Investigation Discovery’s ‘Murder In The Big Apple: Hospital Horror’ options the heinous rape and murder of a promising 33-year-old pathologist named Dr. Kathy Hinnant in New York in January 1989. Around 50 investigators worked round the clock to solve the homicide inside a couple of days. The episode features the lead investigators and Kathy’s family members as they take into account her and describe how the case used to be solved.
How Did Dr. Kathy Hinnant Die?
Dr. Kathryn “Kathy” Louise Hinnant Johnson was born to the overdue Thad Exum Hinnant and Jane Cothran Hinnant in Lake City in Florence County, South Carolina, on February 9, 1955. The Hinnants had been longtime residents of Lake City, having lived there for generations, and she or he was once the youngest and the darling of the family. Kathy’s brother, Thad, described her as his perfect pal, while her mom, Jane, known as her “a mama’s girl.” She had stunning options, with one in every of her buddies stating she gave the look of the British actress Audrey Hepburn.
According to her family, Kathy was a brilliant pupil and studied a genetics course at South Carolina University. Deciding to pursue a occupation in genetics research, the intense student completed her commencement and enrolled in clinical college, narrowing her focus to pathology, where she could diagnose and perhaps treatment illnesses. Journalist Diane Dimond said, “She wanted to do genetic analysis — the most important box — and possibly find a remedy for most cancers.” Kathy permitted a job offer from a prestigious New York clinic in 1982 spring.
While her family used to be worried, Kathy moved to New York — a city with an exceptionally high crime fee — to pursue her dreams. She worked at the prestigious Lenox Hill Hospital earlier than accepting a job be offering at Bellevue Hospital in the past due Nineteen Eighties. Hence, it came as a shock when the high-achieving 33-year-old was found useless by means of her husband and clinic personnel on January 8, 1989. According to reports, she was viciously crushed — her nose broken — raped, and strangled to loss of life with an electrical wire. On best of it, an autopsy showed that Kathy was once 5 months pregnant at the time of her loss of life.
Who Killed Dr. Kathy Hinnant?
Kathy was once using excessive on good fortune when she came to New York City, pleasing her desires of turning into a pathologist and diagnosing illnesses. When she first came to town, it used to be infested with a extraordinary illness many feared to be contagious. The disease was once ultimately found out to be AIDS, and the fearless Kathy performed autopsies on diagnosed sufferers when her friends subsidized out. The episode confirmed how the younger researcher lived on the edge, testing and trying to find a remedy for the scary disease.
While her profession was once cruising easily, Kathy had a dry run in regards to the romantic entrance because of her lengthy and erratic paintings hours. However, she met Eric Johnson at a lavish New Year birthday celebration on January 1, 1986, and used to be right away drawn toward him. He used to be a jazz musician and lived a lifestyles vastly other from the pathologist, yet a whirlwind romance ensued between the two. As her love lifestyles sailed easily, Kathy received extra attention-grabbing news referring to her occupation.
The talented pathologist used to be introduced a task at Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public sanatorium within the United States, in late 1987 or early 1988. Situated within the Kips Bay group of Manhattan, New York City, accepting the job be offering supposed leaving the lucrative and prestigious clientele of Lenox Hill Hospital. Bellevue also homes mentally sick convicts and offers healthcare for individuals regardless of their insurance standing or ability to pay. The huge and intensive establishment was once a excellent position for Kathy to keep on pursuing her desires, and she or he accredited.
According to the episode, Kathy labored on the New York University Medical School as a researcher in cytopathology and had an administrative center at the fourth flooring of the pathology wing at Bellevue. By late 1988, she was pregnant, and she and Eric married in a personal ceremony in South Carolina amidst their buddies and households. Everything was once operating smoothly for Kathy, and she or he had a very powerful presentation and lecture in January 1989. On January 7, she and Eric have been to wait a birthday party, but she decided to drop through her place of business first.
Dressed for the party in dear jewellery and a dear mink coat, Kathy used to be in her office at Bellevue getting ready a lecture on the afternoon of January 7. However, when she did not flip up for the birthday party, Eric was once not a lot concerned. He knew his workaholic spouse frequently lost monitor of time, and he returned home after the birthday party and went to sleep. But Eric was once involved when he woke up early on January Eight and found Kathy had still not returned. He made up our minds to drop in at her workplace and take a look at on her.
When Eric and the sanatorium body of workers went to Kathy’s office, they were stunned to search out her lying dead in a pool of blood. They called 911, and round 50 detectives of NYPD had been deployed to solve the crime. It reached a high-profile status when the erstwhile New York mayor got in my opinion concerned, asking law enforcement companies to solve the murder once possible. The investigators first of all suspected Eric, but he was ruled out as a suspect after he equipped an alibi. The officials additionally learned a few demanding side — Kathy was once raped after she died.
The investigators noticed the pathologist had some of her assets lacking, including her jewellery and mink court docket. They had their step forward when an informant said a person was once looking to sell the coat in a homeless shelter. The officials recognized the man as Steven Smith, who was introduced for an interview. According to reports, he was a homeless man with a historical past of psychiatric problems and drug addiction. Besides, Steven had two times been admitted to Bellevue in late 1988 after ingesting rat poison however had been launched.
Steven Smith is Behind Bars Today
The detectives learned Steven had been squatting in the hospital since then, dressing as a physician to mix in. He informed the detectives he and any other particular person have been curious about Kathy’s slaying, blaming the opposite particular person for the murder and rape. Nevertheless, the officers established the second one man used to be Steven’s myth, and he used to be the only real person who dedicated the heinous crime. Steven Smith was arrested on January 10, 1989, and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree theft, and first-degree rape.
The court declined Steven’s madness plea, and he used to be convicted and sentenced to 50 years to life in November 1989. On the opposite hand, Kathy’s family sued Bellevue for wrongful loss of life however misplaced the civil go well with in 1996. Steven, now 58, is incarcerated at the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York. According to legit information, he received’t be eligible for parole sooner than April 2039.
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