Police searched Wednesday for a man who hacked to death a psychologist
with a meat cleaver and 9-inch knife at her Upper East Side office
clinic and seriously injured a colleague who tried to help her.
Kathryn Faughey, 56, was stabbed to death around 9 p.m. Tuesday in
her office suite on East 79th Street, in a bustling neighborhood just
blocks from a major hospital complex.
Police
said they recovered three knives from the scene including the cleaver;
a suitcase on wheels filled with women's clothing and adult diapers;
and another bag filled with eight smaller knives that were not believed
to have been used in the attack.
``The condition of the room was that of a fierce struggle,'' NYPD
spokesman Paul Browne said at a briefing Wednesday. ``There was blood
on the floor and on the walls.''
A detailed sketch of the suspect (left) was released and
police said surveillance videotapes showed him entering and leaving the
building. Police were trying to determine whether he was one of the
victim's patients.
Police said the man, wearing a three-quarter-length green coat and
baseball hat, arrived at the office around 8 p.m. Tuesday, saying he
had an appointment with Dr. Kent Shinbach, a geriatric psychiatrist who
worked in the same office suite as the victim.
According to police, the suspect walked past a doorman, into the
waiting room and then into Faughey's office. As he began assaulting
her, police said, Shinbach ran to help.
The assailant then attacked Shinbach, pinning him to the wall with a
chair and stealing $90 before escaping through a basement door.
Shinbach was in serious condition at New York Hospital with slash
wounds on his head, face and arms.
The attack sent shockwaves through the city's large community of mental health professionals.
``This is, I think, an extraordinary occurrence,'' said Sharon
Brennan, a psychologist in Manhattan and a spokeswoman for the New York
State Psychological Association. ``It has had a shocking impact on the
whole New York community.''
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