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The Brooklyn jogger who was savagely stabbed in the neck in an apparently random attack at a popular Brooklyn promenade has died, her stricken family said Tuesday.
Katie Suarez, 28, had been declared brain dead after the heinous attack on the Shore Parkway Greenway promenade around 8 p.m. Friday and was taken off life support and died Monday, her mother said outside the family’s home.
Suarez, who graduated from Brooklyn College, was knifed in the neck as she jogged on the waterfront path near Bay 17th Street.
She had just gotten off work as a TD Bank teller at Caesar’s Bay Shopping Center in Gravesend and met up with her mom in front of a nearby Wendy’s restaurant around 6:50 p.m., sources said.
Suarez then left her mom to jog along the Belt Parkway, and her dad soon joined them, which was a typical ritual for the family, cops and sources said.
The dad, who was still with the mom, called their daughter at 7:56 p.m. to see where and when they should meet up, police and sources said.
Suarez told them she was about 5 minutes away.
When she failed to meet up at the agreed-upon spot, her dad called her again — but she didn’t pick up this time.
The parents then split up to look for her, and her dad found his daughter wounded and bleeding on the path at 8:16 p.m., police said.
The critically wounded young woman continued running 150 feet after being attacked before she collapsed under a tree, police said Monday.
The distraught father then called 911, along with another bystander who was walking on the path with his girlfriend, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
“The father then begins to walk the path, and unfortunately, he finds her underneath a tree, bleeding heavily from the neck,” Kenny said.
Police have offered a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the baffling case, as investigators haven’t yet identified a suspect or motive.
Cops are also looking to talk with other walkers, joggers, drivers, or a food truck operator who may have security or dashcam footage that could help the investigation.
Detectives have been probing every theory, including whether someone fishing on the promenade may have used their bait knife to slash Suarez’s throat.
The case is also eerily similar to the 2016 murder of Karina Vetrano, a 30-year-old Queens woman whose body was discovered by her father after she was killed on a jog by a random attacker — though that killer is behind bars.
“From all indications, this is a person that was very family-orientated, very work-orientated, was a productive, beautiful member of society, and unfortunately, this horrific event happened to her,” Kenny said.
“Right now, it seems that it’s random. Nobody else would have known that she was running there at that particular time, and as of right now, it appears it was a random attack.”
A memorial has blossomed at the family’s nearby home, where neighbors referred to the beloved bank teller as “very professional, very kind” and “family oriented.”
“I mean, nobody is supposed to have [their] life taken, you know, being bad or good, but she was kind of exceptional to me, the way I interact with her,” one neighbor said on Sunday.
Her family has said she had no known boyfriend or enemies.
Suarez’s cousin, Gianluca Frances, 19, also called for additional resources to deter future attacks.
“Hopefully a story like this can encourage public policy handlers to incorporate policemen or officers into the park, or a camera installed,” Frances said.
