Psychologist Hacked To Death

NEW YORK (Feb. 14) - Police hunting for a man who hacked a psychologist to death with a 9-inch knife and a meat cleaver have plenty of clues: a sketch, a witness, surveillance footage, and two bags full of bizarre items the killer left in the basement of the victim's office building.
What they don't know yet is where the balding, middle-aged suspect is, or why he attacked the 56-year-old therapist and seriously hurt a colleague who came to her aid.
Investigators combed the slain woman's computer for clues, interviewed a traumatized patient who witnessed Wednesday's attack and analyzed security camera footage to see whether the attacker had been to the office before his deadly rampage.
Police were trying to determine whether the suspect was a patient of the dead therapist, Kathryn Faughey, or had a connection to someone she was counseling. Faughey treated people for relationship and intimacy issues and job stress.
Police said the suspect left behind a roller suitcase filled with adult diapers and women's clothing - including blouses and slippers - and a smaller second bag containing eight knives, rope and duct tape that were not apparently used in the attack.
The killing shocked the mental health care community and raised questions about safety protections at therapists' offices. It also rattled residents of the affluent Manhattan neighborhood around Faughey's office.
"Everyone in the building is very nervous, because we know that this person is loose. It's very frightening," said Linda Elliott, who lives in the East 79th Street building where the attack occurred. It is in a bustling neighborhood just blocks from a major hospital complex.
Carrying the two bags and dressed in a three-quarter-length green coat, knit cap and gloves, the suspect breezed past the building's doorman, saying he had an appointment with Dr. Kent Shinbach, a 70-year-old geriatric psychiatrist who worked in the same office suite as Faughey, according to police. Shinbach had office hours into the evening, police said, but it wasn't clear whether Shinbach or Faughey was the intended target.
The suspect walked into the suite's waiting room, where a female patient was waiting to see Shinbach, and at some point went into Faughey's office and attacked her, police said. Shinbach heard Faughey's screams and ran to help.
The suspect apparently didn't recognize Shinbach when he opened the door and said "she's dead," referring to Faughey, police said. He then attacked the psychiatrist, stabbing at Shinbach and pinning him to the wall with a chair before stealing $90 and escaping through a basement door, according to police.
Shinbach screamed out to the street from Faughey's office for help, and the building doorman called 911 around 9 p.m. By then, the suspect had escaped.
Shinbach had slash wounds on his head, face and hands. Police, believing the killer may have been injured in the attack, issued alerts to area hospitals.
Blood was found on the basement doorknob, and police said the route outside from the first-floor office wasn't very obvious; it was possible the suspect knew where he was going. Surveillance tapes show the suspect deliberately leaving the luggage by the basement door before walking out.
Associated Press writers David B. Caruso and Verena Dobnik contributed to this story.