Karina Vetrano Update: Howard Beach Jogger's Father To Hire Private Investigator With Go Fund Me Money

It's been nearly two months since the murder of jogger Karina Vetrano, but New York Police Department officials said Wednesday they still have confidence an arrest will be made in the brutal slaying, NY1 reported. The 30-year-old was initially reported missing by her father on Aug. 2 when she failed to return home following her evening run in the Queen's neighborhood of Howard Beach.

Vetrano’s body was later found face down near a running path in Queens by her father and police officers. Her pants were pulled down and her body was badly bruised. Since her death, authorities have stated that they receive daily tips and believe an arrest will be made soon.

"Since we put out the one report detailing the events of the crime, and I don't remember the day, we've gotten about 4 calls each day after that, so we're up to about 170 calls in this right now," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters this week. “I think we have 12 open that we're vetting right now, so we wanna keep this going as we go forward. We have a lot of perseverance in this case, we do believe we'll make an arrest in this case."

Vetrano’s family and community started a GoFundMe page that has garnered almost $280,000 in donations. The woman’s father, Phil Vetrano, said he is interested in using the reward money to hire a private investigator if the "case goes cold," the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. Vetrano said he would hire "someone like Perry Mason," a reference to the famous TV show detective, to get the job done.

The devastated father said he would only consider hiring a private investigator if the NYPD gave him permission. Vetrano wrote on the Go Fund Me donation page: "We always believed that if we raised enough reward money someone would say something. This did not happen."

He continued, "I want to start a fund to catch the killer, that would be used to hire outside sources to track down and bring this person to justice. So if you still want to contribute to find justice for Karina this is what we are going to do."

Anyone with information on the murder case is urged to call 1-800-577-TIPS.