Is this a serial jogger killer?

Police officials have 'not ruled out' a connection between the murders of two joggers in New York and Massachusetts.

New Yorker Karina Vetrano, a speech pathologist, 30, was killed while out jogging in Queens on the evening of Tuesday, August 2. Police officials have 'not ruled out' a connection between the murders of two joggers, Vanessa Marcotte (left) and  Katrina Vetrano (right) 

Less than a week later, Vanessa Marcotte, 27, also from New York, was murdered after she went for a run during a trip to visit family in Massachusetts on Sunday.

The similarity of the victims, both successful, attractive New Yorkers, killed while jogging has led to questions over whether the murders are related.

When asked if the killings could have been done by the same person, Massachusetts State Police said they are not ruling out the possibility that the two are connected.

Massachusetts cops do not have any investigators in New York City but officials said it was still very early in the investigation.

A spokesperson for the New York City Police Department said officials investigating Vetrano's death do not believe the two murders are linked 'but a connection still cannot be ruled out,' Sentinel and Enterprise reports.

Google account manager Marcotte, 27, lived in New York and was home visiting her mother, Rossana, in nearby Princeton over the weekend.

She went out for a jog on Sunday afternoon nut was reported missing after failing to return from a run between 1pm and 4pm in Princeton. 

Her body was discovered in a wooded area just a half mile from her mother's home by a police K9 unit later that night at 8:20 p.m.The similarity of the victims, both successful, attractive New Yorkers, killed while jogging has led to questions over whether the murders are related (left is Vetrano, right is Marcotte) 

Investigators were examining the possibility that Marcotte was sexually assaulted and set on fire, with burns to her hands, head and feet, a source told Fox25 in Boston.

Today her father John Marcotte, 64, told of the anguish of her devastated family as he appealed to the public to help catch her killer.

He'd reported her missing at 5pm after she failed to return from her afternoon workout at Spring Creek Park, near the Belt Parkway.

The pair would have been running together, but a back injury meant Mr Vetrano had to stay at home.

He was worried when she didn't return, so called a police chief who lives nearby before phoning 911.

Mr Vetrano was later seen walking alongside a NYPD bloodhound smoking a cigar as they scoured the area for his daughter.

Police officers found her cellphone near a bicycle path and then found her body closer to the shoreline.

Those living nearby told reporters that 'hobos and bums' often congregate in the bushes just off the bike path. 

NYPD's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said on Wednesday that Vetrano's father warned her not to run down the path. 

Source:dailymail