Early in the Karina Vetrano murder case, Phil Vetrano was treated like a top suspect by police

Did the police have the real murderer of Karina Vetrano in their sites >>> right at the beginning <<<  and then for some unexplained reason let him off the hook for the crime ???

According to the testimony of Phil Vetrano at the retrial of Chanel Lewis, NYPD detectives asked Karina Vetrano's father for a DNA sample at his daughter's funeral  ---  oddly, Phil Vetrano was glad to cooperate, even under those circumstances

Vetrano also testified that he was "helping police" search for his daughter at the time that he found her,  "because he knew the terrain"  

According to an ABC News report,   "On the stand Wednesday Phil Vetrano confirmed a frantic voicemail message he left for his daughter while he searched desperately for her along the trail....  The 30-year-old was found severely beaten, lying face-down in 8-foot weeds, with her front tooth knocked out, her pants pulled down and her socks wet....   During cross-examination, Phil Vetrano testified that when his daughter was found he picked up her body, but was pulled away almost immediately. He said he helped with the search "because I knew the terrain...."  (See "Dad of slain jogger Karina Vetrano says he was asked to give DNA sample at daughter's funeral"  by  N.J. Burkett & Emily Shapiro, 3/20/19, ABC News  [https://abcnews.go.com/US/dad-slain-jogger-karina-vetrano-asked-give-dna/story?id=61807947]).

In earlier coverage of this moment, Phil Vetrano was somewhat more descriptive.  He described lifting the dead body of his daughter and pressing her against his chest without turning her face towards him.  He also described giving out a loud yell, which attracted the police to where he was with his daughter's body deep in the weeds well away from the trail.  Also earlier on,  Phil Vetrano actually said that he tried to take his daughter's body away from the crime scene and back to his home  ---  and it was only then that police took her away from him.