Doctor left in doorway of apartment ‘hid dark secret’

                                                          
THE RESPECTED doctor and mother of three found dead in the doorway of a New York apartment building had met up with a TV producer who is a Facebook “friend,” law enforcement sources told the New York Post on Monday.

Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, 38, from Long Island, was a dermatologist from Manhasset.

She was found with bruising around her neck, her body sprawled across the front entry to a five-floor walk-up about 8.30am, sources told New York Post.

“Her feet were holding the front door open, and her head was by the corner of the door frame,” an EMT on the scene told The Post.

She was discovered unconscious before she was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead Sunday morning.

Cerveny, a one-time pageant queen from New Jersey, lived with her husband, Andrew, and their three young children in a million-dollar home.

But she also hid a dark secret, a law-enforcement source said.

“Word is that she likes to do drugs,” the source said.

She told her husband, a fellow dermatologist in Long Island, that she was headed out Saturday for an innocent night on the town, sources said. Andrew Cerveny was being questioned by police at the 10th Precinct on Sunday.

“The husband said she was going out with some friends, and she did go out,” a source said.

Cerveny had met up with the producer, Marc Henry Johnson, 51, who is also married, on the Lower East Side and they went to the Chelsea apartment together.
Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, ce from

Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, 38. Picture: Facebook.Source:NY Post
Police carry away a bag of evidenthe scene of the crime. Picture: Brigitte Stelzer

Police carry away a bag of evidence from the scene of the crime. Picture: Brigitte StelzerSource:NY Post

Cerveny used cocaine at some point before her death, according to law enforcement sources.

A building resident described the frantic scene of paramedics trying to revive Cerveny, with a mysterious man pacing nearby.

After paramedics took Cerveny away, the pacing man left before police arrived.

“He left walking fast toward Seventh Avenue,” said the resident, who didn’t recognize the mystery man as a building resident.

Johnson was questioned by the cops and released. They are still seeking a second man, taxi driver James Holder, who was also partying with them, sources said.

The building’s superintendent told The Post that cops showed him security footage of a man carrying an unconscious woman down stairs of the five-floor walk-up
Cerveny was missing her underwear — they were later discovered stashed in her purse, sources said.

The marks around her neck may have been caused by a previous injury and were not enough to immediately classify her death as a homicide, sources said.

Investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy Monday.

Surveillance footage from a camera at the building’s doorway showed no signs of a struggle, police officers said.

Still, one source said the footage showed “something suspicious’’ but refused to elaborate.

Investigators were questioning a man who lives in the building and is believed to have been with Cerveny before she died, a police source said. They also were searching his apartment.

A man described by sources as “upset” called 911 to report an unresponsive woman and was still at the building waiting for help when an ambulance arrived, sources said.

But as soon as first responders began asking questions, he fled — only to call back 911 later to ask if Cerveny survived, sources said.
A New York Police Department officer stands guard at the door of the apartment building where Cerveny was found. Picture: Mark Lennihan

A New York Police Department officer stands guard at the door of the apartment building where Cerveny was found. Picture: Mark LennihanSource:AP

A woman also at the scene was praying over Cerveny’s body as emergency-service workers tried in vain to resuscitate her, said Yousef Shella, 28, an employee at Pampr UR Pets in the building next door.

Cerveny was taken to the Lenox Health medical complex in Greenwich Village, where she was pronounced dead.

It was unclear what brought Cerveny to that particular five-story walk-up, sources said.

News of her death shocked family members.

Her father Robert Rickenbach, told The Post by phone that he was “not doing well’’ before hanging up.

Her cousin, Cory Festa, described Cerveny as a loving mother.

“[Her kids] are young and adorable, and she’s very close with them,” the woman said.

Cerveny had a high-flying career, attending Duke and Tulane’s School of Medicine, before moving to Manhattan and then Nassau County to work as a dermatologist.