Feature assignment, Final

Jillian Clemenza

Feature Assignment

  On August 2^nd, 2016 at around 7:30pm it was still light out, a warm summer evening. I was just returning home from the gym, when my phone rang and an unknown number displayed on the screen, which I never answer. For some reason I felt inclined to pick up, not knowing in that moment that it would be a phone call that would forever change my life. “Hello?”… The events that took place over the next four hours can never be fully described, they are events that I’ve only seen in horror films before this night. It feels like I’m still waiting for “the end” to come across the screen and to fade out, for the actors to take their bow, being that one of my best friends is the main character.

    Karina Vetrano, 30, went missing on August 2^nd, 2016 around 6pm in Howard Beach, Queens. “Jill, Karina’s missing, is she with you!?” said Natasha, Karina’s friend. Fast-forward about one hour, 8:30pm and I find myself in the weeds, flashlight in hand, as the last minutes of sunlight fade into darkness. I didn’t fully comprehend what I was doing in that moment, how I had gotten there, where I had gotten a flashlight, but reality began to set in and I realized that something was terribly wrong, I realized that I was looking for my friend’s potentially dead body. Fast-forward to 11pm sitting on Karina’s stoop with her mother and other family members on 84^th street. Dozens of fire trucks, ambulances, police cars lining the street and the surrounding streets, caution-tape blocking off the entrance to the weeds, and confusion everywhere. Moments later the news broke, they had found Karina’s body, she was dead, she was murdered. Chaos ensued.

   Karina left her house for the last time around 5pm that Tuesday evening, never to return home again. She jogged her usual trail, down 161^st avenue and into Spring Creek Park, which Howard Beach natives refer to as “the weeds”. Howard Beach locals also know that “the weeds” are taboo, you don’t go in there. Karina usually ran the trail in the weeds with her father, who was nursing an injured back on August 2^nd. He urged her not to go alone and to stay on the street, she didn’t listen, not knowing she would meet her killer along the way.

    It was her father and a search party made up of police who discovered her lifeless body, beaten, bruised, and sexually assaulted. Her killer dragged her body off the trail and about ten feet into the weeds, covering her completely. Although she ultimately lost the battle, Karina put up a fight, leaving her killers DNA all over her and his skin cells underneath her fingernails. While police have the DNA, it did not match anyone in the New York database, nor did it match anyone in the national database, or the surrounding islands’ databases. It has been a little over four months, and after countless dead-end leads, still there are no suspects in the rape and murder of Karina Vetrano. Although the months are quickly passing and we have little to hold on to, Karina’s friends and family have not given up hope. “We’re going to get him, its just a matter of time” said Phil, Karina’s father.

   A new investigative tool has been used in several states to solve cases similar to Karina’s case, it is called Familial DNA testing. With Familial DNA testing detectives would be able to single out the male “Y” chromosome. They can then see if there is a biological match to a family member in the direct bloodline of the killer, who has been arrested and has DNA in the database. There is currently a petition with about ten thousand signatures so far in order to get this recognized. As well as the Queens DA is pushing for this, with the hopes that it will help bring Karina’s killer to justice. Not only is the petition going around, but Nancy Grace and Doctor Oz had Karina’s father on the Doctor Oz show, in order to help promote the Familial DNA testing, the episode will air December 13^th. Along with Queens DA Richard Brown, police commissioner James O’Niell has joined Karina’s father in the demands that the state commission on Forensic Sciences allow this DNA test to be approved in New York State. (2)

  Familial DNA is not legal in New York because civil liberties advocates view this as an invasion of privacy. These advocates say that familial DNA testing “encroaches” on the privacy of the relatives of those who’s DNA would be tested. This would technically be a violation of the fourth amendment, which protects people against unreasonable searches. (3)

  Four months later, Karina’s case remains cold, without a single eye-witness, without a single surveillance video of anyone else entering or exiting Spring Creek Park on that ill-fated afternoon. It seems almost impossible that no one saw anything or heard anything, in broad daylight on an August afternoon. Although there are those who are against familial DNA testing, there is a force more powerful that they are up against, and that force is the family and friends of the “raven haired beauty”, and my friend, Karina Vetrano.

Works Cited

1.     Schram, Jamie. "New DNA Testing Could Crack Slain Jogger Case." New York Post. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

2.     Crane-newman, Molly, and Thomas Tracy. "NYPD, Queens DA Pushes for Familial DNA Testing." NY Daily News. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

3.     "Familial DNA Searches - FindLaw." Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

Interview

At a café in Astoria, Queens on an early December evening, I sat down with a new friend, who seems much more like an old friend, considering a series of tragic events that have brought us together during the past few months. Sitting across from me is 33 year-old Peter Philipakos, retired professional soccer player. Peter is a Greek-American, who was born and raised on Long Island, New York, and rose to fame and found success playing professional soccer in Europe. He began playing soccer at the early age of 8, and fell in love with the game. “I’m passionate about it, I love the game, I love the sport” Philipakos said when I asked him how he first got into soccer.

              He said that it had all started when he was 12 years old. There was a scout who came to watch a game of 16 year olds, and although Peter was only 12 at the time, one of the teams needed an extra player, and they called Peter to play because he was just that good, despite being four years younger. The scout coming to that game that day “changed everything” said Peter. This same scout would stay with Peter for years to come. Philipakos attended college at American University, and after only a short stay he soon realized that college wasn’t for him, that he would not finish, and that his true passion in life was to play professional soccer, so he didn’t feel the need to waste any more time in school. He called his scout who had him on a plane to Europe the very next day. Peter went to Greece for a trail, where they threw him into the fire. He was put in a scrimmage game with professional players, and he scored more than once. “They put me up against the biggest players in the league” said Peter when talking about that first trial game. The next day Peter was offered a 3 year contract with AEK in Greece, he moved to Greece that day.

      While playing so well for AEK, 19 year-old Peter finished out the season six months later with the team. Once the season ended, the “number 1” team in the league at that time was called Olympikos, and the President of the team called Peter, explaining that they had to have time and were going to buy him out of his existing contract with AEK. Peter was reluctant because he was comfortable with them, he loved his teammates and had a good thing going, but in the end Olympikos offered him more money and a better deal, so he had no other choice but to take it.

After a successful two years with Olympikos, the team changed coaches. Peter and his new coach quickly butted heads, and tensions began to run high. Peter decided to break his own contract with Olympikos, and when I asked why he quickly replied with “no one was going to tell me what to do at that point in my life”. Peter felt that his coach was too involved in the personal lives of the players and that didn’t sit right with him. He felt that life had more to offer. This was a big scandal in the soccer world in Europe, Peter was looked down on for leaving the biggest team in Greece, and he was also gaining a reputation for partying too much. His career seemed to be suffering because of his personal life, but Peter wasn’t going to let the politics of the league get in the way of him “living his life” as he said. After taking some time to himself, returning home to New York to get his life in order, Peters agent, Ted, found him a spot on a team in the Czech Republic, where he stayed for two years. When I asked Peter about his experience there he responded by saying that “ it was one of
the toughest times in my life” for more reasons than one. Aside from being constantly injured and in and out of surgery, Peter was in a foreign country, where he didn’t speak the language, and didn’t have any friends or family around him, he was lonely. He went on to explain that it was an overall good experience being there and being alone. “ I grew up, I saw a lot of different stuff” said Peter, when asked about Czech Republic

          Peter Philipakos had a controversial professional career, being that he was so young, became reckless at a point, and had little to no guidance when it came down to choose teams and sticking with them. He jumped around from team to team, country to country, and when I asked him how he felt about it all Peter replied “ if I could go back I wouldn’t change anything, I did everything my way and I really enjoyed my time in Europe. Now retired and working in Manhattan as a Jeweler, Peter is engaged to long-time girlfriend Natasha, and he is living a simpler life in Astoria.