During the day, Central Park is filled with New Yorkers—men, women, children, dogs. It’s one of the few places city residents can still go to get some fresh air and leave the Covid-imposed solitude of their apartments for a few hours of sunshine. Late at night, Central Park becomes a gathering place for only a few intrepid souls and people who are up to no good. Central Park after dark is not a place you typically find a middle school teacher.

On Monday night, a clear sky and a bright moon likely made Karina Kubiak’s path into the park visible. Perhaps it was the combination of bright moonlight and the various drugs that were found in her system that emboldened the young woman to enter the park so late. According to a friend who asked to remain anonymous, Ms. Kubiak may have been looking for a drug connection. “I know Karina had gone to the park at night once before,” said the friend. “I told her I didn’t think it was safe but she blew me off.”

A couple walking by the park near 110th Street around 11:30pm on June 1st, remembered seeing a young woman who fitted Karina Kubiak’s description.

“I normally don’t look at people, especially not at night,” said Fran Crane, an Upper West Side resident. “But my husband Harold and I were out at a dinner party and it was so nice out we decided to walk home. I only noticed the woman because she looked so out of place. Even in the dark I could see she was pretty and kind of preppy-looking, not dressed like someone you’d see hanging around Central Park late at night. What caught my eye was that she was swaying. I said to my husband, ‘Harold, that woman is totally trashed.’ As we got closer, I called out and asked if she was all right. She said she was fine and waved us away. If I’d known what was going to happen I would have been more forceful. I would have insisted we get her an Uber or something. She looked like a kid. When we walked away, I looked back and saw her stagger into the park. I should have stopped her.”

Karina Kubiak’s bruised body was found next to a boulder off a walking path in the northern part of Central Park near 110th Street. A can of pepper spray was found clenched in her hand, still capped. Police are trying to determine if Ms. Kubiak’s murder is the work of the West Side Strangler or if there’s a new killer in our midst.