A grand jury Wednesday indicted the man who prosecutors said killed Karina Vetrano.
Chanel Lewis, 20, was formally charged with 13 counts of murder and sexual abuse.
He is accused of assaulting and strangling 30-year-old Vetrano as she jogged in a park near her Howard Beach home last August.
Lewis was arrested in early February after police said they found his DNA on Vetrano's body and phone.
NYPD Lieutenant John Russo spent six months going through records, and is credited with tying Lewis to the case.
He was honored in a ceremony at City Hall. "We were following up on leads, and leads that hadn't been followed up. Came across a person that had been stopped at my direction in May, earlier in the year prior to Karina being murdered," Russo said. "As we followed up on that, developed him as a suspect and that led to an arrest."
Lewis's family has repeatedly maintained his innocence. His mother said her son is mentally ill.
If convicted, Chanel Lewis faces life in prison without parole.