Slain therapist's friend questioned, released

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Police questioned a man in Pennsylvania on Thursday about the grisly murder of a therapist in her Upper East Side office this week.

William Kunsman, who said he met the victim five years ago at a guitar camp, denied involvement in hacking Kathryn Faughey to death with a meat cleaver.

"I hadn't even known what happened before I went in this morning," Kunsman told CNN outside his home in Coplay, Pennsylvania. "Through the questioning I kind of pieced the puzzle together and I realized they were talking about Kathryn. Later on, at one point, they let me know that she was murdered."

Kunsman was picked out of a photo lineup by a second victim of the attack who survived with serious wounds, according to an New York Police source.

Kunsman told CNN he was home with his wife on Tuesday night. He said he was released Thursday after 10 hours of questioning once police confirmed his story.

He said he last spoke to Faughey on Tuesday.

"I've been unemployed so I haven't been able to see my own doctor lately," said Kunsman. "She e-mailed me with her phone number and said I could call her, and I've been talking to her about some personal issues."

Faughey, 56, was found in her Upper East Side office with several stab wounds to her head and torso.

A man had used two knives and a meat cleaver to attack her, police said, and she died at the scene.

A second therapist, Kent Shinbach, 70, was seriously injured when he came to Faughey's aid.

The man attacked Shinbach for 10 minutes, police said. He pinned the therapist to the wall with a chair, slashed him repeatedly around the head and torso and stole his money, police said. He was able to call for help through an open window, and the building's doorman called police.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Shinbach remained in serious condition at a hospital, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, describing the office, told CNN that "blood was splattered on the walls and floors," with books and papers strewn around the office.

From surveillance video in the building, police know that the attacker entered the East 79th Street building around 8 p.m. and chatted for a while with a patient waiting to see Shinbach. Watch what the cameras saw »

After the attacks, the suspect went down the front stairway and left the building through the basement.

Police described the attacker as a man in his 40s wearing a three-quarter-length green coat, a baseball cap and sneakers.

The suspect carried with him two bags that he left in the basement. One held nine knives and the other contained women's clothing, slippers and adult disposable diapers, Browne told CNN. Three other weapons -- two knives and the cleaver -- were found in Faughey's office.

Evidence was removed from Faughey's office on Thursday, and police say DNA tests will be done on the samples. So far, police have released no motive behind the killing.

Faughey's 20-year-old practice focused on relationships, depression and anxiety. According to her Web site, http://www.adaptation.net/, she paid special attention to "managing relationship problems with the Internet."

She described her treatment on her Web site: "My sessions move quickly. I am interactive, and I give feedback. Very practical and to the point, I practice cognitive psychotherapy effectively -- in a warm, clear, and lively manner." E-mail to a friend

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