Privacy Laws Slow Hunt In Therapist Murder

Police investigating the murder had been hampered by federal privacy laws that deny them access to the therapist's records, the New York Post reports.

The newspaper says police will have to obtain a court order in order to see the records, and have used Faughey's appointment book and sign-in sheets at the Manhattan building where her office is located in a bid to get a handle on her patients.

Therapist Kathryn Faughey was slashed 15 times with a meat cleaver and a 9-inch knife in her Manhattan office on Tuesday evening. A psychiatrist who worked in the building, Dr. Kent Shinbach, came to Faughey's aid and was badly injured.

On Thursday, police questioned and later released a man Faughey had offered to help with personal problems. Faughey mentioned him in her last message, sent only about a half-hour before she was killed, said a friend, Don Hurley.

Detectives interviewed the man, William Kunsman, in Pennsylvania on Thursday. He was not considered a suspect, but the development showed how determined investigators were to track down any clues into the killer. Kunsman met Faughey, 56, at a guitar camp several years ago, according to a law enforcement official.

Pennsylvania state troopers picked him up at his home around 4:30 a.m., and he was let go 8½ hours later, after he asked for a lawyer, the official said.

"The reasons they had for questioning me were valid," said Kunsman, of Coplay, Pa., adding that he was "extremely saddened" to hear of Faughey's death.

Kunsman said that when detectives arrived he hadn't even heard about Faughey's death. "It didn't become clear to me until during the questioning what had happened," he said.

The killer left behind several clues, dropping two bags near the basement door through which he escaped. The bags were filled with adult diapers, women's clothing, rope, duct tape and eight knives apparently not used in the attack, police said.

Police also recovered three knives at the scene, including a 9-inch knife and a meat cleaver that were apparently bent from the force of the attack.

Investigators initially believed the killer may be a patient of Faughey, but were also questioning other acquaintances.

Faughey, a licensed psychologist, described herself as a specialist in cognitive behavioral therapy. On her Web site, Faughey said she treated patients for relationship issues, coping with breakups, anxiety, panic attacks, stress over job changes and online intimacy, such as relationship issues arising from computer and text messaging.

Colleagues said she was unlikely to have knowingly seen a patient who had a problem with aggression or violence.

Faughey was an avid guitar player. In the past few years, she had attended several get-togethers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere with fellow Martin guitar enthusiasts and had become fast friends with some of them.

She named her six-string guitar Little Anna, which she adoringly described in one posting on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum as the "archetype of the trusted friend, sister, confidante."