By Seamus McGraw

NEW YORK CITY, NY (Crime Library) — Nearly two weeks after she was found dead in her Upper East Side apartment, her throat slit so brutally that she was nearly decapitated,

authorities have still not made any arrests in the slaying of Catherine Woods, a classically trained dancer who aspired to Broadway and instead found herself making ends meet as an exotic dancer.

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But according to published reports, investigators have narrowed their focus to one man, a yoga instructor who reportedly has a domineering streak and an occasionally threatening demeanor and who, until recently, dated the pretty young brunette.

The New York Post, citing anonymous police sources, reported in its Dec. 7 editions that investigators had quizzed 25-year-old Paul Cortez, and that he abruptly ended the interview on the recommendation of his lawyer. Among other things, authorities are reportedly focusing on several calls Cortez had placed to the slain woman on his cell phone. Cortez had initially told police that he had made the calls from the street between her apartment on East 86^th Street and his own apartment further uptown in East Harlem. But authorities have reportedly learned that at least some of the calls were made from inside the apartment Woods shared with another former boyfriend, David Haughn, a 23-year-old doorman and aspiring rapper who had come to New York with Woods in a shared dream to make it to the big time.

Haughn, who was not home at the time of the slaying, was vigorously questioned by police, according to published reports, and is apparently not considered a potential suspect. He had found the young woman after returning home and notified police.

Authorities have said that the 21-year-old dancer put up a struggle when she was slain sometime between 6:10 and 6:49 p.m. on Nov. 27. A security camera on Woods' building reportedly captured images of Cortez on the street outside around the time of the slaying, The Post reported.

Both Cortez and Haughn have submitted DNA samples, and those samples are now being tested. It was not immediately clear how long it would take for those test results to be returned.

The young woman's death has captured the attention of the New York City tabloids as well as newspapers back in her home state of Ohio, where she graduated high school in 2002 with dreams of taking her lifelong passion for dancing to greater heights.

Like many aspiring performance artists in New York, Woods spent much of her time preparing for auditions, but paid the rent by dancing at one of the more upscale gentleman's clubs in the city, a sideline, and a temporary one she apparently hoped, which she kept secret from her family back home.

Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net