NYPD seeks info after jogger stabbed on Brooklyn waterfront in apparent random attack
An avid runner stabbed while jogging less than a mile from her New York City home is on life support following what appears to be a random, "very violent" attack, police told ABC News.
Katie Suarez, 28, was stabbed in the neck while jogging along the Belt Parkway waterfront in Brooklyn, police said.
She called her father around 8 p.m. Friday to tell him she was about a half mile from home, according to police. When she did not arrive back home, her parents went looking for her, and her father found her stabbed in the neck, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny.
Kenny described a brutal attack in an interview with ABC News on Monday, with a long blood trail of about 150 feet.
"It was a very, very large crime scene," Kenny said.
Police said nothing appeared to have been taken from Suarez and there was no indication of sexual trauma.
"We believe it to be some sort of random attack at this time," Kenny said. "She was a very private person. For someone to know that she was going to be there at that exact time would be extraordinary for us to find out."
The attack occurred along the Shore Parkway Greenway near the city's Bath Beach and Bensonhurst neighborhoods in Brooklyn, according to police. There are no cameras in the area, and a canvass of the neighborhood has so far turned up no video, according to Kenny.
A license plate reader captured about 1,700 cars passing the area at the time of the attack, and detectives are hoping to isolate drivers with dash cameras that may have caught something, Kenny said.
The NYPD released a photo of Suarez while trying to find anyone who may have seen her on Friday. The photo shows Suarez, who has participated in city races before, wearing a T-shirt and bib for the Frozen Bonsai 5K in Prospect Park in March. She was not registered to compete in the New York City Marathon that was held Sunday.
Police asked anyone who may have seen her on Friday between 7:56 p.m. and 8:12 p.m. in the vicinity of the eastbound bike path along the Belt Parkway between Bay 8 Street and Bay 17 Street to come forward.
"We're looking for any interaction that she may have had alongside the pathway," Kenny said. "There's always fishermen out there. We're interviewing them."
Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Anyone with information on the assault is asked to contact the NYPD at 1-800-577-8477.
