NYC Psychologist's Alleged Murderer Arraigned

David Tarloff was today charged with second-degree murder in the death of Kathryn Faughey, a psychologist who Tarloff allegedly killed in her office last Tuesday night. He was also charged with attempted murder and assault in an attack on Kent Shinbach, a psychiatrist who shared offices with Faughey. Some press accounts indicate that Tarloff was at the office to rob Shinbach with whom he was furious because the doctor had been involved in his involuntary commitment many years ago. BTW, I've read nothing so far indicating what Tarloff's diagnosis is, although some kind of psychotic disorder is an obvious guess.

Why someone as ill as Tarloff was not in a hospital or a very controlled environment is beyond me. A few weeks ago, Tarloff beat the hell out of a security guard at a hospital where his mother was being treated. Tarloff was arrested, but as I understand it a judge basically let him go later. It's not clear whether Tarloff was on medication of any kind or whether he was receiving any kind of follow-up care.

The psychologist's funeral was yesterday. Here's an account of that.

Why someone who was clearly delusional and had recently committed a serious assault was not pushed into outpatient commitment of some kind or held in a psych unit escapes me. I'm no fan of outpatient commitment or forced medication, but when someone crosses the line into violence they've lost my sympathy and my concern for their rights. As with the idiot who allegedly murdered Shannon Harps in my neighborhood on New Year's Eve, recent episodes of violence were pretty good predictors of where this guy was headed. In Seattle, several people and agencies tried to get the alleged murderer committed, but were unable to. In New York, it's less clear what happened in the weeks after the assault on the security guard.

Tarloff's brother had this to say to the press:

"'What I want the city to know is that my father and I and our mother all tried our best to keep him in the facility that he was hospitalized in over the many, many years of his illness,' he said. 'But they kept releasing him, even after we told them what had been going on with his situation.'

"'We did the best that we could, asking them to keep him in there. They didn’t.'

"Robert Tarloff did not elaborate on the nature of his brother’s illness or where he had been hospitalized.

"'I really don’t want to get into our past,' he said. 'But I hope the family has peace that somebody has been caught and that my brother is, you know, will get the peace that he needs as well.'"

I'm sure we'll be learning more about this past in the coming days.

BTW, what the hell is it with these delusional guys stabbing female victims to death? And why is it men doing this? Or are there stories of women with psychotic disorders stabbing people to death that I am not aware of?