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Feb 14, 2008 5:16 am US/Eastern
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Meat Cleaver-Wielding Murderer Still On The Loose
Police Unsure Whether Killer Was Psychologist's Patient; Carried Two Bags Filled With Knives
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Residents on the Upper East Side are trying to cope with the shocking news of Tuesday night's horrific and fatal attack of 56-year-old psychologist Kathryn Faughey, who police say was hacked to death with a meat cleaver inside an office building on E. 79th Street and York Avenue shortly after 9 p.m.
The killer is still at large.
At NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly's noon news conference on Wednesday, the department released the latest sketch of the suspect. He is described as a 5-foot-9 white male, believed to be in his 40s, with blondish brown hair. He was seen wearing a three-quarter green coat, a baseball cap and sneakers.
Authorities initially believed the assailant to be a patient of the murdered doctor, but police have reason to suspect no such relationship existed. Most of Dr. Faughey's patients were women, including several victims of domestic abuse. Police are looking at the possibility that her killer may have been the abusive boyfriend or husband of one of her patients.
Police say that around 8 p.m. Tuesday night, the assailant told the doorman he wanted to see psychiatrist Dr. Kent Shinbach, and received permission to enter the premises. He then proceeded to the waiting room where it is believed he sat and waited for up to an hour.
A few minutes before 9 p.m., according to police, Shinbach heard a commotion. He followed the uproar into Dr. Faughey's office.
Shinbach then attempted to assist Faughey during the attack, in which he suffered serious cuts to his face. He was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill/Cornell, and is currently in serious, but stable condition.
Kelly described what police believe to have occurred when Shinbach entered the office.
Police believe Faughey was stabbed and/or slashed at least 15 times.
"She's on the floor. She's bleeding, she's cut. He himself is immediately attacked by the individual. He is then stabbed and hacked at," said Kelly.
According to the report, the assailant used a chair to pin Shinbach to the wall and then stole money from his wallet and headed down to the basement by a side stairwell carrying a bag and a suitcase, which police say were filled with up to eight additional knives, rope, duct tape and women's clothing apparel.
Police say the psychologist's first-floor office near the lobby was blood-spattered and torn apart in an attack that one detective called "clearly personal and full of anger."
Residents who live near the crime scene were shocked by the news.
"It's just a little bit frightening. I don't expect things like this to happen on the Upper East Side. It's scary," said one stunned neighbor.
Faughey, a licensed psychologist, practiced cognitive behavioral therapy for 20 years on the Upper East Side, focusing on relationship issues and stress. She was educated in Ireland and Yeshiva University and lived with her husband in an apartment building across the street from her practice.
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