A tape of the confession Chanel Lewis gave earlier this year, in the death of Karina Vetrano, was reportedly played at a pre-trial hearing on Monday

He grabbed her as she was jogging and punched her in the face until she stopped fighting — then he wrapped his hands around her neck, squeezing until her body went limp.

He let her fall face-down in a shallow puddle and watched as she slowly drowned, unconscious.

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These were the brutal last moments of Karina Vetrano’s life in August 2016, as recalled by her accused murderer, 21-year-old Chanel Lewis, in a confession to New York City police soon after his arrest earlier this year, according to multiple news reports.

Vetrano’s battered remains were found by her father in a park near her neighborhood of Howard Beach, Queens, hours after the 30-year-old went for a jog from which she would never return.

The videotaped statements Lewis made to police in February were played during a pre-trial hearing on Monday, according to the Associated Press, the New York Daily News and the New York Post.

The AP reports that Vetrano’s relatives were in the courtroom for the proceedings and tearfully watched as Lewis recalled the attack in the video.

According to the Post, Vetrano’s mother, Cathy Vetrano, let out an anguished moan as the recording was played and at one point she brought a foot-long, golden crucifix to her face.

Image zoom Karina Vetrano Karina Vetrano/Instagram

In the video, Lewis reportedly told police, “I was mad, I saw red” and grabbed Karina as she was running past him. He said Karina fought back, clawing at his face, according to the Post, so he punched her about five times and she lost consciousness.

“She didn’t yell. She was finished,” the Post quotes Lewis as saying in the taped confession. “I finished her off, I strangled her. She fell into the puddle and drowned. I got up and wiped off the blood. And she was calm, she was in the pool [of water].”

A detective testified Monday that Lewis made his statements seemingly unprompted after a night of watching TV while in police custody, following his arrest on Feb. 4, according to the Daily News.

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“‘I want to change my life, I’m sorry for what I did, I lost it,’ ” the detective recalled Lewis saying.

According to the Post, at one point Lewis asked a prosecutor if there was “a restitution program” he could be enrolled in, to pay for his alleged crime. He also denied sexually assaulting Karina, who was found with her jogging shorts pulled down.

When asked why he attacked her, the Post reports Lewis confusingly claimed that he killed Vetrano “because a guy moved into my house and the neighborhood.”

Image zoom Chanel Lewis James Keivom James Keivom/NY Daily News via Getty Images

Lewis has entered a not-guilty plea to the charges. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of the 13 counts of murder and sexual abuse that he faces.

His attorney could not immediately be reached by PEOPLE for comment on Tuesday. But in court on Monday the defense pointed to a lack of video from outside the interview room during Lewis’ confession, suggesting there was more to the story about him seemingly changing his mind and confessing.

Defense attorneys have also argued the confession should not be admitted at trial.

According to police, Lewis’ arrest may never have happened had Karina not fought her attacker in her final moments of life. Several tiny shreds of the killer’s skin were recovered from beneath her fingernails, and police said it was this DNA evidence that eventually led to Lewis’ apprehension.

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Karina’s father, Philip Vetrano, spoke to amNewYork following Monday’s hearing. He told the paper he had “a lot of anger” in him as he listened to the confession.

“We knew the particulars, but hearing it and seeing it … it was extremely difficult,” he said. “It was bad. It was bad.”