News 12 reporter Krista McNally leaves station, she says in an Instagram post

Crime reporter Krista McNally has left News 12 Long Island, the veteran TV journalist said in an Instagram post earlier this week.

"Life update: I am no longer with News 12 Long Island; grateful for all of the memories, stories I have reported, and friends I have made along the way," McNally said on Wednesday in an Instagram post.

McNally declined to discuss her decision when contacted by Newsday on Friday. News 12 Long Island spokeswoman Erin Smyth did not return a request for comment.

McNally worked at Verizon’s FiOS1 News before briefly joining News 12 Long Island in 2020. She worked at Fox News as a homepage/social media editor before rejoining News 12 in 2022.

McNally was a crime reporter at News 12 Long Island who covered the Gilgo Beach serial killings and the trial of Michael Valva, the former NYPD officer who was accused of allowing his 8-year-old son freeze to death after banishing to sleep in an unheated garage. McNally also covered the second-degree murder trial of Angela Pollina, Valva’s fiance, and hosted News 12’s Crime File series.

McNally is not the only veteran journalist to leave News 12 Long Island this year. In September, reporter/anchor Elizabeth Hashagen and meteorologist Samantha Augeri left the news outlet.

"I’ve chosen to hang up my newsroom badge and leap into life’s next big adventure," Hashagen said in a video posted on social media earlier this year.

"As a girl from Freeport who grew up watching News 12, I dreamed of becoming a journalist," Hashagen, who spent 25 years with the station, said in her video.

Augeri said she was departing to spend more time with her family.

"Being a meteorologist at News 12 Long Island has been my dream job for as long as I can remember," she wrote on social media in September. "But it’s also always been my dream to have a family. My sweet boys are growing at rocket speed, and now it’s time for me to spend more evenings with them — family dinners, bedtime hugs, and the little moments that matter most."