N.Y. Police Believe They Caught Cleaver Killer

Feb. 16, 2008 — -- New York authorities plan to charge a Queens, N.Y., man with murder in the vicious hacking death last week of psychotherapist Kathryn Faughey, and assault for the simultaneous attack on Dr. Kent Shinbach, the city's police comissioner said.

David Tarloff, 39, a former patient of Shinbach's, has been tied to the crime on Manhattan's Upper East Side by palm prints at the scene, eyewitness accounts and his own words, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

"He made statements implicating himself in the homicide and the assault," Kelly said. "I hope this arrest provides some measure of solace at this time for [Faughey's] husband and the rest of her family."

Kelly added that, according Tarloff's statements, "He intended to rob Dr. Shinbach and not to harm Dr. Faughey."

Nevertheless, Faughey was hacked and stabbed to death in her office on Manhattan's Upper East Side Tuesday night. Shinbach was severely injured by the attacker when he attempted to rush to her rescue.

Police said Faughey was stabbed with such fury that at least one knife used in the attack was bent from the force of the thrust and the handle of a meat cleaver used was jarred loose.

The killer was caught on the building's surveillance cameras and was seen entering the main entrance rolling one suitcase and carrying another. He was spotted about an hour later exiting through a basement door. Police described him as a balding, middle-age man clad in a three-quarter-length green coat, knit cap and gloves.

Officials ran forensic tests on evidence gathered at the crime scene -- including adult diapers, a bag of knives, women's clothing, rope and duct tape.

"We don't know specifically why he had women's clothing and those other items in that bag," Kelly said.

Kelly said police had Tarloff's palm print on file after a Feb. 1 arrest in connection with an alleged assault on a security guard at a Queens hospital, and that more than once he was classified by police as an emotionally disturbed person.