The Mystical Side of a Jealous, Murderous Boyfriend

The Bhagavad Gita The ex-boyfriend and suspected killer of Catherine Woods - the fresh-faced aspiring dancer from Ohio who turned to stripping to make ends meet - kept a diary where he fantasized about cutting her throat. Yoga instructor Paul Cortez, whom the police suspected shortly after Woods's murder, apparently mixed teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and his dream of trying to save Woods from a sinful life. A police source tells the Post:

"He's talking a lot about Hindi gods and people cutting off each other's heads as sacrifices," said a source familiar with the chilling diary that cops found in the home of yoga-trainer suspect Cortez, 25. "He talks about cutting her throat. It's because she won't change her ways. She won't quit her stripping, and she's living a life of sin.

"The impression is, he's freeing her from her earthly bounds that are just so distasteful to him. It implies that she would be better off dead."

...[According to another source, Cortez is] "so nuts, it's three weeks after the murder and he's still got a diary in his apartment, talking about the murder beforehand, and then talking about how bad he feels afterward — using her name."

Now, that is what the police calls "evidence." Other evidence includes Cortez's bloody fingerpaint in Woods's apartment, video footage of him standing outside her building during the time of her murder, and various police statements Cortez made. Hmm. And the Daily News reveals that Cortez called Woods's father, the director of the Ohio State marching band, to tell him that she was stripping, after she was "drugged and almost raped" at work (or, at least, Cortez thought she was). Woods's father reportedly came to NYC, but Woods convinced him Cortez was lying.

Wikipedia on the on the Bhagavad Gita.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 10, 2006 9:22 AM

Comments [rss]

jarret

Thank you for the kind words Jim... I hope people contribute

jim

I would urge everyone , regardless of where they stand on the guilt of the innocence of the accused, to contribute to catherine wood's scholarship fund at osu. maybe the dream which catherine sacrificed so much for will come true for another girl who receives this scholarship.

curious

Get a life why are you here then?

What a shame

Holly crap, you guys have nothing better to discuss! Get a life!

Paul in Rikers??

Paul Cortez is in confinement in Rikers?? or is that a joke....if this is true, we are going out for drinks.....Yager shots anyone???? wowooooooooo

Paul is guilty as sin

1. They didnt question the band members because they are not credible, they say one thing at one point then on the 48 hrs they painted a completely different picture of paul from when they first heard that paul raped their friend...(the girl who Paul allegedly raped is his band members friend, so I would assume the defense doesnt want to question them for pauls own good)

2. If you attain a lawyer that early in questioning, you have something to hide, hence, them letting DDavid go because he cooperated fully...

3. Lyrix book/bible/diary...I dont give f*ck...he mentioned slicing catherines thoat and then it 'coincidentally' happens...come on people, have some common sense here

-----And if I were Paul I wouldnt have attained an attorney if I had nothing to hide ...

Free Paul

A week before the 48 Hour piece aired three officers came into Paul’s cell to remove books his family and friends have mailed to him. Apparently he was over his quota. Mind you, these books are mailed to him and most are of a religious & spiritual nature. If there was a quota, anything above & beyond the quota should have been returned to the sender. Instead this gave the authorities the opportunity to send Paul to Riker’s Island from the Tombs to serve solitary confinement. Is the prosecution's case so weak they are trying to break Paul into confessing? Are they hoping something will happen to him in Riker’s so that they don’t have to prove their case? Is he being punished because his family and friends tried to plead his innocence through 48 Hours? Why is it that after 5 months the prosecution has yet to release to Paul’s lawyer all of the “supposed” evidence? Forced to serve solitary confinement because of too many books; how low are the police going to go?

Bronx Goomba II

So now Paul is guilty because he got a lawyer? What kind of idiot logic is that? Paul presented himself freely to the police for questioning. The police spent 5 hours with him. Several detectives grilled him nonstop. They took pictures of his unblemished hands and had him provide a written statement. Thereafter they took Paul home and poked around a bit in his apartment. The next day the police wanted to question him further regarding his written statement so he got a lawyer. Lesson #1: Never give the police a written statement. They can take a written statement and twist it to suit their needs. Look at what the police did to Paul’s lyrics book. They claimed it was a confession. Why do you think the police didn’t even bother to talk to Paul’s band? Because the band would have ruined their “evidence”. Each and every one of you would lawyer up real quick if you were in Paul’s shoes.

to bronx goomba

Goomba, this was def not a professional hit cause a fingerprint wouldnt have been left behind by a pro....its more like someone with intelligence committed the crime....and as for David looking scared or nervous, I would too if I was on national TV talkin about finding the love of my life murdered (and we all know that footage is edited, not done all in one shot)...come on now(Goomba, its ALL easier said when your not in the situation)...and ALL the evidence is leading towards Cortez: the phone calls, the video, the print, the excessive lying by Cortez to the police, what do you people find so hard to believe...Im not understandin, are all you friends with Paul?? then I may understand, but even if he WAS a friend of mine, I would still be skeptical...Kid is f*ckin crazy...just like catherine said

***And in post (85) - catherine called paul that night because she couldnt get a hold of her girlfriends and would NEVER want David to see her under those conditions (even said it in Cortez's statement), especailly doing what she did.....so Paul was her LAST resort.....cleared up

Bronx Goomba

This was a professional hit and the Puerto Rican kid is going to go down for it. The cops were pressured into a quick resolution so they’ll stick together on this one. None of Catherine’s or David’s family or friends knew what the two of them were into here in NY. You say David was in shock; scared is more like it. He knows more about Catherine’s murder than he’s letting on.

Anonymous

I think that their feelings toward each other were mutual, at least at some point. Catherine obviously trusted Paul enough to call him when she was in trouble at the club. As for accusing of her being a drug addicted prostitue, I don't think paul put it quite in those terms when he called jon woods. her father said that he was very polite and articulate when he called. If he mentioned prostitution, he might have been simply exaggerating to get the urgency of the situation across. I really hope though that catherine wasn't coerced into more than dancing, and that she had the willpower to resist the drugs and crime which are very prevalent at the clubs. it would make this story even more depressing than it already is.

when I mentioned paul being the one who cared for her the most I meant out of the people whom she encountered in New York, which isnt saying that much.

to much time

To all the detectives gonna be. I ran into this web site by accident. Everyone is entitle to their OWN opinion. But come on people, you must have to much time in your hands to be trying to solve a mystery that who knows, might not be ever solve. This guy Paul might come out of this free and clear. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone has problems of their own to worry about, rather then other people's problem. PEACE OUT! and about.

Why all the fuss??

I kept up with this story throughout. I wouldnt know why Paul would go through the trouble of lying to the police the entire time with his shaky alibi, and david cooperated the entire time without obtaining an attorney(and we are talking about murder). and one thing I didnt see on here, is that someone says that Paul emailed his dad cause of phone problems, but yet he told the cops he was calling clients the entire time at his house. He is a sketchy character. And I think he is guilty

to post 79

You obviously are oblivious to the case...they couldnt arrest him cause they cant connect him directly to the apt....they have cell phone records and video, but that still isnt enought to convince a grand jury that he was indeed inside the apt...you need physical evidence...so when they finally made the arrest for the sexual assault, they got his fingerprints and matched them....and the police sources are indeed 'real'...I didnt read much of the media, just what came directly from the police...and like I said earlier (post 77), I believe he was wearing gloves and removed them to either clean himself or remove clothing and left a print that he didnt realize was there or overlooked(cause they say whoever did it cleaned off or had a change of clothing)...and to POST 80, little do you guys know that the band members are friends with the woman who was assaulted by Paul, and that their 'meeting' as they said in the video was ACTUALLY to kick Paul out of the band because they wanted to sever ALL ties....get that....they lie and the police know, thats why they werent questioned. (they are just not credible)....and the diary, IM a musician, I dont care if its a lyric book or his bible, you talk about cutting a womans throat then it happens, to coincidental...and as for David, they actually got back together, and neither had any intentions if moving (that wasnt said anywhere...where did you get that info??) thats why 'Paul' was very upset as said in the video by both friends and family members.. and yes, when your in shock you have no emotion...hence the word: shock.....

Jim...I agree with everything you said in your statement, besides Paul being the person that cared for her most, as said by catherines best friend in the video, Paul created a fantasy of their love, 'if he couldnt have her, noone can' ...her expressions on the video seemed to me that catherine told her things about Paul that made them laugh at his expense for being weird and looney...I think her best friend would know more info than anyone in the world about her relationships....and to me it seemed like david cared for her alot .. and as for Paul calling her father and calling her a 'drug-addict prostitute'...he's a f*ckin looney tune people

jim

it wasn't that there was just one fingerprint, it's that there was one BLOODY fingerprint. obviously his fingerprints alone wouldn't have been seen noteworthy because he was her lover and had been at her house many times. diary/songwriting journal , whatever you want to call it. it refers to his desire to cut off catherine's head. (out of all things, pretty coincidental huh?

If Paul weren't guilty and had nothing to hide, he would have cooperated with the police as David did. he didn't though, he chronically lied, He claimed he was playing a gig at a club which wasn't even open that night, when in reality his band was actually having a rehearsal,which he didn't even show up to. I understand the desire to defend Paul despite the overwhelming evidence against him. He seemed like a talented, charming person who did in fact do a very commendable thing by calling catherine's father to warn him of catherine's lifestyle despite knowing that she would probably break up with him for it. you must understand though that love and hate are two powerful emotions which drive people to rash things, especially when they are as passionate as paul seemed to be.

it's ironic that though he was probably the person in New York who most cared for her he is also the one who probably killed her as well.

I have questions

I agree with you "No faith". After seeing the cbs special I have to question the police. Why didn't they questioned his band members? Why just ONE finger print through out that whole ordeal? The band members said they knew the supposedly diary that the cops claim they found. It's not even a diary, its a song writing journal where he wrote his lyrics. If song writers get arrested for every weird lyric that they write in their song writing journal than the jails would be full of song writers. Especially heavy metal song writers. I don't judge Catherine for the kind of work she did ( you have to do anything to survive in NY ) but It did put a big question mark in my head because it did say she worked in more than one strip joint. Who knows what kind of demented pervert person she attracted in those places. Why did she say she broke up with the dude Paul and than we saw a vid of her attending one of his performances during the time that she said she wasn't with him? (weird). Why was David so nervous during the interview? Why didn't he have any emotions when he called 911? or for that matter when he was being questioned by the police? They say men don't cry but come on now, no matter how much in shock you were in, you just found supposedly the woman you claim to love dead, in a terrible attack. He said he saw her as a mother figure....which one is it, girlfriend or mother or the one who supported him and realized his free ticket just gave him a final date on which he had to be out of her apt. ( and that day was approaching) I don't think he did it, but I think he knows a little more than what he is saying.

No faith in the police

Hello everyone, I just have to say there were two people in that room that evening (the one who commited the crime and Catherine) We shouldn't judge people if we don't have a clue on who they are. I have never seen Paul and I have no idea who he is that's why I wouldn't point my finger to him because I don't know what to believe because everything that I have heard and read is from the media. The media will hype a story just to get ratings and the paper to get sales. They all say sources ( What sources? ) We don't know if these sources really exist. Everything is hear say. Besides, I believe that if they (police) had some solid evidence on him they would have put him away just as fast as they did with the Little John case. Something fishy there. I just can't convince myself that such a horrific murder and there was only one finger print just one and not even a full finger print just partial. Come On! The police in our days just want to look good in the public eye and they'll say or do anything to say that they did their job in solving the murder. There are so many cases of people that have been wrongfully accused by the cops and served so many yrs. of their life in jail. After many yrs, than they relize that they made a wrong accusation and arrest. That's why they're being sue constantly by the person that they had wasting their life in prison. Sue away people! As for Paul, I wish him luck and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. As our law says "Innocent until proven Guilty" .

to post 77

No it wasn't from the show. It was said all along he had no scratches on him. The police searched him front to back and even took pics of him. So he was wearing gloves now. You can't have the best of both worlds. Fingerprint? gloves? which one is it? I guess only a homosexual would say something like that. You sure you're not that everhard guy?

using biffs name as well

It was a well done crime...So in that I would assume that Paul was wearing heavy clothing including gloves and maybe even a mask so she could identfy him....but as for people sayin he should have wounds, I wouldnt think so...she could have had skin under her nails from another instance, doesnt necessarily have to be from her fighting off an attacker (paul in this instance) ...and if (post #75) in his second to last sentence is referring to pauls friend from the show that said 'he saw pauls body'(including back) ...I could be just me but I dont usually look at my friends bodies (unless it was another female) when they r at my house that closely to recognize small scratches unless he was homosexual (kinda looked like one....so probably assuming so)...