Three days before a beautiful young stripper was slashed to death in her Upper East Side apartment – allegedly by her love-crazed ex – a neighbor saw the pair arguing violently, according to new testimony in the sensational case.
The woman had a “peaches and cream” complexion and “very unusual, large, black eyes,” the neighbor – a woman who was allowed to testify anonymously – told a Manhattan Supreme Court judge yesterday.
The man had long, wavy hair with gel in it – and a distinctive, V-shaped chin. “A very unusual face,” the neighbor said.
He was telling the beautiful woman what to do – bossing her “like a pimp would,” the neighbor said.
Catherine Woods – a 22-year-old Ohio native who’d come to New York to pursue a dancing career and turned to stripping when that dream faltered – was found dead in the bedroom of her East 86th Street apartment three days later, her head nearly severed.
Paul Cortez, 26, a personal trainer, killed her in a jealous rage, prosecutors say.
The mystery witness was called to prove she’d gotten a good-enough look to identify Cortez as the man in the argument, and testify about the fight should Cortez go on trial for murder.
Justice Carol Berkman yesterday ruled the mystery woman’s identification of the pair to cops is admissible, even though she couldn’t recognize Cortez in court yesterday.