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Suspect Arrested in Upper East Side Therapist Murder
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 16, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 16, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Update: Police have arrested David Tarloff, a Queens resident and former patient of Shinbach's, for Faughey's murder. The Post reports Tarloff, described as overweight with a bald spot by neighbors, has a history of violent crime. Apparently fingerprints found on suitcases left at the crime scene led the police to Tarloff.
Earlier: As the family and friends prepare to say good-bye at a funeral for psychologist Kathryn Faughey today, the police have been questioning a new potential suspect. The Post reports a Queens resident was "brought into the 19th Precinct early this morning"; he is reportedly a former patient of her office mate, Dr. Kent Shinbach.
Faughey was slashed to death by a male suspect in her office on Tuesday night. Shinbach, also working in the office at the time, ran into the room when he heard her screams and was slashed repeatedly but survived. A female patient of Shinbach saw the killer in the waiting room as he was leaving; he tried to push her into a bathroom but she kicked him in the groin and he left. The police have put round-the-clock security details on Shinbach and the female patient. (The suspect stole Shinbach's wallet - with driver's license - and reportedly said, "I know where you live.")
The police have been working to find out more information about Faughey's patients, but are still awaiting a court order to access files about her patients, who are shielded by medical privacy laws. The Manhattan DA's office said the police have been able to obtain "a great deal of patient information" through alternative methods (like looking at appointment books, sign-in sheets, etc.).
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the NYPD asked the assistant of Dr. Kent Shinbach to contact his patients to make sure they were safe. Still, they hope to find additional information from the crime scene, given the amount of evidence left behind. Kelly said, "Forensics, we believe, will play an important part of this case," and another investigator said, "There is tons of physical evidence - somewhere in it all we'll find the guy."
Police now say the suspect waited in the East 79th Street office waiting room for 30 minutes with the female patient before she went in for her appointment with Shinbach. Then, at 8:30PM, he entered Faughey's office and was with her for 19 minutes before attacking her.
Commissioner Kelly declined to say whether Faughey's friend William Kunsman, a Pennsylvania resident with bipolar disorder who had been in contact with Faughey recently, was considered a suspect. Kunsman was questioned for eight hours on Thursday; police had asked him to come to NYC, but released him when he asked for a lawyer.
Kunsman told WCBS 2 "he has nothing to hide and doesn't want an attorney" though he has been in touch with one and "is very concerned." Kunsman's wife says there's no way he could have been in NYC at the time of hte murder, "He was here, we had a bad snow storm and ice storm -- probably a half-an-inch of ice on the ground -- nobody went anywhere around here that night."
Kunsman was suspected because of his contact with Faughey and the fact that the uncommon brand of adult diapers left behind in the suspect's baggage was sold in his Pennsylvania town. However, the Coplay medical supply store believed to sell the diapers hasn't had them in stock for two years - and the manager, who described the detectives as "confused" to the Daily News, said that the diapers could be purchased online.
One theory police have is that the luggage with diapers and women's clothing might have been stolen by the suspect in order to look less suspicious. Faughey's husband Walter Adam has said he does not believe Kunsman is involved.
At Faughey's wake yesterday, friends and family expressed sorrow, frustration, and hope that her killer would be found. A 77-year-old patient told the NY Times, "'She was unbelievable...She was more of a life coach. We didn’t do analysis.' She added that unlike a typical Freudian psychoanalyst, Dr. Faughey was comfortable giving advice. 'And I was comfortable taking it.'"
Photograph of Faughey's husband, Walter Adam, with two other mourners at his wife funeral by Patrick McCarthey/AP
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commissioner ray kelly
crime
david
Kathryn Faughey
Kent Shinbach
manhattan
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murder
nypd
police commissioner
police commissioner ray kelly
queens
Ray Kelly
slashing
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The Manhattan
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The Police
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therapist
upper east side
William Kunsman
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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