NY - Catherine Woods, 21, stabbed to death in her NYC apartment, 27 Nov 2005

[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. 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?

 

[PrayersForMaura]

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

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?

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.

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.

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!