Vicious Killing Where Troubled Seek a Listener

It was just after 8 p.m. in a suite of mental health offices at East 79th Street and York Avenue. One doctor was seeing patients; another was working in her study.

Dr. Kathryn Faughey, 56, was fatally stabbed Tuesday night.

The suspect was described as in his 40s and about 5-feet-9.

It is a common scene in the offices of countless Manhattan therapists after dark: The lights stay on as paperwork is done and patients are treated into the evening.

Then a middle-aged man in a black cap and sneakers came in from the freezing rain, toting two pieces of black luggage. He said he was there to see a psychiatrist named Kent D. Shinbach. But Dr. Shinbach had another patient, a woman, waiting for him, so the man sat on a couch and made small talk. Then he disappeared into the office of the other doctor, Kathryn Faughey, the police said.

And there — in what investigators described as a furious swirl of violence on Tuesday night — the man stabbed Dr. Faughey in the head, face and chest. Hearing her screams, Dr. Shinbach rushed in and saw her lying still and bleeding on the tan carpet by the foot of her desk.

The attacker turned on him, stabbing him in the face, head and hands, the police said. Dr. Faughey, 56, was declared dead at the scene; Dr. Shinbach, who is in his 70s, survived, but was left in critical condition.

A day later, the police said they did not know the motive for the frenzied attack nor the identity of the killer, though investigators are pursuing the possibility that he was a patient at the offices, where five health care professionals work, or that he was a relative of a patient there or was somehow involved with one.

But even before a motive had been determined, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers who work in Manhattan — a place long linked in the public imagination with the stereotypical image of an urbanite on a couch discussing his worries — reacted with alarm. Several said the violence in the office at 435 East 79th Street reminded them of the dangers inherent in a career spent helping people, particularly those in emotional pain.

Dr. Faughey grew up in Sunnyside, Queens, and lived across the street from her office. Her husband of 25 years, Walter Adam, said he became worried about 8:30 p.m. because his wife was late. He looked out the window of their 17th-floor apartment and noticed that the light was still on in her office. He called and got no answer. Then he saw police cars on the block.

“I thought it was an automobile accident,” he said. “Finally I said, ‘I better go over and see what’s going on.’ ”

He heard the news from a police officer: His wife had been killed.

“She’s taken very good care of me,” Mr. Adam said. “She’s looked after me. She’s a good and decent woman. Never harmed anyone.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said that after stabbing both doctors, the attacker pinned Dr. Shinbach against the wall with a spindled chair, took from his wallet and fled to the building’s neatly painted basement and out a service exit. He left his two suitcases behind in the basement, where the police found a smear of blood on the door. The woman who had been waiting to see Dr. Shinbach had gone into his office at one point and was unharmed.

During the attack on Dr. Shinbach, which lasted about 10 minutes, the attacker told him, “She’s dead,” the police said, adding that other comments he made did not shed light on his actions.

Mr. Kelly said a key part of the investigation was to determine whether the killer “was a patient of any of the health care professionals in that suite of offices.”

Three knives were later found: one at Dr. Faughey’s left foot; another, a 9-inch blade that was bent in the attack, underneath her desk; and a meat cleaver, also bent and with a broken handle, lying in front of a wall of books. Blood was splashed on the walls and floor. “It was obvious a fierce struggle had taken place,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

Investigators found that the larger suitcase, which had wheels and a handle, held women’s slippers and a blouse, as well as disposable diapers for adults. Inside the smaller bag were eight knives — mostly kitchen knives — three lengths of rope and rolls of duct tape.

Dr. Faughey received a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in 1981. She had been practicing cognitive behavior psychotherapy on the Upper East Side for more than 20 years, according to her Web site.

“My approach is focused and solution-oriented,” according to a quotation on the site. “My sessions move quickly. I am interactive, and I give feedback.”

Mr. Adam said his wife achieved tremendous results for her patients. “The way she turned around people’s lives, saved people’s lives,” he said.

Reporting was contributed by John Eligon, Dmitry Kiper, Robin Stein, Stacey Stowe, Andrew Tangel and Carolyn Wilder.