Feb 16, 2008 7:21 am US/Eastern
Cops Keep Close Eye On Murdered Therapist's Friend
Investigators Want Look At Confidential Doctor-Patient Records
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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William Kunsman was questioned by police in the murder of his friend, Dr. Kathryn Faughey, an Upper East Side psychologist.
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Kathryn Faughey was murdered after a man attacked her with a meat cleaver and knives in her Upper East Side apartment on Feb. 12.
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The New York Police Department released a sketch of the man they believe fatally attacked psychologist Kathryn Faughey in an office building on Feb. 12, 2008.
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The NYPD is looking for a male suspect after a female psychiatrist was found the victim of a brutal meat cleaver attack on Feb. 12 in an Upper East Side office building.
CBS
The NYPD released new details Friday about the moments leading up to the butchering of an Upper East Side psychologist. Detectives are purshing what Commissioner Raymond Kelly calls an "aggressive" investigation into the gruesome murder of Kathryn Faughey.
At William Kunsman's home in Coplay, Pa., NYPD detectives continued to watch the friend of Faughey, hacked to death on Tuesday in her office on East 79th Street. Sources say Kunsman is bipolar and had not been taking his medication.
Police sources say on Thursday, when detectives asked Kunsman to come to New York to view evidence, he asked for a lawyer and all questioning stopped. Kunsman met Faughey in a guitar camp six years ago and had recently engaged in personal e-mail conversations with the doctor.
When asked if Kunsman was considered a suspect in the case, Kelly said he wasn't going to say who was ruled a suspect and who wasn't. But Kelly did say forensic evidence plays an important role in the investigation. There was blood on the scene and on the killer, who was seen in building surveillance video leaving behind a suitcase with women's clothes, duct tape, and knives. The killer wore gloves, but he may have left fingerprints, hair fiber or blood.
Police are also viewing surveillance video from other area buildings to find more pictures of the middle-aged killer.
Because of doctor-client privacy laws, police are not able to access Faughey's records to find out which patients may have has a history or to figure out someone who could be a killer. But that could change with a court ruling.
"We are asking the district attorney's office to petition the court to access the doctor's records," Kelly said.
Kelly says the killer entered the building around 8 p.m. Tuesday and went to the victim's office waiting area, which she shared with psychiatrist Kent Shinbach. Around 8:30, a female patient entered Shimbach's office. At 8:50, Shimbach heard a commotion and went into Faughey's office, where he found her on the floor in a pool of blood.
Shinbach told police he then saw the killer, who looked at him and said, "I killed her, and I'm going to kill you."
The killer then hacked at Shinbach and tried to force his female patient into a bathroom. She kicked the killer, however, and locked the door. The killer then fled the scene around 8:59.
Police are providing security to Shinbach because the killer did grab the doctor's driver's license and told him, "I know where you live." They have asked the doctor's assistant to contact all his patients to make sure they are safe as well.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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