Police Go to Videotape In UES Murder Case

2005_12_woodsapt.jpgThe police have taken surveillance camera footage from the Upper East Side neighborhood where murdered dancer-stripper Catherine Woods lived, hoping that some clues will emerge about whether or not boyfriend number 2, Paul Cortez, was seen lurking around her building right before her death. The Post reports that while Cortez told police he made the calls nowhere near Woods, some sources say they were actually made outside her 345 East 86th Street apartment. Plus, Cortez also told friends he was performing on the night of the murder (he was an aspiring rocker, along with being an aspiring dancer) at a club, but the club says they were closed that night. Hmm...

Sources also say that police think Cortez is a "con artist," compared to Woods's other boyfriend, David Haughn, who has cooperated with police questioning. Gothamist assumes that the surveillance might also show Haughn, who told the police he left the apartment he shared with Woods (they were broken up but still lived together) to get his car to drive her to a stripclub for work. Woods also had apparently had an appointment at a downtown yoga center on the day she was killed, different from the one where yoga instructor Cortez taught, though the downtown yoga center seems to have had a "Creative Life Church" service at the time.

Photo from the NY Post

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Video Surveillance (of street outside Catherine's apartment):

Definitely not of Paul!

12/2005: Police leak that they have video surveillance of Paul outside Catherine's apartment to the tabloids.

1/2006: DA's office admits that they always knew the footage was irrelevant. It was a) too blurry and b) taken in broad daylight, not 6:30 at night.

why is the NYPD trying to nail Paul Cortez and not this Vaughn. I'm sorry Vaughn has lied already as far as the time frame for when he left the apartment. This is ridiculous. HE was the last one to see her alive and the first one to find her dead. I mean a deaf, dumb, mute, retard would know that Vaughn is more guilty than Cortez. Of course the murderer will cooperate fully with the police to make sure that the blame is always on someone else. NYPD stinks as well as the judicial system in this world.

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