Police Search NY Park for Clues in College Student's Slaying

Police in upstate New York are searching a seven-acre park for clues in the slaying of an 18-year-old college student who was dumped there over the weekend.

Hyde Park police confirmed Monday the identity of Kathryn Filiberti. Her body was found Saturday afternoon near Greentree Park in the Dutchess County town of Hyde Park, about 75 miles north of New York City.

"We are searching for anything we think might be of evidence in the case," Lt. John Watterson of the Dutchess County Sheriff's Department told AOL News. "We are not narrowing it down to any one specific thing."

An autopsy on Filiberti was completed Sunday, and the death is listed as a homicide, but authorities have declined to elaborate.

"The cause and manner of death is pending," said Dr. Kari Reiber, the county's chief medical examiner. "This is an active homicide investigation, and I do not release partial information. I am still waiting on laboratory testing."

Authorities have yet to confirm local media reports that Filiberti had been stabbed multiple times in the face and the chest.

Filiberti graduated last year from Hyde Park's Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, where she enjoyed gymnastics and being a member of the cross country team, according to her best friend, Lindsay McGarril.

"Kate was also an amazingly talented and graceful gymnast," McGarril told AOL News. "The sport came very easy to her, and she was a role model to many with her ability to awe an audience. She didn't go looking for attention; it just came to her because she was so gorgeous inside and out."

Filiberti enrolled in Dutchess Community College. McGarril said the two grew up together and continued to remain close following graduation.

"Kate was like a sister to me," McGarril said. "I knew everything and anything about her. She was a gorgeous girl as the pictures show, but seeing her beauty and smile in person was so much more amazing. Her laugh is something people talk about so much because it's so infectious, and just hearing it, you can't help but feel joy. She definitely was sassy and didn't let anyone push her around, but deep down, she had a huge heart."

McGarril said Filiberti often put her friends and her boyfriend, 19-year-old Mike Delarm, first.

Delarm declined an interview with AOL News today. "I'm sorry, I can't comment," he said in a response via Facebook.

On Tuesday, Delarm told The Poughkeepsie Journal that he was the last person to see Filiberti alive. He said he was at a party with her on Friday night, just hours before her body was found some five miles away. Delarm said Filiberti was upset because someone she did not like was at the party. They argued, and she walked away. He said he thought she was going to go cool off, but she never came back.

"I could have stopped her from leaving," Delarm told the Journal. He added, "I do believe [police] are trying, but I think they could try harder. I just really want to find [her killer]."

According to the Mid-Hudson News Network, Delarm and two other men were arrested in Poughkeepsie in January for involvement in an alleged gang assault. The men were charged with second-degree assault and remanded to jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. The Dutchess County district attorney's office did not immediately return calls today inquiring about the disposition of the case.

Investigators have not named any suspects or persons of interest in the case. Police have yet to comment on whether they suspect that Filiberti's killer or killers knew her or whether she was randomly targeted. Authorities have cautioned the public not to rely on message boards or social networking websites for information.

"That's what the police tell me about her death: Don't believe everything you read," McGarril said. "I don't know if they mean the cause of death or what, but that's what I've been told."

For the past five days, local and state authorities have been searching the park where Filiberti's body was found, as well as the surrounding areas. Some evidence was reportedly found less than a mile from the crime scene. The search of the park continued early today but was called off late this morning because of bad weather, police said.

Authorities are asking the public to notify them if they saw anything out of the ordinary last week.

"We are looking to speak with anyone who may have been on Route 9G, between Green Bush Drive and Greentree Drive, between late Friday evening and the early morning hours on Saturday," Hyde Park Police Chief Charles Broe Sr. said in a press release. "Anyone who was in that area, during those times, and may have seen anything suspicious is strongly encouraged to contact the authorities."