Seeing the news reports of the murder of Karina Vetrano was hard to watch. Such a beautiful girl out for her daily exercise never returned home to her family and it was devastating. When reports surfaced of NYPD arresting the accused killer, it was a huge relief that her family would receive justice. That was until we saw the photos of 20-year-old Chanel Lewis being escorted out of his building by detectives. Something didn’t seem right and people took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

Two crowdfunding efforts for the accused killer were spiked by a pair of host websites, according to the NY Daily News. Chris Banks, a community advocate and support of Lewis’ family stated, “we want justice for the Vetrano family, but also due process and fairness for Chanel.” He went on to say, “we believe we are discriminated against…he hasn’t even been indicted yet. We want fairness across the board.”

The two fund-raising sites, GoFundMe and Fundly, confirmed shutting down the efforts started by Lewis Backer Floyd Jarvis since the suspect’s arrest. Bobby Whithorne, spokesman of GoFundMe, said the page “violated the organization’s terms of service” that specifically ban fundraising for “the defense or support of anyone alleged to be involved in criminal activity.” A customer support worker confirmed the page was shut down “temporarily” after it received a large number of complaints. Those that donated to GoFundMe got back their $800 in donations while the suspended Fundly page is still holding $1,700.

According to ABC 7 News, before his confession, Lewis was just 1 of 1,700 investigative reports filed in connection with Vetrano’s death. Sources said Lewis had three prior summonses dating back to 2013, one for urinating in public and two others involved breaking the rules in the same park that Vetrano’s body was found. On Monday, the suspect did not appear in court and his attorneys were able to adjourn the case until April 3. 

It’s oddly interesting how George Zimmerman, who is the known killer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, raised more than $300,000 for his defense through a Kickstarter campaign. A GoFundMe page, which has been taken down, raised over $130,000 for Darren Wilson, murderer of 18-year-old Mike Brown. It says a lot about this country when two men in uniform are able to make thousands off of their heinous crimes towards black men but a black family can’t receive support for their son that has yet to be indicted. Something just isn't right.

Chanel Lewiscrowdfunding campaignsFundlyGoFundMeKarina Vetranokickstarternypd