The DNA evidence, which was found beneath the victim's fingernails, led the investigators to make an arrest in last summer's strangling of a woman who encountered her killer while on an evening run, police said on Sunday.
Chanel Lewis, aged 20, of Brooklyn, was held without bail after his arraignment on the murder charges in Aug. 2 slaying of 30-year-old Karina Vetrano, whose body was found in the weeds in a marshy park not far away from her Queens home.
Queens assistant district attorney Michael Curtis said that, "This defendant admitted to attacking the victim, admitted to beating her, to strangling her and dragging her body in the weeds."
The efforts to contact Legal Aid attorneys for Lewis were not immediately successful. If convicted, he faces charges up to 25 years to life in prison.
The closely watched case caused fear among the women who run alone and baffled investigators, who for months were unable to find anyone who matched the probable suspect's DNA that was found under the victim's fingernails as she fought back. The DNA also was found on her neck and the phone.
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The New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said that the break came after police went back through 911 calls and found one reporting a suspicious person in the area near the attack. The investigators interviewed Lewis on Thursday and obtained a DNA sample from him, which Boyce said was tested and also linked to DNA found at the scene and on the victim.
The detectives said that after Lewis was arrested at the home he shares with his mother on Saturday night, he gave the incriminating statements on "each step of the assault." When asked for a more detailed description of Lewis, Boyce declined to comment on the suspect's mental state or the social behavior.
Boyce said that the encounter which led to Vetrano's death apparently was a chance one, and authorities did not believe she and Lewis knew each other. The police said that, Lewis has no prior arrest record.
By Mrudula
