrano's bruised body.
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Cathy said Sunday her "daughter was a big believer in karma, and as you can see, she's magical. The whole world knows she's magical. And I guarantee you will pay forever."
Karina's father, Philip, also spoke Sunday and thanked the New York City Police Department for its determined and dogged investigation.
"Without their help, we would be lost," he said. "All of the police have been tireless, courageous, kind, generous, and helpful beyond words."
Over the weekend, police said they found a sneaker and a set of headphones belonging to Karina and are hoping to recover fingerprint evidence from the items, as they attempt to identify her assailant.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for any information about her death.
