Dancer killed, Slashed to death

[mysteriew]

A 21-year-old topless dancer was killed when her throat was slashed in her upper East Side apartment last night, cops said.
The victim, Katherine Woods, was attacked so viciously that she was nearly decapitated, a police source said.

The boyfriend said he and Woods were having "a lovely evening" when he left the apartment to move his car, a police source said. The boyfriend said he came back 20 minutes later and found the apartment door ajar and Woods dead, lying on her back in blood in her second-floor bedroom.

"It was a bloody mess, like a bucket of red paint had been tossed around," a police source said of the apartment.

Police also found bloody footprints inside the apartment.

The boyfriend, who told neighbors he worked as a doorman, had no blood on his clothes or shoes, police said.

Neighbor Andrew Gold, 49, said he was talking on the phone with his fiancée when he heard a commotion at 6:25 p.m. "I heard a scream," said Gold, adding that the scream was loud enough for his fiancée to hear.

"Then I heard a scuffle, and then another scream, and then more of a scuffle. Then I heard a thud, a loud thud like something being knocked over."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/369644p-314532c.html

An aspiring Broadway dancer was found stabbed to death in her Upper east Side apartment last night, police said.
Catherine Woods was discovered face down in a pool of blood on the floor of her bedroom. She had been knifed in the neck and hand, and the room was in "disarray, " police said.

Her boyfriend told cops she was an exotic dancer, police sources said.

But her parents in Columbus, Ohio, told The Post their beautiful 21-year-old daughter was a dancer who had appeared in an off-Broadway production called "Privilege."
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58226.htm

[PrayersForMaura]

This story is interesting, and sad for the victim.

The boyfriend seems suspect .... moves his car just when she is attacked?
Neighbor hears the struggle at 6:25 ... if he comes back in 20 minutes, why does he wait another 15 to call 911?? :confused:

Plus if there's a lot of blood in the apartment, how does he manage to get none on his shoes going to find where she is in the back bedroom?

[Linda7NJ]

I feel really bad for her parents. They didn't even know their daughter was a topless dancer.

[concernedperson]

I read the AP story on Fox's site and it said the cops went to the club that she was supposed to work but no one knew her. (?) Also, if he went to work on his car at 7 and the neighbor heard the screams at 6:20, then he must have been in the apartment. Something is fishy here.

[joanofarc]

I feel really bad for her parents. They didn't even know their daughter was a topless dancer.It doesn't sound like she was for sure...only the boyfriend is saying that she was....her picture was shown at the club where she supposedly worked and noone recognized her as someone that worked there....definately hinkey....IMO

Did the boyfriend kill her and then dispose of his clothes and shoes....seems too clean and convenient that he just happened to be out of the apartment right at the time of the attack.....hmmmm...and what's this they were having a "lovely evening"....what guy says that...:doh: ..someone like Scott Peterson.....???

[PrayersForMaura]

It doesn't sound like she was for sure...only the boyfriend is saying that she was....her picture was shown at the club where she supposedly worked and noone recognized her as someone that worked there....definately hinkey....IMO

Did the boyfriend kill her and then dispose of his clothes and shoes....seems too clean and convenient that he just happened to be out of the apartment right at the time of the attack.....hmmmm...and what's this they were having a "lovely evening"....what guy says that...:doh: ..someone like Scott Peterson.....???
I agree with your entire post ... no blood on his clothes, his shoes ... "lovely evening" ... yeah, we've heard this one before. He probably killed her at 6:25, cleaned himself up, changed clothes and got rid of his clothes and then called the police at 7pm.

[nanandjim]

I agree with your entire post ... no blood on his clothes, his shoes ... "lovely evening" ... yeah, we've heard this one before. He probably killed her at 6:25, cleaned himself up, changed clothes and got rid of his clothes and then called the police at 7pm.
I agree. The bf probably killed the girl, cleaned up, changed clothes and then went down to his car, drove somewhere to dispose of the evidence and drove back to the apartment and then called 911.

[mysteriew]

Twenty-three year-old David Haughn told police he left their apartment around 7:00 p.m. to check on his car and when he returned 20 minutes later she was dead.

Woods was an aspiring Broadway dancer from Columbus, Ohio. Haughn is also from Columbus, Ohio. It's not known how long the two had been living together in New York City. Woods' father is the director of the Ohio State Marching Band.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=3673014

[Marilynilpa]

I agree. The bf probably killed the girl, cleaned up, changed clothes and then went down to his car, drove somewhere to dispose of the evidence and drove back to the apartment and then called 911.
I wonder why the bf lied about her being an exotic dancer? That seems strange, since that could easily be checked out.

I wonder how long these two had been going out?

I agree that it sounds like the bf cleaned himself up after killing her, probably thought that would keep him from being a suspect.

It will be interesting to see if the bloody footprints found in the apartment belong to the bf.

[nanandjim]

I wonder why the bf lied about her being an exotic dancer? ...
The only thing that I can think of is he said this to put her in a bad light and to make it seem like her killer could have been one of her customers.

I agree that it will be interesting to see if the bloody footprints just happen to be the same size as the boyfriend's.

[joanofarc]

I wonder why the bf lied about her being an exotic dancer? That seems strange, since that could easily be checked out.

I wonder how long these two had been going out?

I agree that it sounds like the bf cleaned himself up after killing her, probably thought that would keep him from being a suspect.

It will be interesting to see if the bloody footprints found in the apartment belong to the bf.One news article states that she moved to New York 3.5 years ago...so if she is 21 that would have made her barely 18 years old when she moved there from Columbus Ohio....the boyfriend is said to be from the same state....I have a feeling he moved with her or shortly after....perhaps she was getting into a classy "social" circle in New York with her aspiring to be a Broadway dancer....maybe boyfriend felt left out....so therefore instead of talking about what a "fine" lady she was he set out to defame her by saying she was a topless dancer....this in order to throw suspicion off himself and somehow justify his actions......IMO

[RockyMountains]

My thing is this. If I walked into my apartment and found my Girlfriend laying dead on the floor I would have blood all over me from going to her and trying to help her. especially if we were having a "Lovely Evening"


:bang:

[joanofarc]

My thing is this. If I walked into my apartment and found my Girlfriend laying dead on the floor I would have blood all over me from going to her and trying to help her. especially if we were having a "Lovely Evening"


:bang:
True...your post made me wonder why Dan Horowitz didn't have blood on him though after he discovered his wife Pam....Dan said he touched her...but being an attorney he probably knew what he could or could not touch or what to avoid that would contaminate the scene:waitasec: .....

I know I would be gathering my loved one up in my arms (for one last hug) and to also listen for any signs of life.....so I am sure I would have blood all over me too....

[michelle]

I have had to move my car before outside of our building and it doesnt take me 20 minutes.....

[ketel0ne]

http://www.gawker.com/news/new-york-post/they-do-agree-that-she-danced-in-some-capacity-139557.php

[joanofarc]

I have had to move my car before outside of our building and it doesnt take me 20 minutes.....So this news article states his car was parked next to a fire hydrant....was this the reason he moved the car or did he move it and park it next to a fire hydrant and leave it there :waitasec: ...

Cops were expected to search the boyfriend's car, an Oldsmobile with Ohio license plates, which was parked next to a fire hydrant on E. 86th St. at First Ave., near the four-story apartment building where the victim lived.

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/369731p-314532c.html

Also what is up with the two Katherine's both 21 one spelt Katherine and the other spelt Catherine....is this the newspaper getting the spelling wrong, and the circumstances wrong...saying one worked as a topless dancer and the other was an aspiring broadway dancer....sorry that last article really messed me up....??

[forthekids]

I wonder why the bf lied about her being an exotic dancer? That seems strange, since that could easily be checked out.

I wonder how long these two had been going out?

I agree that it sounds like the bf cleaned himself up after killing her, probably thought that would keep him from being a suspect.

It will be interesting to see if the bloody footprints found in the apartment belong to the bf.
I bet he lied about the exotic dancer part so he seems less of a suspect. When you hear exotic dancer the first thing that comes to my mind is a pychotic customer who REALLY liked her. My money is on the bf.

[bbmcrae]

My money is also on the bf. This doesn't pass the smell test.

[PrayersForMaura]

Found By Boyfriend Who Shared Residence

(CBS) NEW YORK Police are investigating the death of a 21-year-old woman found with her neck slashed in her Upper East Side apartment. The victim, Catherine Woods, was found on the floor of her bedroom apartment at 355 East 86th Street, where she lived with her boyfriend David Haughn.

It was around 7 p.m. Sunday when Haughn called police to say he had found Woods, wearing a jogging suit, lying face-down in a pool of blood in their bedroom. Neighbors had heard screaming. Woods' neck and hand were cut. The room was ransacked, but there was no sign of forced entry.

Police questioned the boyfriend most of the day, into Monday afternoon.

Woods was from Columbus, Ohio, where her father, Jon Woods, directs The Ohio State University marching band. "She danced since she was three,” Woods says. “She went to New York to pursue her dream."

What the family may not have known, was that the dancing included some racy stuff. Anthony Regina says Woods worked at the men's club "Privileges" on West 23rd Street, as an exotic dancer.

"I know she worked here from April through July and she worked as an entertainer,” says Regina, a manager at Privileges. "It's horrible to think that one of our girls, that that could happen to."

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_332162523.html

[PrayersForMaura]

An aspiring Broadway dancer was found stabbed to death in her Upper east Side apartment last night, police said.
Catherine Woods was discovered face down in a pool of blood on the floor of her bedroom. She had been knifed in the neck and hand, and the room was in "disarray, " police said.

Her boyfriend told cops she was an exotic dancer, police sources said.

But her parents in Columbus, Ohio, told The Post their beautiful 21-year-old daughter was a dancer who had appeared in an off-Broadway production called "Privilege."
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58226.htm

Aww, I had missed this from the story before
"The couple's Chihuahua was also in the apartment."

:(

[Ixions Fire]

What the family may not have known, was that the dancing included some racy stuff. Anthony Regina says Woods worked at the men's club "Privileges" on West 23rd Street, as an exotic dancer.

"But her parents in Columbus, Ohio, told The Post their beautiful 21-year-old daughter was a dancer who had appeared in an off-Broadway production called "Privilege."

A men's club named Privileges or an off-Broadway musical named Privilege or both? I looked at the old reviews and information for the musical from Second Stage Theater, and none of them listed names of any extras like dancers.
(Sorry I have to practice using the quoting command. )

[mysteriew]

"But her parents in Columbus, Ohio, told The Post their beautiful 21-year-old daughter was a dancer who had appeared in an off-Broadway production called "Privilege."

A men's club named Privileges or an off-Broadway musical named Privilege or both? I looked at the old reviews and information for the musical from Second Stage Theater, and none of them listed names of any extras like dancers.
(Sorry I have to practice using the quoting command. )

Welcome to WS!
I would guess both. Privelege's is now admitting that she has danced there in the past. It is notoriously difficult to make it in the arts, and can take a long time. In the meantime, a person has to live. And a beautiful girl would make a lot more money dancing there, than working as a waitress.
(an easy way to do a quote, is to highlight what you want to quote, look at the line that starts with B I U. All the way to the right is a quote bubble. With the quote highlighted, if you click on the quote bubble, it will give you the quote brackets).

[Linda7NJ]

IMO there is nothing wrong with being a stripper. It's perfectly legal and lucrative. It annoys me they are engulfed in such negativity. The married men who frequent strip clubs are the ones that should be frowned upon. Especially the ones that spend hundreds of dollars regularly.

[concernedperson]

IMO there is nothing wrong with being a stripper. It's perfectly legal and lucrative. It annoys me they are engulfed in such negativity. The married men who frequent strip clubs are the ones that should be frowned upon. Especially the ones that spend hundreds of dollars regularly.

Well, there you go. Imagine the married men who disavow their loved ones for other endeavors. And just chalk it up to a man's thing. I am really over this thinking...just over it. The hormones that enact men aren't any different than the hormones that enact women. We just know how to use them.

[Ixions Fire]

Welcome to WS!
I would guess both. Privelege's is now admitting that she has danced there in the past. It is notoriously difficult to make it in the arts, and can take a long time. In the meantime, a person has to live. And a beautiful girl would make a lot more money dancing there, than working as a waitress.
If we can find a list of the cast extras for the production, and if she's included, we might have some names to chack out. I'd put as much money on a fellow cast member as I would a client of a men's club or her boyfriend.

(an easy way to do a quote, is to highlight what you want to quote, look at the line that starts with B I U. All the way to the right is a quote bubble. With the quote highlighted, if you click on the quote bubble, it will give you the quote brackets).
Right on! Thanks, I do believe I've got it!

[nanandjim]

IMO there is nothing wrong with being a stripper. It's perfectly legal and lucrative...
I know that it is legal and lucrative. So is prostitution (in NV) and porn. However, I think all of these professions are degrading to women. I would rather make money, even if it is less of it, using my brain instead of my body. That's just my opinion, though. :)

P.S. I was really attractive in my younger day, and I'm not bad now. I would never have considered any of these professions--ever.

[reb]

linda,

i would beg to differ... it is quite degrading, and you end up hanging out in the company of seedy, self-destructive and dangerous people... and you can bet most of those guys are not the kind of men who would want to be interested in you. and this crowd includes a high number of abusers, rapists, and worse... drugs & alcohol are everywhere, & a lot of places encourage the dancers to be drunk when "courting" customers. it's quite common for strippers to end up with a really distorted, disgusted & hateful feeling towards men, as they see them at their worst. and obviously there's prostitution involved, and how many women make all this great money, but either do it to support a nasty drug habit, or develop one after they start stripping??

there's a myth that somehow it's "empowering",,, and i suppose it is, in a certain way- but is it a good way to be empowered..? i'm not so sure.

obviously some places are classier than others,, and i suppose for girls without any other skills, it's the best way for them to earn some really good money. but, it doesn't seem like the healthiest way to go, and of course, once you're past 30, you're over the hill.. and then what?

that's what i would say is "wrong" with it, even though it's perfectly legal and lucrative... IMO.

[Zman]

IMO there is nothing wrong with being a stripper. It's perfectly legal and lucrative. It annoys me they are engulfed in such negativity. The married men who frequent strip clubs are the ones that should be frowned upon. Especially the ones that spend hundreds of dollars regularly.
If married men did not go to strip clubs there would be no strip clubs.
Maybe its the wives who nag them that should be frowned upon.

Maybe the bf couldn't handle watching his gf strip. Especially if she seems to enjoy it.
It takes a really confident guy to date a stripper. But if she had quit the club in July? Maybe she needed money and was going back to strip at the club and he didn't like it.

[Becba]

If married men did not go to strip clubs there would be no strip clubs.
Maybe its the wives who nag them that should be frowned upon.

Maybe the bf couldn't handle watching his gf strip. Especially if she seems to enjoy it.
It takes a really confident guy to date a stripper. But if she had quit the club in July? Maybe she needed money and was going back to strip at the club and he didn't like it.If it was legal for men to dance with their penis' hanging out, it would be just about egual to toppless dancers with g strings and lap dancing.
In my opinion not many married men would agree with their wives getting a lap dance like that. So I think married men should not have basically naked women lap dance for them.

[SewingDeb]

If it was legal for men to dance with their penis' hanging out, it would be just about egual to toppless dancers with g strings and lap dancing.
In my opinion not many married men would agree with their wives getting a lap dance like that. So I think married men should not go have basically naked women lap dance for them.

Amen. That's when my nagging would start!

[IdahoMom]

If married men did not go to strip clubs there would be no strip clubs.
Maybe its the wives who nag them that should be frowned upon.

Maybe the bf couldn't handle watching his gf strip. Especially if she seems to enjoy it.
It takes a really confident guy to date a stripper. But if she had quit the club in July? Maybe she needed money and was going back to strip at the club and he didn't like it.Yeah, right. :doh: It's the wives' fault. :croc: They FORCE their husbands into that. :doh: The men have no choice but to go!:slap: :waitasec: :rolleyes:

[concernedperson]

Actually that would be where my nagging would end. I am not supportive of a husband/boyfriend enjoying this and degrading me as well as the dancer. It is a two way street. Just because I didn't turn to this doesn't mean that I degrade every woman who has. If other options were available most women would choose those. They aren't. Yes, there are those who choose this route and I supplant that although my mother wasn't an exotic dancer she was the most evil person I have ever met. But of course, I haven't met Joseph Duncan.

[SewingDeb]

That sounds more like it, Concerned. The nagging would end, I would be out the door or he would! It is an extreme insult that a husband would rather go watch these dancers than be with the one who loves him and he is supposed to love.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother.

There is true evil in this world and whoever did this to this woman (dancer, or no) needs to be found and brought to justice.

[IdahoMom]

Actually that would be where my nagging would end. I am not supportive of a husband/boyfriend enjoying this and degrading me as well as the dancer. It is a two way street. Just because I didn't turn to this doesn't mean that I degrade every woman who has. If other options were available most women would choose those. They aren't. Yes, there are those who choose this route and I supplant that although my mother wasn't an exotic dancer she was the most evil person I have ever met. But of course, I haven't met Joseph Duncan.
I wouldn't endorse my husband doing this either. And I pass no judgement on the women who do this...without the demand, there would be no supply!

[concernedperson]

That sounds more like it, Concerned. The nagging would end, I would be out the door or he would! It is an extreme insult that a husband would rather go watch these dancers than be with the one who loves him and he is supposed to love.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother.

There is true evil in this world and whoever did this to this woman (dancer, or no) needs to be found and brought to justice.


It is either the boyfriend or Braunstein. Although I think that Braunstein has other plans.

[Becba]

Actually that would be where my nagging would end. I am not supportive of a husband/boyfriend enjoying this and degrading me as well as the dancer. It is a two way street. Just because I didn't turn to this doesn't mean that I degrade every woman who has. If other options were available most women would choose those. They aren't. Yes, there are those who choose this route and I supplant that although my mother wasn't an exotic dancer she was the most evil person I have ever met. But of course, I haven't met Joseph Duncan.
I did not mean I am against strip clubs. I just think if it were turned around to a comparable degree that men would get very angry with their wives going to one.
If a man wants to go to a strip club I don't really care. I am just saying it is a moral discission when it comes to married men.
And if this victim stripped or not doesn't matter except for evidence against a boyfriend that maybe lying.

[KatherineQ]

Oh no, this is just awful.

I saw Greta last night, and I'm sure this is the same case.

Her father was on and just heartbroken, and was so full of pride and praise for all the auditions and successes she had. He didn't need notes, he just kept talking off the top of his head for the musicals/dances/auditions she was in, and taking acting lessons, and on and on.

I was afraid they would cut him midstream, he was taking so long to describe all her successes, but it was so endearing to hear him go on and on about his beautiful daughter who aspired to be a broadway dancer. I remember hearing specifically she had a part in the show Priviledges.

He had no idea she was a stripper. And now, through her horrible murder, he finds out this too.

For anyone who saw this man, including Greta who couldn't cut him short, he was delightful. Prayers for his family, and prayers her killer is brought to justice.

[englishleigh]

Oh no, this is just awful.

I saw Greta last night, and I'm sure this is the same case.

Her father was on and just heartbroken, and was so full of pride and praise for all the auditions and successes she had. He didn't need notes, he just kept talking off the top of his head for the musicals/dances/auditions she was in, and taking acting lessons, and on and on.

I was afraid they would cut him midstream, he was taking so longto describe all her successes, but it was so endearing to hear him go on and on about his beautiful daughter who aspired to be a broadway dancer. I remember hearing specifically she had a part in the show Priviledges.

He had no idea she was a stripper. And now, through her horrible murder, he finds out this too.

For anyone who saw this man, including Greta who couldn't cut him short, he was delightful. Prayers for his family, and prayers her killer is brought to justice.

I didn't see this, I just missed it. I believe her dad is the Ohio State University band director. SO sad. I think her boyfriend did this. :( :banghead: :furious:

[KatherineQ]

I didn't see this, I just missed it. I believe her dad is the Ohio State University band director. SO sad. I think her boyfriend did this. :( :banghead: :furious:

I think you're right. The time frame is preposterous - he leaves (on the show last night I believe they said a half hour) to go deal with his car and he comes back and she's been killed in some horrific way. The odds are slim.

[concernedperson]

It is when you don't know or you are not evolved enough to know. It is only later when you know and it is too late. The families in this case are clueless. My prayers are being sent for their recovery.

[KatherineQ]

CP - your post seems so removed from the reality of this family's pain.

This is an age-old dream, to "make it on Broadway". That was this girl's dream. Greta had some statement about a million girls with dreams of making it big, waiting tables, going to auditions . .. that was this girl's dream too. She ended up in a strip club to support her while she hoped to make it big in the legitimate theater . .. and now, she's brutally murdered.

It seems cruel to call her family clueless. Unaware, maybe.

[KatherineQ]

Interestingly, in this link, David Vaughn is described as one of two EX-boyfriends. He is described as an EX-boyfriend who lived at her address and who worked one block away.

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5424998/detail.html

[concernedperson]

CP - your post seems so removed from the reality of this family's pain.

This is an age-old dream, to "make it on Broadway". That was this girl's dream. Greta had some statement about a million girls with dreams of making it big, waiting tables, going to auditions . .. that was this girl's dream too. She ended up in a strip club to support her while she hoped to make it big in the legitimate theater . .. and now, she's brutally murdered.

It seems cruel to call her family clueless. Unaware, maybe.

If I was unaware or seemed clueless. it was unaware or I was not fully apprised. I am always about the family's pain. Always.You can never say that I don't see the pain. Nor can you say that I don't identify. I think I said there is more to this than is being reported.

[scandi]

I just learned on Rita that she had a new boyfriend. Anyone catch that.

I was sitting here watching Rita and got upset and then more upset as she kept tring to focus on the fact this girl was working in the strip biz. When the dancing teacher spoke who had trained her from age 3 thru 18, she told how this girl was a very especially gifted dancer from the myriads of girls she has trained over the years, and how she had learned classical presentation, etc. So the girl had a serious and classical dancing background, and then here comes Rita again with - Well what do you think about the fact she was dancing in a strip club . . .

I'm probably too critical here, but having taken piano lessons for 13 years, being an artist and having a brother who is a full fledged opera singer as examples, I thought the teacher gave a wonderful true scenario of this girl as an artistic spirrit of dance that would be one of those who would really make it! Why try to degrade her life because she had to pay the bills, and like many aspiring actresses, singers and dancers, took what she had to to survive. YaYa


Scandi

[KatherineQ]

I didn't see Rita. So it's a new boyfriend after David Vaughn?

I'm not sure it's a bad thing to focus on the strip business. If the new boyfriend came along with the strip club business, or as a result of stripping . . .

It's an awful, awful business. So many strippers and prostitutes go missing and murdered each year, and their deaths go unsolved. Prayers this one girl who was new to the strip business will have her murder avenged.

[scandi]

Sorry to post twice in a row, but Katherine, I must say I have known Concerned for a long time here and would say she is heart and soal for both the victim and their family. She must have said something to you that she didn't express clearly enough.

In fact I've been racking my brain. I think it was about 2 weeks ago she said she felt so bad about - I think the way Pamela Vitale was killed but it could hae been someone else - well, she was physically upset from it and having a hard time getting sleep.

The reason I said I think it was a misunderstood post, is that I also hold you in great esteem for you insightful and interesting posts.


Scandi

[Ella]

If married men did not go to strip clubs there would be no strip clubs.
Maybe its the wives who nag them that should be frowned upon.

Maybe the bf couldn't handle watching his gf strip. Especially if she seems to enjoy it.
It takes a really confident guy to date a stripper. But if she had quit the club in July? Maybe she needed money and was going back to strip at the club and he didn't like it.

It takes a really confident man, like say a pimp, to date a stripper. A man who has a gf or wife that sells her body is a pimp.

[scandi]

Hi Katherine,

If emphasis on the strip biz was given because it might have a tie to her murder or murderer, then yes, I could understand and support that. But with Rita I felt it was the sensational part of the story that would grab watchers and keep them spellbound and coming back for more next week.

She does have the art of being an expert MC of a show though. At one point she had a spirited conversation going on with an Aruban police official - I think she said the Chief, on the phone, Steve on another TV screen and the governer of Alabama on another screen, back and forth and back and forth, and her voice got a bit higher pitched with excitement as she told the governor to hold for a min as she wanted to see what the police chif thought about this. Well at one point there were so many voices going on at one time, I could understand nothing! LOL I think she did a fine job at keeping the conversation going, interesting and so very alive you had to move your head a bit closer to the TV to catch it all. :D


Scandi

[Ella]

I have a big problem with strip clubs especially when we read about how women who are sexually molested as children often grow up into these dancers and when we read about Sharon Marshall who was molested her whole life by a pedophile and then later pimped by him. Men who think women should be bought and sold go to strip clubs. But they do get to hang with many sex offenders and molestation victims. So I guess that is where they find their fun. I can't see how anyone who reads a forum like this and knows how many young women and boys are nabbed just to be sexually exploited and thrown away can be in favor of any type of behavior that promotes that kind of attitude.

[concernedperson]

I didn't see Rita. So it's a new boyfriend after David Vaughn?

I'm not sure it's a bad thing to focus on the strip business. If the new boyfriend came along with the strip club business, or as a result of stripping . . .

It's an awful, awful business. So many strippers and prostitutes go missing and murdered each year, and their deaths go unsolved. Prayers this one girl who was new to the strip business will have her murder avenged.
I didn't see it either. I am not about having a prostitute's murder go unavenged.I am all about the victim's even prostitutes. In fact, I would be more proactive towards this because someone has to care. There is a reason that a woman chooses this line of work.Mainly because there are no options. I won't be the first to cast a stone at this.I want to know what everyone else did.I have seen too many deaths and too many lives lost at the behest of a sociopath. Occupation is just a sideline as well as short skirts...I never condemned anyone for wearing them. I also don't think murder and rape is in order for wearing them.

[SewingDeb]

It is either the boyfriend or Braunstein. Although I think that Braunstein has other plans.

Braunstein is a possibility if the boyfriend is innocent. I'm afraid of what Braunstein might do now.

[mysteriew]

I really believe it is the BF.
But at the same time, I wonder if LE has investigated the possibility of any link to Braustein? Did he frequent the strip club, did she ever work as a model and thus come into contact with him in his job as a fashion writer?
Brausteirn is pretty sick. There are signs he stalked women before. Could she have been someone he was stalking and he saw that the BF left the apt, thus giving him the opportunity? LE and the Media have been speculating that Braunstein may have left the area. If he wanted to send a message that he was still in the area, this is the way I would expect him to do it.
One of the things that bothered me was the BF was clean. She was pretty cut up. There was a struggle. He could have cleaned up and disposed of the clothing and shoes he was wearing. But why then leave the footprints in the blood? That part bothers me. Also, wouldn't they have found blood in the sink or shower? Also, did he have any scratches or injuries on him?

[SewingDeb]

Very good points, Mysteriew. It would be hard for him to clean himself up so quickly and what would he have done with the clothes and shoes in such a short period of time? Still, it's very possible.

[mysteriew]

Detectives searching for the cold-blooded killer who stabbed exotic dancer Catherine Woods were early today quizzing her ex-boyfriend — who continued to room with the vivacious, raven-haired beauty even though she had a new beau, sources said.
Doorman David Haughn — described by police sources as "a person of interest" — had pointed the finger at Woods' current lover, a professional dancer, who was also questioned and released.

A detective told The Post that skin was found under Woods' fingernails — but Haughn had no scratches.

Just a week before she was savagely stabbed Sunday night in her Upper East Side apartment, Woods, 21, told her parents she had landed a job in an off-Broadway play called "Privilege" after an actor she was understudying got laryngitis, according to her grandfather, Clarence Greer.

A spokesman for the Second Stage Theater, where "Privilege" closed six months ago, said she had not been a cast member.

Instead, Woods — whose father, Jon Woods, is director of the famed Ohio State University marching band — was performing on another stage, at a Chelsea topless club called Privilege.

She left the strip joint in mid-July, management said.

The closest Woods got to her dream of dancing under the lights of a Broadway theater was her role as "Ava," the name she used performing at FlashDancers Gentleman's Club in Times Square.

"Penny," the club's manager, said Woods didn't socialize with the other dancers. "She talked a lot about her family," Penny said. "She was very nice and quiet. She didn't drink."

Haughn, a would-be rapper who uses the name "City," told cops he left the couple's second-floor apartment at 355 E. 86th St. at about 7 p.m. Sunday to work on his car. He said that when he returned 20 minutes later, he found the door ajar, and Woods unconscious and covered in blood. Her throat was slashed with a knife.

An upstairs neighbor, Andrew Gold, 49, heard a long scream at 6:20 p.m., followed by another, short scream, and then a scuffle as the victim's terrified dog barked.

"Then I heard a thud, like a statue knocked over," he said.

Friends and co-workers of Haughn, whose lower-income background contrasted with Woods' middle-class upbringing and who was said to be disliked by her parents, described the tall, blond, blue-eyed man as soft-spoken and somewhat naive. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58553.htm

[mysteriew]

Her hometown boyfriend, David Haughn, told cops he found Woods - nearly decapitated, with her larynx and jugular vein severed - in the blood-soaked bathroom of their E. 86th St. apartment Sunday night.

Police sources said investigators, for now, are accepting Haughn's alibi that he was fetching his car to drive Woods to a strip joint when she was slain.

"We haven't been able to shake his story," one source said. "He didn't appear to have the time to do the things that we know have happened, and check out and not have blood on him."

Haughn was still at the 19th Precinct stationhouse last night, where he has been ever since Woods' body was found. An aspiring hip-hop musician from Columbus who worked as a doorman at an upper East Side building, Haughn told cops that Woods had been threatened by a man for failing to return some borrowed CDs.

Sources said Woods had broken up with Haughn and had found a new boyfriend, who also has been questioned by police. Barry Lisbon, manager of Flash Dancers on Broadway at 52nd St., said Woods was scheduled to dance at the club on Sunday night.

"We knew her as Ava," he said. "She was very wholesome. We don't know what world outside of here she lived in."
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/370019p-314707c.html

[Hollow]

Does anyone know her boyfriends age??? There was a real similar murder in Cleveland about 10 years ago, some dancer named Velvet, nearly decapitated.
just curious, probably no connection, but since he may have been from Ohio....

[mysteriew]

Does anyone know her boyfriends age??? There was a real similar murder in Cleveland about 10 years ago, some dancer named Velvet, nearly decapitated.
just curious, probably no connection, but since he may have been from Ohio....

Early articles state that Catherine was 21 and David is 23 years old.

[KatherineQ]

Here's a new article this morning, and it conflicts with some of the earlier thoughts. The neighbor who heard a scream and thud at 6:20 . . . that evidence would be unrelated if this article is true.

Below, the article states Catherine was on the phone until 6:30 with a girlfriend. The girlfriend thought she was alone in the apartment at the time. At 6:30, Haughn is a block or so away at his work. He calls 911 at 6:59 to report her attack presumedly from her apartment.

That is an AWFULLY tight timeline no matter how you look at it.

http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4181206&nav=LUESMuat

[nanandjim]

What a beautiful girl. Such a shame. :( Could it be possible that the murderer entered the secured building as David was exiting? Then, he knocked on Catherine's door. Catherine opened it thinking it was David returning with the car.

It doesn't take long to kill someone, perhaps a minute or two, especially if you have a knife.

[PrayersForMaura]

What a beautiful girl. Such a shame. :( Could it be possible that the murderer entered the secured building as David was exiting? Then, he knocked on Catherine's door. Catherine opened it thinking it was David returning with the car.

It doesn't take long to kill someone, perhaps a minute or two, especially if you have a knife.
I think those are the buildings you have to have a key to get in or be buzzed in for the door to unlock.

Yes, it is a shame. She is simply gorgeous. Kind of resembles Laci in a way, too. :(

[nanandjim]

I think those are the buildings you have to have a key to get in or be buzzed in for the door to unlock.

Yes, it is a shame. She is simply gorgeous. Kind of resembles Laci in a way, too. :(
But what if the murderer was standing outside of the locked entrance, just waiting for someone to exit. He could have grabbed the door as David (or another tenant) was exiting. So, he wouldn't have needed a key.

[PrayersForMaura]

But what if the murderer was standing outside of the locked entrance, just waiting for someone to exit. He could have grabbed the door as David (or(another tenant) was exiting. So, he wouldn't have needed a key.
Yeah, that definitely could've happened.

I wonder if the ex who was living with her has witnesses who saw him where he said he was? Even so, he still could've had time to clean himself up.

I thought I read that he did have skin under his nails but no scratches on him??

Very weird case.

[GreenEyedGirl]

My thing is this. If I walked into my apartment and found my Girlfriend laying dead on the floor I would have blood all over me from going to her and trying to help her. especially if we were having a "Lovely Evening"


:bang:
I totally agree! Something is very fishy here.

[KatherineQ]

Yeah, that definitely could've happened.

I wonder if the ex who was living with her has witnesses who saw him where he said he was? Even so, he still could've had time to clean himself up.

I thought I read that he did have skin under his nails but no scratches on him??

Very weird case.

I think SHE had skin under her nails.

[PrayersForMaura]

I think SHE had skin under her nails.
Ahhh... well that makes more sense why it said he didn't have scratch marks on him :doh:

Thanks!

[joanofarc]

But what if the murderer was standing outside of the locked entrance, just waiting for someone to exit. He could have grabbed the door as David (or(another tenant) was exiting. So, he wouldn't have needed a key.
So then, what is the motive? Why kill her? She wasn't sexually assaulted was she? How would the perp know that David would be gone long enough to warrant an attack on her? A secured building with no signs of forced entry..hmmm..I would be checking out the other tenants in the building if I were L.E....

So for me, after initially suspecting the "lovely evening" man now I am not so sure.....with that violent of an attack you would think he would have marks on him.....something to make cops suspicious of him but it seems his story may be checking out.....it was said in one of the news articles that he was going to get his car to drive her to the strip club for work and on the way stopped at his work (where he is a doorman)....so I wonder where his car was parked??

[mysteriew]

The young stripper from Ohio slain in her upper East Side apartment may have been trapped in a deadly love triangle with her longtime boyfriend - and her dance partner at a local gym - sources said yesterday.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that someone on a cell phone called 21-year-old aspiring Broadway star Catherine Woods seven times in rapid succession minutes before her throat was cut Sunday, the sources said.

It wasn't immediately clear who made the rapid-fire phone calls to Woods.

Both Haughn and Cortez, of Spanish Harlem, were released by cops yesterday after being questioned at length. Neither has been charged with a crime. "Paul is a good kid with a lot of heart and soul," said Cortez's father, Manuel, who lives in Minnesota. "I just spoke to him over Thanksgiving. He sounded chipper and he wasn't depressed."

Cortez's stepfather in the Bronx, Ducal Drake, said, "We're in shock because it's our son." "This lady came over two years ago," Drake said of Woods. "He was her boyfriend for a week." In Columbus, Haughn's sister Brittany, 19, revealed that her brother and Woods got engaged last Valentine's Day.

EDITED BY DP DUE TO COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/370226p-314923c.html

[concernedperson]

This is an odd case. With throat slashing there would be a lot of blood. If he was totally clean and walked in on it, it would be on his shoes and nowhere else. This is what is being reported.....still could be Braunstein. I have been waiting for him to escalate and now we know he was familiar with the Chelsea district and could have been to Privileges.Just throwing out possibilities here...don't know squat.

Also, if the BF had done this, assuming they have checked the drains, there would be so much forensic evidence. If they haven't, which, I doubt then he could have. Not 100% sure of the BF at this point...need more info.

[mysteriew]

The seven calls in rapid fire succession is an intriguing point.
A warning to her? A way to get her on edge? A way to determine if there is anyone with her?
They remind me of those horror movies. You know, the don't answer the phone movies. Makes it sound like a Braustein move.
Yet the 2nd boyfriend is looking like a possible also. May have been depressed over her. Looks like they have known each other a good while, but haven't been together as boyfriend and girlfriend long. Possible problems in the new relationship. Maybe the relationship meant more to him than to her? Maybe he had been desiring her, but until the breakup with Haughn didn't think he had a chance, then after going out with her, the realization that to her- he was just the guy she used to show Haughn she was moving on?

[concernedperson]

Cortez is a distinct possibility. I am sure by now that LE is looking at him. He seems smitten but to what degree I don't know. You have to be pretty smarmy to slash someone's throat and leave them, basically decapitated.He could have another side that was dark, to say the least.

[SewingDeb]

Yeah, that definitely could've happened.

I wonder if the ex who was living with her has witnesses who saw him where he said he was? Even so, he still could've had time to clean himself up.

I thought I read that he did have skin under his nails but no scratches on him??

Very weird case.

I think SHE has skin under her nails but HE had no scratches. I hope they are doing DNA tests on the skin.

Oops--I see someone else answered that. The skin under her nails should tell them a lot.

[PrayersForMaura]

Wow, that's a great story you posted.

I can't seem to blame the live-in boyfriend after reading that one.
The ex who was the Yoga guy ... Cortez ... now he may be a different story but then again he doesn't sound like he did it either. But he seems more likely than the live-in ex.

Gosh, maybe it was someone completely different :(

Oh my, who knows.

This is so, so sad. Seems she was loved by many.

[PrayersForMaura]

This is an odd case. With throat slashing there would be a lot of blood. If he was totally clean and walked in on it, it would be on his shoes and nowhere else. This is what is being reported.....still could be Braunstein. I have been waiting for him to escalate and now we know he was familiar with the Chelsea district and could have been to Privileges.Just throwing out possibilities here...don't know squat.

Also, if the BF had done this, assuming they have checked the drains, there would be so much forensic evidence. If they haven't, which, I doubt then he could have. Not 100% sure of the BF at this point...need more info.
I must've missed something ... who is Braunstein? I need to reread!! :banghead:

[concernedperson]

I must've missed something ... who is Braunstein? I need to reread!! :banghead:

The fake fireman who staged a sexual assault. Read the thread it is totally fascinating.

[mysteriew]

I must've missed something ... who is Braunstein? I need to reread!! :banghead:

http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31606&page=2

[PrayersForMaura]

The fake fireman who staged a sexual assault. Read the thread it is totally fascinating.

you all are good! I think you could be onto something. This guy seems more likely to do this than these ex boyfriends. I am really starting to believe the ex live in guy is innocent, and if either of them did it, Cotez seems more likely but even he seems too heartbroken to want her dead... he'd want her back if anything.

I hope that LE is checking into this, and the phoen calls as a possibility as being made with a pre-paid calling card.

[KatherineQ]

you all are good! I think you could be onto something. This guy seems more likely to do this than these ex boyfriends. I am really starting to believe the ex live in guy is innocent, and if either of them did it, Cotez seems more likely but even he seems too heartbroken to want her dead... he'd want her back if anything.

I hope that LE is checking into this, and the phoen calls as a possibility as being made with a pre-paid calling card.

With skin under her fingernails, unless a complete stranger did this who doesn't ever commit another felony, it's only a matter of time before he's caught. The sad thing is when you have a job as a stripper there are SO MANY possibilities of who could be lurking.

I feel so sad for her family. What a loss.

[mysteriew]

Braunstein's DNA would be on record from his attack on the his co worker. Would that be automatically checked against the DNA found on Catherine?

[scandi]

Braunstein's DNA would be on record from his attack on the his co worker. Would that be automatically checked against the DNA found on Catherine?]

New York does have a DNA bank, so I'm sure they'll plunk it in there and into the national base as well. Fingerprints will be done the same way.

This is a disparaging case. A young talented beauty living with her ex, probably to make ends meet, and a new love in her life. I can sure see the triangle and how it must have caused great consternation for all involved.

I feel so sorry for her parents as they had a double whammie with her death and learning she danced in strip clubs when they thought she was on B
roadway. Too bad she felt she had to lie to them. I don't think she had much time from the time the perp entered the apt until she was dead to ask for God's forgiveness. I hope he will forgive her anyway because of the circumstances.

Hey, that reminds me of Katz. Has anyone seen her lately? Miss that gal. LOL


Scandi

[PrayersForMaura]

]

New York does have a DNA bank, so I'm sure they'll plunk it in there and into the national base as well. Fingerprints will be done the same way.

This is a disparaging case. A young talented beauty living with her ex, probably to make ends meet, and a new love in her life. I can sure see the triangle and how it must have caused great consternation for all involved.

I feel so sorry for her parents as they had a double whammie with her death and learning she danced in strip clubs when they thought she was on B
roadway. Too bad she felt she had to lie to them. I don't think she had much time from the time the perp entered the apt until she was dead to ask for God's forgiveness. I hope he will forgive her anyway because of the circumstances.

Hey, that reminds me of Katz. Has anyone seen her lately? Miss that gal. LOL


Scandi
It sounds like she led a good life and was loved by many. I think her topless dancing is definitely something God would forgive as opposed to what was done to her. I have to believe she is in a better place now.

[nanandjim]

So then, what is the motive? Why kill her? She wasn't sexually assaulted was she? How would the perp know that David would be gone long enough to warrant an attack on her? A secured building with no signs of forced entry..hmmm..I would be checking out the other tenants in the building if I were L.E....

So for me, after initially suspecting the "lovely evening" man now I am not so sure.....with that violent of an attack you would think he would have marks on him.....something to make cops suspicious of him but it seems his story may be checking out.....it was said in one of the news articles that he was going to get his car to drive her to the strip club for work and on the way stopped at his work (where he is a doorman)....so I wonder where his car was parked??
I suspected the ex-boyfriend, too. Then, it sounded as if his story was checking out. If that is the case, then I have to go with someone who liked her. I believe that it was someone who knew her because of the viciousness of the attack.

I still find it hard to believe that it isn't the ex-boyfriend. I could see him having no injuries, especially if he caught Catherine off-guard. She wouldn't have had time to fight back.

[mysteriew]

The estranged lover of stripper Catherine Woods — a personal trainer at a gym near her Upper East Side apartment — made seven cellphone calls to her that went unanswered just minutes before the petite brunette was slashed to death in her home, sources said yesterday.

Paul Cortez, 25, told cops he made the calls Sunday from his own pad 23 blocks away. But police believe he actually phoned Woods from somewhere else, perhaps closer to her residence, sources said.

Those sources also revealed that several ex-girlfriends of Cortez told detectives the aspiring actor-singer appeared to have rejection issues after they split, and had worried about his volatility.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nypost/20051201/lo_nypost/39phoney39slaytale

There were fast-moving developments late Wednesday in the case of the aspiring dancer murdered in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Among them were growing suspicion and more questions about a second ex-boyfriend, a personal trainer who detectives say now has a lawyer and, for now at least, isn't answering additional questions, New York City television station WNBC reported.

Police stressed that Paul Cortez is not being called a suspect. But investigators say he won't explain why he allegedly made as many as seven phone calls to the victim in a short time before she was killed, but none after the murder.
http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5442266/detail.html?rss=col&psp=news
Picture of Cortez at link

[mysteriew]

"Just give me a couple days," was all teary-eyed wanna-be entertainer Paul Cortez would say after emerging from his East Harlem flat.

Clad in jeans and a black leather jacket, his long locks flowing, Cortez vigorously nodded when asked if he wanted the killer of 21-year-old Ohio native Catherine Woods caught.

But when asked to comment on reports he had roughed Woods up at least once, Cortez - who sources said has retained a lawyer and is no longer talking to cops - shook his mane in apparent disbelief.

Then the 25-year-old yoga instructor, who met Woods at a local gym where he worked and often danced with her in one of the studios, fled with a takeout order of rice, beans and roasted chicken he'd just purchased.

There was no sign of forced entry. While Woods appeared to have fought her attacker, there wasn't a scratch on either Haughn or the Bronx-reared Cortez, sources said.

Both men have provided cops with DNA samples, and yesterday forensics experts and detectives returned to the apartment Haughn and Woods shared in a search for genetic evidence.

"There is a fair amount of forensic evidence that's being analyzed now," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. "There was a lot of blood at the scene."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/370677p-315309c.html

[nanandjim]

Geez...I don't which guy I suspect more... :waitasec:

I'm still sticking with the first guy, David--maybe. One of the articles said that he had "blood specks" at the bottom of his pants. He said that he may have gotten this blood from crawling across the bed to get to Catherine. That seems weird to me. Blood specks seem more like blood spatter.

Could David have worn some outer clothing which he discarded? Could perhaps the bottoms of his pants been exposed enough to collect blood spatter during an actual attack?

Then, again, it is awfully coincidental that this Cortez guy was calling several times right before the murder was committed...

[mysteriew]

Then, again, it is awfully coincidental that this Cortez guy was calling several times right before the murder was committed...

And that he quit calling after the murder.
Still, neither guy has scratches.
As far as blood on David's pants, they said the scene was very bloody. Is it possible that he tracked through the blood, which then spattered onto his pants leg?
I wonder what Cortez meant by "give me a couple of days?"
Both b/f's gave DNA samples, so hopefully those will be tested soon.

[scandi]

Hi, I just heard on Fox news update that Haughn is the one who made the rapid fire progression of phone calls to her. He said he made them from his home, but now police think he was much closer to her than he stated.

So to clarify, as this got kind of confusing since they are both ex's, Cortez is the one who lived with her and whom she was engaged to at one point, and Haughn is the new ex boyfriend who made these phone calls and lived 23 blocks away, right? Cortez is the one who discovered her and had spatters on his pant bottoms.

Still too early to really know what's up. We need to find out whose skin was under her nails and if she was sexually molested. Can't guess about those things. Just because we don't know now doesn't mean it didn't happen. LOL


Scandi

[mysteriew]

Hi, I just heard on Fox news update that Kouch is the one who made the rapid fire progression of phone calls to her. He said he made them from his home, but now police think he was much closer to her than he stated.

So to clarify, as this got kind of confusing since they are both ex's, Cortez is the one who lived with her and whom she was engaged to at one point, and Kouch is the new ex boyfriend who made these phone calls and lived 23 blocks away, right? Cortez is the one who discovered her and had spatters on his pant bottoms.

Still too early to really know what's up. We need to find out whose skin was under her nails and if she was sexually molested. Can't guess about those things. Just because we don't know now doesn't mean it didn't happen. LOL


Scandi

Wait a minute, who is Kouch?
Haughn is the one she lived with, Cortez is the yoga instructor she went out with, and who she danced with. The article I posted indicated that Cortez made the calls.
Who is Kouch?

[concernedperson]

I just heard on a CTV news break that Cortez is refusing to cooperate with LE. No link yet. (Don't know who Kouch is either)

[scandi]

Thanks Mysteriew,

See, I was all mixed up and turned around. :confused: I even got the last name wrong - but kinda close! LOL

Anyway, I'll go correct that name, but Haughn is the name Fox gave - I just know I didn't hear Cortez. Wonder why the Fox newsgal said he admitted to making the calls but said he did it from his home, and the police think he was much closer to her apt than he said. Sounds like they are talking with Cortez, doesn't it?

Scandi

EDIT: Sorry, then I must have heard her wrong and it is Cortez she must have said.

[Jeana (DP)]

If married men did not go to strip clubs there would be no strip clubs.
Maybe its the wives who nag them that should be frowned upon.

Maybe the bf couldn't handle watching his gf strip. Especially if she seems to enjoy it.
It takes a really confident guy to date a stripper. But if she had quit the club in July? Maybe she needed money and was going back to strip at the club and he didn't like it.


Sweetheart are you saying that men go to stripclubs because their wives nag them? :confused: :confused:

[PrayersForMaura]

Sweetheart are you saying that men go to stripclubs because their wives nag them? :confused: :confused:
LMAO .... that's the funniest thing I read today and I need a good laugh. Sorry to interject on such a somber thread :(

[KatherineQ]

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but it was Cortez who called her 7 times right before she was killed, and no times after.

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5442266/detail.html

[Jeana (DP)]

I'm sorry, but other than the occasional bachellor party, if some dude is hanging out in a strip club, he's a big loser who I wouldn't want to be married to in the first place! LOL If those men can't understand that they're basically paying for the attention of a beautiful woman who wouldn't give them the time of day once the money ran out, then they're more dellusional than anything and we need to feel sorry for them.

[aussiegran]

I'm sorry, but other than the occasional bachellor party, if some dude is hanging out in a strip club, he's a big loser who I wouldn't want to be married to in the first place! LOL If those men can't understand that they're basically paying for the attention of a beautiful woman who wouldn't give them the time of day once the money ran out, then they're more dellusional than anything and we need to feel sorry for them.I agree .:clap:

[Zman]

Sweetheart are you saying that men go to stripclubs because their wives nag them? :confused: :confused:
Not all men, I hate to generalize but

Yes, among other things.

I would love to share my thoughts and also explain to "Ella" what a pimp is, however this thread don't seem to be the place. If someone can start one somewhere else I'll be glad to jump in.

[nanandjim]

I'm sorry, but other than the occasional bachellor party, if some dude is hanging out in a strip club, he's a big loser who I wouldn't want to be married to in the first place! LOL If those men can't understand that they're basically paying for the attention of a beautiful woman who wouldn't give them the time of day once the money ran out, then they're more dellusional than anything and we need to feel sorry for them.
Yes, I agree. I do feel sorry for the losers that frequent strip clubs. I would not be married to someone who felt the need to hang out there. :loser: You can bet that most strip club customers do not have a life!!

[concernedperson]

Yes, I agree. I do feel sorry for the losers that frequent strip clubs. I would not be married someone who felt the need to hang out there. :loser: You can bet that most strip club customers do not have a life!!

Or their life is the strip club. It also fuels fantasies for perverts and makes life difficult for all. I am just sorry that these women don't have alternatives to making decent money without having to resort to this.

Has anyone heard more on why Cortez is not cooperating with LE?

[mysteriew]

Has anyone heard more on why Cortez is not cooperating with LE?

He got an attorney, and that would be my guess as to why he isn't talking also.

:D Discussion on Strip clubs thread started in Jury room.

[concernedperson]

He got an attorney, and that would be my guess as to why he isn't talking also.

:D Discussion on Strip clubs thread started in Jury room.

Yeah, I guess the attorney would put the quiatus (sp) on news. Will check it out in the Jury Room. I am sure it will reveal more impetus to what we are looking for here. I still say there is way too much that is hinkey.

[Jeana (DP)]

Not all men, I hate to generalize but

Yes, among other things.

I would love to share my thoughts and also explain to "Ella" what a pimp is, however this thread don't seem to be the place. If someone can start one somewhere else I'll be glad to jump in.


Well, I hate it too, so let's not. I'm not a man and I don't know any that hang out in strip clubs, so I'm going to defer to your superior knowledge on the subject! :D

[Jeana (DP)]

He got an attorney, and that would be my guess as to why he isn't talking also.

:D Discussion on Strip clubs thread started in Jury room.


They said on the news this morning that there is video of him outside the apartment during the time the murdered occurred and they are looking for the guy who called her 7 times that night before the murder.

[KatherineQ]

They said on the news this morning that there is video of him outside the apartment during the time the murdered occurred and they are looking for the guy who called her 7 times that night before the murder.

Jeana - up the board, I linked an article that stated it was Cortez who called her 7 times. Was that wrong?

[shadowangel]

As the primary advocate for Sharon Marshall, can I just inject one thing here? This young lady didn't die because she danced with her clothes off, she died because some maniac slashed her throat. It makes no difference what she did, this is another young life cut short for no reason at all. :( :angel: :(

[Jeana (DP)]

Jeana - up the board, I linked an article that stated it was Cortez who called her 7 times. Was that wrong?


I hate all these names!! I'm sorry. The guy who was there with her and left to move his car is not guilty because they had video of him being outside. Sorry - didn't mean to confuse!!!

[joanofarc]

Okay...so they have video of Haughn leaving to go get his car to take Catherine to work (crime committed with no forced entry into a secured building)....reports say Cortez is the one who phoned 7 times....Cortez says he is 23 blocks away at his house when he tries to phone her....reports/cops say he may have been closer to her apt when the calls were made. (Cortez dad says he was having trouble with his cell phone on Thanksgiving.....).

So if Catherine was freaked out over Cortez and not answering his cell phone calls meanwhile Cortez is nearby watching, sees David leave and then when someone else leaves the building he steps inside and makes his way to her apartment & kills her....but yet has no scratches on him either.....:waitasec: .

Another scenario that has Cortez innocent is he is trying to call her on a cell phone that isn't working properly...it rings...she answers....but cannot hear him or he can hear her and she not him.....something to that effect but you would think you would give up this effort after about 3 or 4 times....not seven....and he would be claiming all over the place that his cell phone was giving him trouble....also...if you are at home like you claim...why wouldn't you use your land line instead of a cell phone....cell calls cost extra to use when you could be using your cheaper home phone......

So an obsessed lover/man/boyfriend phones....she has caller ID...knows who it is...Catherine lets the phone ring until the answering machine kicks in....caller hangs up....frustrated she doesn't answer when he knows shes home the caller repeats this process again and again.....7 times in a row....all the while getting angrier and angrier with her as this process is going on....crazed, obsessed, controlling men engage in this type of behavior as it is part of the abuse cycle...Cortez, as reported, is said to have "thrown" Catherine against a wall at one time.....another classic sign of an abuser.....IMO

[PrayersForMaura]

Okay...so they have video of Haughn leaving to go get his car to take Catherine to work (crime committed with no forced entry into a secured building)....reports say Cortez is the one who phoned 7 times....Cortez says he is 23 blocks away at his house when he tries to phone her....reports/cops say he may have been closer to her apt when the calls were made. (Cortez dad says he was having trouble with his cell phone on Thanksgiving.....).

So if Catherine was freaked out over Cortez and not answering his cell phone calls meanwhile Cortez is nearby watching, sees David leave and then when someone else leaves the building he steps inside and makes his way to her apartment & kills her....but yet has no scratches on him either.....:waitasec: .

Another scenario that has Cortez innocent is he is trying to call her on a cell phone that isn't working properly...it rings...she answers....but cannot hear him or he can hear her and she not him.....something to that effect but you would think you would give up this effort after about 3 or 4 times....not seven....and he would be claiming all over the place that his cell phone was giving him trouble....also...if you are at home like you claim...why wouldn't you use your land line instead of a cell phone....cell calls cost extra to use when you could be using your cheaper home phone......

So an obsessed lover/man/boyfriend phones....she has caller ID...knows who it is...Catherine lets the phone ring until the answering machine kicks in....caller hangs up....frustrated she doesn't answer when he knows shes home the caller repeats this process again and again.....7 times in a row....all the while getting angrier and angrier with her as this process is going on....crazed, obsessed, controlling men engage in this type of behavior as it is part of the abuse cycle...Cortez, as reported, is said to have "thrown" Catherine against a wall at one time.....another classic sign of an abuser.....IMO
good points!

Does Cortez have a home phone?
Maybe that's why he used his cell phone to call.
Some people don't have home phones any more. Especially in NY where everything is too expensive.

Sometimes calls are dropped, so I can see where you could call 3 or 4 times like you mentioned. Maybe he called her and she kept hanging up on him?

[scandi]

Your comment Joan of Arc is quite close to what I heard on Fox about an hour ago:

"Okay...so they have video of Haughn leaving to go get his car to take Catherine to work (crime committed with no forced entry into a secured building)....reports say Cortez is the one who phoned 7 times....Cortez says he is 23 blocks away at his house when he tries to phone her....reports/cops say he may have been closer to her apt when the calls were made. (Cortez dad says he was having trouble with his cell phone on Thanksgiving.....)."

The differences are that they said it was Cortez they saw on the video, waiting outside close to her apt making phone calls. They said Haughn has opened himself up to police and said they can have any info from him that they want. Also Cortez has lawyered up so they are getting nothing from him.

And then she said the general concensus of thought is that he waited until he saw Houghn leave and then ran up to her apt and killed her. It would all depend on the angle the camera showed as to whether or not they saw Haughn leave and Cortez go into the building. If they did see this they are not letting on to that fact right now.

The NY cop this reporter interviewed said Haughn is still being looked at because at this point in the investiugation it would be bad judgement to focus only on one person. But when he started to talk about Cortez his voice got louder, and you could tell this is where the emphasis is being given in the case.

I suppose that now they have to get the goods on Cortez to prove he went into that apt and murdered her.

Scandi

[joanofarc]

Pictures at this link....Haughn is free to leave New York...say cops....so I guess they have ruled him out....

Scandi this article says looking for videotapes...so you may be right...if this is true then Cortez is in a whole lota doo...doo....IMO

http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4192186&nav=LUESMuat

Police questioned Haughn for 29 hours following the murder, but have apparently now told him he is free to leave New York City.

Cortez and Woods met at a New York gym and apparently dated for awhile.

Cortez was once the lead singer in a New York band called "Stillwater." He has hired an attorney and is no longer cooperating with police.

But investigators are looking for surveillance tapes in buildings around his East Harlem apartment. They think he is lying about where he was at the time of the murder.

[scandi]

Hi Joan,

It does look bleak for Cortez, doesn't it? I guess from the live report this morning they have one shot from a video camera that shows Cortez outside making calls. I don't think it shows the entrance to her apt. Just think, if they found a shot that did show it and they saw Haughn leave and Cortez go into the bldg, WOW!

Let's keep our fingers crossed, OK


Scandi

[SewingDeb]

Published reports say surveillance video from a camera posted on a building down the block from the murder scene shows 25-year-old Paul Cortez, and it shows him at 6:30 Sunday night. Woods was murdered in apartment sometime between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

A police source says it was from that spot that Cortez made seven phone calls in quick succession to Woods. They were calls she didn't answer.

Cortez told police he made the calls from his own apartment 23 blocks away. Apparently the surveillance shows he's lying.

Cortez is a yoga trainer at a New York gym and had apparently dated Woods.

Reports say police also suspect Cortez because he would have known Woods' and Haughn's routine and that Haughn would leave the apartment around 6:30 p.m. to go get his car to take Woods to work.

http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4193857

[mysteriew]

Cortez does look good for this.

[mysteriew]

The Daily News got a glimpse of the apartment where the 21-year-old Ohio woman lived and died as police let her longtime boyfriend return to their hometown of Columbus for Woods' memorial service.

David Haughn, 23, was expected to join other mourners at the Linworth United Methodist Church today where the Ohio State University marching band, which Woods' grieving dad directs, was to play the funeral march.

There were few visible signs in Apartment 2D of the building on E. 86th St. that this was where Woods' dreams of becoming a Broadway dancer were snuffed out forever.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/370884p-315485c.html

Police have video proof that an estranged lover of slain stripper Catherine Woods was standing just outside her Upper East Side building around the time the 21-year-old brunette was brutally murdered, The Post has learned.
The surveillance video — obtained from a camera posted on a building down the block — shows Paul Cortez, 25, on Sunday night outside 355 E. 86th St., where Woods was found nearly decapitated inside her bedroom, sources said.

That video and evidence that Cortez made cellphone calls to the Ohio native from right outside her apartment make him the No. 1 suspect in her slaying.

Sources said the killing would have taken about five minutes and that the murderer would have been prepared to hide any blood that splashed on him by bringing something to wear over his clothes or a change of clothes.

That makes it likely that the murder was premeditated instead of the crime of passion it initially appeared to be.

Cortez, according to a person who knows him, had called friends on Sunday afternoon to tell them he was performing with his band, Monolith, that night at a club called Rare in Manhattan's Meat Packing District.

But a manager at Rare yesterday said that the club was closed Sunday night, as it usually is.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58838.htm

[mysteriew]

But investigators are looking for surveillance tapes in buildings around his East Harlem apartment. They think he is lying about where he was at the time of the murder.

But the New York police commissioner suggests that it will be evidence anyway -- not a confession -- that solves the murder of Catherine Woods.

"There's is a fair amount of forensic evidence that is being analyzed now that was taken from the scene. There was obviously a lot of blood from the scene. So all of that is being examined now,” Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Commissioner Kelly further said that the investigation is moving forward aggressively. But he would not make any indications of how soon an arrest may come.
http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=4192186&nav=LQlC

[concernedperson]

Cortez is looking good for this. Pretty damning stuff.

[scandi]

I loved that statement - the investigation is moving forward aggresively! Hoiw stupid could this guy be - standing out on the sidewald with the phone constantly on his ear and then if he did, run up her stairs and murder her quickly, never thinking that there might be cameras in the area to show the world exactly what he did!

I think they also want a shot of what he looked like walking out of that bldg. If he had a package under his arm containing clothes or a rainslicker to dispose of. See if he had the same clothes on when he came out as before he went in.

Actually, wouldn't you think he would leave the building and head out exactly the same way as he entered the scene before he went up to the appt? That means they very well could have a shot of him after he killed her if he passed the spot he was standing when they got him on camera before~! It's for sure they have a lot more on this guy than we posters know about.

Scandi

[mysteriew]

One of exotic dancer Catherine Woods' two boyfriends was in Ohio for her funeral yesterday - and it wasn't yoga instructor Paul Cortez.
The long-haired Lothario who wooed Woods with some slick dance moves of his own at a local gym was ordered by cops to sit tight in East Harlem, where he lives, police sources said.

"Interest has shifted to Cortez because his statements just aren't holding up," a police source said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/371167p-315756c.html


As slain stripper Catherine Woods was lovingly remembered at a memorial service yesterday in her Ohio hometown, the top suspect in her brutal murder proclaimed his innocence.

The dancer's estranged former lover, Paul Cortez, was advised by his lawyer not to speak to the media, but asked his close friend Alex Rude to pass on his comments to The Post.

"I never laid a hand on her at all," Cortez said through Rude.

"He loved Catherine and he is very broken up about her death," the friend added.

Woods was murdered in the bedroom of her Upper East Side apartment on Sunday night in a frenzied stabbing attack. Her larynx and jugular vein were completely severed and her carotid artery partially severed.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58902.htm

[mysteriew]

She was the love of his life, but aspiring rapper David Haughn stayed away from murdered ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods' funeral in Ohio.
Although he traveled from New York to Columbus, Haughn reportedly was a no-show at the Friday service out of respect for the dancer's grieving family.

He feared his presence might distract from heartfelt tributes to Woods, 21, who was found with a slit throat last week in the Upper East Side apartment they shared.

Scrutiny has since shifted to her gym-trainer boyfriend, Paul Cortez, 25, who police believe was near her apartment and repeatedly called her shortly before she was killed. Cortez shuffled out of his apartment yesterday and refused to talk about the case.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/371512p-316081c.html

Paul Cortez — the No. 1 suspect in the slaying of stripper Catherine Woods — told an Indian guru he was concerned about the "bad energy" surrounding his estranged lover and that he wanted to help her out of her "negative situation."

He said it in front of a roomful of people on a spiritual retreat just weeks before the 21-year-old beauty was found nearly decapitated in her Upper East Side apartment on Nov. 27.

During a group discussion, Cortez said he was "having problems" with Woods, said Curt DeGroat, his friend who also attended the retreat.

"Paul said he was in love with Catherine but she was involved in a 'negative situation' and had 'bad energy' around her," he said.

Woods met Cortez last year at a gym where he worked as a yoga instructor.

When the guru told Cortez to bring Woods to a yoga center for "healing," Cortez replied that she's "not into it," DeGroat said.

But a note on her kitchen calendar reportedly shows she had an appointment the same day she was murdered at a "10:45 a.m. service, 324 Lafayette St., 7th Fl., Yoga Center."

That's the address of the Creative Light Church, where yoga classes are held Sundays at 10:45 a.m.

Creative Light Church is a California-based sect that emphasizes positive thinking for health and success.

Staffers at the church told The Post they do not know Woods or Cortez.

Cortez, who was raised by his mother in The Bronx, attended Poly Prep County Day School, where he had "so many extracurricular activities that other kids teased him," said classmate Cinque McKetty.

Last year, Cortez and pal Alex Rude co-founded a band called Monolith, in which Cortez sings lead vocals.

"Paul is able to produce both blistering highs and hypnotic, entrancing lows," the group's Web site says. "His onstage presence can be described as nothing less than raw delirium."
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58977.htm

[mysteriew]

The Ohio mom of slain exotic dancer Catherine Woods broke her silence yesterday to say she's still too emotionally shattered to talk with New York's Finest about their investigation.
"I'm holding on to the little bit of blissful ignorance I can right now. We're going a day at a time," Donna Woods, 51, told the Daily News from her Columbus home.

The devastated mother of three gave a second reason for "deliberately" holding back inquiries: She wants investigators tofocus all their energy on catching the fiend who nearly decapitated her 21-year-old daughter on the upper East Side on Nov. 27. "I want the police to do their job and not have to worry about me making things difficult," said Woods, whose husband heads the Ohio State University marching band. "I don't want them to have to worry about me."

Meanwhile, new details emerged about how the classically trained dancer with dreams of making it big on Broadway spent her final day.

Hours before an assailant slit her throat in the E. 86th St. apartment she shared with hometown boyfriend David Haughn, Woods ate breakfast with a female friend and attended a two-hour service at the Creative Light Church of Religious Science in the East Village. "We came here. We ate breakfast. It was a really good day," said the pretty blond friend, who didn't want her name used. "We left church together. ... She said she was going home and that we had had a great day."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/371703p-316234c.html

[mysteriew]

The Ohio-born stripper savagely slashed to death in her Upper East Side apartment last week was looking for spiritual answers when she sat in on an East Village meditation and prayer group on the day she died.
Catherine Woods, 21, and a friend attended the two-hour meditation session and service at the Creative Light Church of Religious Science on Lafayette Street, just hours before she was found with her throat slit.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/58280.htm

[mysteriew]

Detectives probing the brutal slaying of stripper Catherine Woods were yesterday trying to pinpoint how their prime suspect — her estranged yoga-teacher boyfriend — may have traveled from his East Harlem apartment to her Upper East Side pad on the day of the murder.
NYPD detectives yesterday questioned workers at a car service across the street from the apartment of 25-year-old Paul Cortez, who had dated Woods over the past year.

"We're doing everything we can. We checked everything, even the buses," said a law enforcement source.

An employee of New Easy Way Radio Dispatcher said cops showed her a picture of Cortez, asking if she recognized the personal trainer and rock musician.

They told her he was a suspect in the killing of Woods, 21, who was stabbed and nearly decapitated in her East 86th Street apartment Nov. 27.

Law enforcement sources have identified Cortez as the prime suspect in the case.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/59033.htm

[Masterj]

This literally happened right down the street from me. How scary.

[lisafremont]

I live five blocks away! I know that block well. He worked at Equinox on 85th, east of Third.

[mysteriew]

The prime suspect in the brutal murder of stripper Catherine Woods phoned her obsessively when they were dating — demanding to know the beautiful brunette's whereabouts and what she was doing, law-enforcement sources told The Post yesterday.

Sources say personal trainer Paul Cortez, 25, also repeatedly checked up on other women he dated — often dozens of times a day.

The pattern of harassment, sources said, mirrors Cortez's actions right before the Nov. 27 killing, when he called his estranged girlfriend Woods, an exotic dancer, from his cellphone seven times in quick succession, sources said.

"Where are you, why are you there, why are you going there, where are you going?" said one source, quoting the kinds of questions Cortez, an aspiring actor and rock singer, would demand of his girlfriends.

A number of women told detectives they were afraid the East Harlem resident would react violently when they split with him, saying he had a problem with rejection.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/59138.htm

[joanofarc]

About Catherine.....The Pride of Columbus

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/nyregion/thecity/11feat.html

[Jeana (DP)]

WWW.BUGMENOT.COM

if you don't want to register to read the article in the above post.

[mysteriew]

bloody fingerprint found near the body of murdered stripper Catherine Woods has been matched to her former boyfriend Paul Cortez, the prime suspect in the savage Upper East Side slaying, The Post has learned.
The link was made after Cortez, 25, was busted last night on a sexual-assault charge when a woman he dated told cops he had forcibly sodomized her, police sources said.

The arrest opened the door for detectives to obtain Cortez's fingerprints, which were not previously on file, and compare them to one in Woods' East 86th Street apartment, where she was repeatedly stabbed and nearly decapitated last month.

Cops plan to seek a search warrant today in order to comb his apartment for more evidence, sources said.

Cortez was arrested after the woman, who after hearing about the murder, came forward last week and told investigators they had gone out on a date last New Year's Eve that went horribly wrong, police sources said.

At one point, the woman said, the muscular personal trainer forced himself on her and, despite her protests, made her submit to anal sex, according to the sources.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/59141.htm

[Michelle Read]

bloody fingerprint found near the body of murdered stripper Catherine Woods has been matched to her former boyfriend Paul Cortez, the prime suspect in the savage Upper East Side slaying, The Post has learned.
The link was made after Cortez, 25, was busted last night on a sexual-assault charge when a woman he dated told cops he had forcibly sodomized her, police sources said.

The arrest opened the door for detectives to obtain Cortez's fingerprints, which were not previously on file, and compare them to one in Woods' East 86th Street apartment, where she was repeatedly stabbed and nearly decapitated last month.

Cops plan to seek a search warrant today in order to comb his apartment for more evidence, sources said.

Cortez was arrested after the woman, who after hearing about the murder, came forward last week and told investigators they had gone out on a date last New Year's Eve that went horribly wrong, police sources said.

At one point, the woman said, the muscular personal trainer forced himself on her and, despite her protests, made her submit to anal sex, according to the sources.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/59141.htm
I find it strange that Cortez was a suspect in Catherine's murder and yet police were unable to obtain his fingerprints? :waitasec:

It's too bad the other victim did not report the crime against her sooner! Thank God the police caught this break when they did! Now hopefully they will be able to obtain enough evidence to convict him of this crime, if he did it.

[mysteriew]

The former boyfriend of a slain topless dancer from Ohio was declared the prime suspect in her death, his arrest in the case delayed only because the transit strike Tuesday prevented a full grand jury from being seated.

Stolley explained that a grand jury quorum -- the minimum of 13 people legally needed to indict -- could not be seated because the bus and subway worker walkout had kept some jurors from being able to go to court. A full grand jury in New York seats 23 members.

The judge arraigned Cortez, a singer in the rock band Monolith, in connection with the January case, for which he was arrested Monday, on three counts of first-degree criminal sex act.

In that attack, Stolley said, Cortez grabbed the victim's throat, pressed his knee onto her chest and forced her to perform sex acts.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/5591658/detail.html

[Opie]

Another guy with issues about women. Get him!

[aussiegran]

I wonder how many he has raped that havent come forward. I bet there is more .I cant understand why she didnt come forward before and get him charged .I am trying not to judge her too much as I have never experienced rape and dont know how I would react .But she has to live with herself now knowing maybe she might have stopped him.:mad:

[GreenEyedGirl]

I wonder how many he has raped that havent come forward. I bet there is more .I cant understand why she didnt come forward before and get him charged .I am trying not to judge her too much as I have never experienced rape and dont know how I would react .But she has to live with herself now knowing maybe she might have stopped him.:mad:
I agree, but she may have been afraid of turning him in because of his violent behavior. :twocents:

[mysteriew]

Yoga instructor Paul Cortez - the long-haired Lothario who wooed murdered stripper Catherine Woods at a Manhattan gym - will be charged later this week with her grisly slaying, authorities said yesterday.

Police were expected to execute search warrants last night at Cortez's home and the Equinox gym where he worked. Customers at the E. 85th St. gym had few kind words for him.

"Every woman who has flirted with him describes him as overly obsessive," said Neam Obstfeld, 25, of Manhattan. "He had the ability to pull them in with this yoga personality ... but everyone knew they could see the anger in him."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/376417p-319850c.html

A fitness instructor yesterday was set to be slapped with murder charges for butchering his stripper ex-girlfriend — but grand jurors were thwarted by the transit strike.
Instead, he was arraigned only on charges he sodomized another woman, on New Year's Day.

Only a handful of people from three separate grand juries were able to beat the strike and make it to court yesterday, prompting prosecutors to hold their case close to the vest until they can get a complete panel.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/60006.htm

[Masterj]

I wonder how many he has raped that havent come forward. I bet there is more .I cant understand why she didnt come forward before and get him charged .I am trying not to judge her too much as I have never experienced rape and dont know how I would react .But she has to live with herself now knowing maybe she might have stopped him.:mad:
Aussiegran, if you ever experienced the intense emotional pain and shame that rape victims endure, than I am sure you would understand how difficult it probably was for her to remain silent. I can't even begin to explain how much my rape destroyed me emotionally. It is a deeply degrading and humiliating thing to experience and unfortunately the sad truth is that coming forward tends to make you relive that pain over and over again. It is hard enough being a rape survivor. She should be praised for her courage in coming forward now, not judged for what she didn't do then.

[Olivia77]

I just read the article in the Pride of Columbus. Catherine was really going for her dreams, taking voice and dance lessons, going to auditions. That article really gives you a look into who she was and how dedicated she was to pursing her dreams. How terrible it is that someone could do this to her... :(

[Michelle Read]

Does anyone know if this case has been presented to the Grand Jury yet and whether or not the suspect has been formally charged?

[mysteriew]

A long-haired fitness fanatic was indicted yesterday for the grisly murder of Catherine Woods, the Ohio stripper found nearly decapitated inside her upper East Side apartment.
Speaking in a soft voice, Paul Cortez pleaded not guilty to murdering Woods on Nov. 27 as she got ready to go to work at a topless club near Times Square.

Cortez, who met Woods at a gym where he worked as a fitness guru, told cops he was home - 20 blocks away from Woods' E. 86th St. apartment the night she was found dead.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/377377p-320594c.html

[CyberLaw]

If I recall correctly the stats, something like less then 5 percent of rapes are reported, and there is even a lesser conviction rate.

That is why men, rape and abuse women, they know that the chances of it being reported, let alone charged and convicted are slim.

You cannot obtain a person fingerprints without a court order or an arrest. Sometimes when a person has nothing to hide, they may choose to volunteer their fingerprints.

That is why it took another person to come forward, lay a complain,and charges were filed. Therefore, fingerprints could be obtained.

Otherwise, he was only a "suspect" in the murder of Catherine. As a suspect, you are not under arrest.

Ditto with DNA.

[JellyBean]

The Manhattan yoga instructor charged with slaying a young stripper tried to portray himself as his girlfriend's would-be savior - saying he called her father in Ohio and told him of her wild lifestyle, it was revealed yesterday.



Accused killer Paul Cortez told cops he made the call after a weeping Catherine Woods was drugged and almost raped at a West Side strip club.

Cortez claimed he tried to persuade her to stop stripping, but she refused, court records revealed.

"She mentioned that she needed to go back into stripping to support her lifestyle," Cortez told cops. "I told her that it was a bad idea, but she went anyway."

Cortez, 25, is charged with stabbing Woods, 21, to death in a jealous rage on Nov. 27. His bloody fingerprint was found at the scene, authorities have said.

He said he promised not to call Woods' family after the purported strip club incident, but he found her father's cell phone number and spilled the beans.

"I also told him about my relationship with her, how I loved her and that we were a couple," Cortez claimed to cops.

Jon Woods rushed to New York, according to Cortez, but left town after his daughter convinced him Cortez was lying. The father, who has said he knew nothing about his daughter's lifestyle, couldn't be reached for comment.

"Because I betrayed her trust, she stopped speaking to me," said Cortez, who had met Woods, an aspiring Broadway dancer, while working out.

The couple reconciled, but split for good after Woods caught Cortez trying to check whether other men called her, he told cops. "She couldn't trust me," he said. Minutes before she was killed, Cortez called Woods seven times while standing outside the E. 86th St. pad she shared with an Ohio beau, authorities have said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/381477p-323924c.html

[englishleigh]

He was clearly obsessed with her, it was a case of "if I can't have her, then no one will." But to slash her like that, to nearly decapitate her....there was some major rage in him.

This trial will be ugly, I am afraid....Cortez' defense attorneys will portray Catherine as a slut because of the way she made a living, and will try to pin it on someone from the strip club. I feel so horrible for her family. She came from a good family who loved her very much. :(

[nanandjim]

...
This trial will be ugly, I am afraid....Cortez' defense attorneys will portray Catherine as a slut because of the way she made a living, and will try to pin it on someone from the strip club. I feel so horrible for her family. She came from a good family who loved her very much. :(
In this case, I just don't think that it will work. Don't they have this guy's footprint or fingerprint in her blood? If so, this connects him to the scene as the murder was being committed.

[SewingDeb]

I wonder why this is a second degree murder charge?

[mysteriew]

I wonder why this is a second degree murder charge?
Just guessing, but maybe the think he just came there to 'talk' to her and then ended up being enraged and striking out?

[hollyjokers]

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/61350.htm

I guess he is borrowing a page from Andrea Yates' defense: "I had to kill her to save her from sin"

What a guy!

Apparently he kept a diary & the police found it. Mentions Catherine by name.

[mysteriew]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/381477p-323924c.html

[SewingDeb]

This business of trying to protect her just blows me away. He's the type of man she needed protection against.

[mysteriew]

This business of trying to protect her just blows me away. He's the type of man she needed protection against.

Yeah, he couldn't get her to stop- so he killed her because he was afraid she might get hurt.

[SewingDeb]

Right....<gag> Well, I guess since they are only going for second degree, they'd better give him therapy. He'll be back out and dating in a few years.

[annie mae]

:( You got that right Sewing Deb. Literally makes me ill to know the scum-bag will be out in a few years to prey on another girl or ? But with his pretty lockes of hair he just might change his sexual preference while incarcerated. I am quite sure when Mr. Paul goes to the big-house he will become someone's little girl. Just had to put in my :twocents: annie Wishing ALL a Great New Year

[mysteriew]

Her bravery in coming forward led to an arrest in one of the city's bloodiest killings: the brutal slashing of a beautiful brunette stripper.

But now, a Manhattan woman who told police that she, too, had suffered violence at the hands of accused murderer Paul Cortez has stopped cooperating with prosecutors, The Post has learned.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/62261.htm

[Dark Knight]

I just saw the story on 48 Hours: Mystery tonight. Truly a sad story, and Cortez sure looks guilty. It's scary that you can leave someone for just 20 minutes and come back to find them brutally murdered. No surprise her roomate/boyfriend was the initial suspect, as it made me suspicious too, but apparently it can happen! I pray for justice, and for peace for her family. They appeared to be doing as well as can be expected in their interview.

[tweedledee]

My thing is this. If I walked into my apartment and found my Girlfriend laying dead on the floor I would have blood all over me from going to her and trying to help her. especially if we were having a "Lovely Evening"


:bang:
Bingo! That's exactly what I thought of. He has NO blood on him? Come on. he didn't even get close enough to see if there was some outside chance she was still alive. Big red flag IMO

[Dark Knight]

Bingo! That's exactly what I thought of. He has NO blood on him? Come on. he didn't even get close enough to see if there was some outside chance she was still alive. Big red flag IMO
If she was nearly decapitated, it may have been obvious she was beyond help. The evidence points to Cortez rather than her b/f at this point, including him being at the building at the time of the murder.

[cheko1]

I watched it on 48 Hrs also....if I walked in & found someone apparently dead / blood all over & it was apparent they were close to decapitated. I'd hurry get the heck out of there...not touch a thing..........call 911 just as he did.

[nanandjim]

I watched the 48 Hours show, too. It was mentioned that Cortez had expected Catherine to spend Thanksgiving with him and his family, which was three days before the murder. Instead, she spent it with her other boyfriend/roommate. I can well imagine that Cortez was angry and embarrassed. He probably stewed over this and wanted to get even with her for being played.

They said that Cortez called her several times that night. I can well imagine that he knew her routine and watched as the other boyfriend left the building. He then either was let in by Catherine or somehow got in the building. She opened the door, thinking it was her ride.

I didn't realize that Cortez was a smart young man who apparently had a lot going for him. Too bad that he threw it all away.

I really feel sorry for Catherine's family. Such a sad, sad situation.

[annie mae]

I watched it on 48 Hrs also....if I walked in & found someone apparently dead / blood all over & it was apparent they were close to decapitated. I'd hurry get the heck out of there...not touch a thing..........call 911 just as he did.
I agree with you 150%. Some folks, like myself, would probably just ran for the hills in fear. I once saw my girlfriend get stabbed repeatedly by her boyfriend and I went into shock, just froze. Another friend had to slap me back into reality. Fortunately my friend is still with us today but sports the scars of that night, forever. He did 9 years. Everyone re-acts different.

[mattsmom]

I just read that his trial is expected to start Jan 22 in New York Supreme Court in Manhatten.

I feel badly for his mother who says she thinks he is innocent but I think he did it and hope that more proof comes out in trial.

My prayers go out to the Woods family - may they find peace after this trial.

[nanandjim]

...I think he did it...
I think that he did it, too. I believe that they found a fingerprint of his in her blood. Here are a couple of links to recent articles about the trial.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/493125p-415340c.html

http://www.courttv.com/news/2007/0131/cortez_woods_ctv.html


http://www.nypost.com/seven/01312007/news/regionalnews/stripper_slay_suspects_trash_mystery_regionalnews_ jennifer_fermino.htm

[Masterj]

There is not a doubt in my mind that he did it. His neighbor recalled seeing him outside in the freezing cold in his underwear throwing a large bag of trash out.

Also, if I am not mistaken, isn't the guy she lived with her ex boyfriend? This happened by my old apartment last year. I remember how scared I was when I first heard of this. I really wish the lame NY papers would refer to her in a kinder manner rather than constantly referring to her as a topless dancer, etc. What relevance does that have to her murder?

[curious1]

Wow. Mr. Cortez thought he was one smooth dude. I have read this thread from beginning to end. He was concerned about the 'negative energy' around her, yeah that negative energy was YOU asswipe!!!! Sorry, I get carried away sometimes. Anywhoo....so he was wearing a mask, hiding behind all this yoga and meditation stuff. I knew a guy just like him. So charming, holding the door, always talking about yoga, meditation or working out and finding your inner spirit and they want to show you the path so you can find peace. Then you start dating him and the real 'man' comes out and they are possesive and controlling. Been there done, that.....had my roomates woken up all hours of the night because he was checking to make sure I was home at 2 AM during the week. Had my car window busted out and my best friends life threatened when I broke up with him and was so fearful of my well being that I moved out of town. He seemed like the perfect guy until.......

[nanandjim]

...I really wish the lame NY papers would refer to her in a kinder manner rather than constantly referring to her as a topless dancer, etc. What relevance does that have to her murder?

I agree. This was a beautiful, decent girl. She would not have "stripped" forever. She was a talented dancer. I believe that she would have made it on Broadway had she had the opportunity to live.

I also believe that this guy did it. No doubt in my mind. I think that he will be found guilty. IMO, he should get the death sentence. However, I'm not sure that death penalty is an option in NY.

[nanandjim]

...Had my car window busted out and my best friends life threatened when I broke up with him and was so fearful of my well being that I moved out of town. He seemed like the perfect guy until.......
So glad that you are alive. You must have been scared out of your mind. These guys are useless cowards. These guys do not change, IMO.

[Peter Hamilton]

Well, as Ted Bundy once said, "Some people are not psychologically ready for failure"--Bundy was trying to explain his murder spree, the fact that he was a failure at trying to become a lawyer and that he was a failure at keeping up his relationship with his rich girlfriend(She told him to go to hell,he wasn't "good enough"he was just,a step above white trash)---This killer here is a freaking animal, I hope he rots in prison--too bad no death penalty for him

[curious1]

So glad that you are alive. You must have been scared out of your mind. These guys are useless cowards. These guys do not change, IMO.Well to tell you the truth I moved out of town for 2 reasons....1) to try to get his focus off of my family 2) so I would not end up in prison. I was sooo angry at this guy for bothering my family and friends and hounding me and threating me that if I had stayed I really think I would have 'hurt' him the next time he confronted me.

What a day on Websleuths. I have read about 2 cases today that really hit home with me. I guess we see a little bit of ourselves in each victim when we come here.

[barb0301]

I really wish the lame NY papers would refer to her in a kinder manner rather than constantly referring to her as a topless dancer, etc. What relevance does that have to her murder?
How true ! As if the crime wasn't bad enough, they have to continually "sensationalize" it by referring to her this way. Her life mattered as much as any other life, and she deserves to be referred to in a more dignified manner.

[curious1]

I know, I got so tired of seeing 'Stripper', 'Topless Dancer', ugh why not just 'Young Woman'? The media really just doesn't get it sometimes.

[Masterj]

I know, I got so tired of seeing 'Stripper', 'Topless Dancer', ugh why not just 'Young Woman'? The media really just doesn't get it sometimes.
And the picture they frequently run of her in the paper looks like a still from her work where she is pouting sexily. It drives me insane! Her poor family.

nana - it turns out the death penalty is an option in NY. I read the other day that this scum who was just convicted of killing 2 undercover NY police officers was sentenced to death. The paper said this is the first death penalty sentence in years (can't remember exact year but I want to say since the 1960s but I could be way off base). When that scum was sentenced to death, he turned to the cop's widow and stuck his tongue out at her while his mother screamed at the victim's family that they were ruining her son's life. :waitasec:

[SewingDeb]

My understanding is that NY only has the death penalty for cop killers. Anyone know for sure?

[Masterj]

My understanding is that NY only has the death penalty for cop killers. Anyone know for sure?
I didn't realize that. I'll have to look that up. Thanks SewingDeb! I love that I always learn new things from various posters.

[nanandjim]

......When that scum was sentenced to death, he turned to the cop's widow and stuck his tongue out at her while his mother screamed at the victim's family that they were ruining her son's life. :waitasec:
Whoa. Unbelievable. I think that SewingDeb says that only cop killers are eligible for the death penalty. I think that she is right. I think that this guy is charged with second degree murder because only cop killers are eligible for the first degree murder charge. I live in NY; however, I don't share many of their views. ;)

[nanandjim]

Here's another article concerning Cortez's trial. This guy was obviously obsessed with Katherine, not to mention his fingerprint in her blood being found at the scene.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/cortez/020107_ctv.html

[concernedperson]

Here's another article concerning Cortez's trial. This guy was obviously obsessed with Katherine, not to mention his fingerprint in her blood being found at the scene.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/cortez/020107_ctv.html

There were a couple of people on CC's Show tonight that said he was so nice and he couldn't do this type of thing. Have we heard this before? One was a member of a yoga group and the other was a photographer who took his "glam" shots. She said she was a New Yorker and she would know if anything was amiss.I wish I had their crystal ball.

[mikesmom1989]

Whoa. Unbelievable. I think that SewingDeb says that only cop killers are eligible for the death penalty. I think that she is right. I think that this guy is charged with second degree murder because only cop killers are eligible for the first degree murder charge. I live in NY; however, I don't share many of their views. ;)

Hi There --- This guy was death penalty eligible because he was tried by the feds. IN NY, the only way you can go for the death penalty is if you are prosecuted in federal court, which is what happened in this case, the DA deferred to the government to ensure DP eligibility.