Cops Subpoena Patient Records for Clues in Therapist Murder


"The reasons they had for questioning me were valid," Kunsman, of Coplay, Pa., told WABC, adding that he was "extremely saddened" to hear of her death. "I've been in more contact with Kathryn lately. I've been speaking to her a lot lately on the phone and by e-mail. I guess that's what led them here."

He last spoke to her Tuesday afternoon but declined to say what their conversation was about. "That's personal. She was just being a friend," he told WABC.

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 in the attack was jarred loose.

The rope, the duct tape and the adult diapers that the killer left behind suggest that the murderer may have intended to kidnap or torture Faughey before actually killing her, said N.G. Berrill, a forensic psychologist and director of the New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science.

"It's possible [the killer] had some elaborate fantasy of kidnapping or torturing [Faughey]," said Berrill. "There is power implicit in all of this."

Berrill said that the killer may have intended to use the diapers to humiliate the doctor.

"What would be more infantilizing than keeping her in such a way that she couldn't use the toilet and would have to soil herself?" said Berrill, who added that some psychopaths also have an obsession or fear of germs, which could explain why he would provide the diapers in the first place.

It's also possible that the killer had some sort of personal relationship with Faughey, said Berrill, who said that in his experience he's rarely seen upset spouses actually act out their anger toward their therapists.

"This kind of violence is too intimate. I would think there is a more primary relationship in this situation because of the in-your-face violence," said Berrill, who said it's likely the killer had scouted out the building before committing the crime. "A boyfriend or a husband of a patient wouldn't have been as angry — they like to make threats more."

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 describe him as a balding, middle-age man clad in a three-quarter-length green coat, knit cap and gloves.

< WABC's RJ Burkett contributed to this report

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