DOC DEATH MYSTERY
Physician ma’s body found in Chelsea
Respected physician and mom of three Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny (above) went out partying with friends Saturday — and was found dead yesterday morning outside a Chelsea apartment building, the possible victim of murder or a drug-related incident, law-enforcement sources said.
A respected Long Island doctor and mother of three who went out partying with her girlfriends in the city was found dead in the doorway of a Chelsea apartment building Sunday morning — the possible victim of a murder or drugrelated tragedy, lawenforcement sources said.
Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, 38, a dermatologist from Manhasset, was found with bruises around her neck, her body sprawled across the front entry to a fivefloor walkup on West 16th Street, at around 8:30 a.m., the sources said. It was unclear what brought her to the building.
“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.
Cerveny, a former pageant queen from New Jersey, lived with her husband, Andrew, and their three young children in a milliondollar home.
But she hid a dark secret, a lawenforcement source said.
“Word is that she likes to do drugs,” the source said.
Surveillance video from inside the building shows two men carrying Cerveny down the stairs and into the lobby, one hold her upper body, the other her legs, sources said.
Its not clear when they dumped her in doorway, but both were caught on a separate camera leaving the building at around 8 a.m., sources said.
One of the men was questioned by cops but released shortly afterward without being charged, according to a lawenforcement source.
Cerveny had told her husband, a fellow dermatologist, that she was headed out Saturday for an innocent night on the town, sources said. Police spoke to him at the 10th Precinct station house Sunday, but investigators believe he had nothing to do with her death.
“The husband said she was going out with some friends, and she did go out,” a source said.
She barhopped around the Lower East Side, drinking heavily and getting high, possibly on coke, sources said, noting detectives got details of the wild night from the pals she was with.
Cerveny was missing her underwear when found; her panties were later discovered stashed in her purse, the sources said.
The marks around her neck were caused by a previous medical procedure, they added. Investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy Monday.
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 whether Cerveny had survived, the sources added.
Cerveny was taken to the Lenox Health medical complex in Greenwich Village, where she was pronounced dead.
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, of Montclair, NJ, described Cerveny as a loving mother.
“[Her kids] are young and adorable, and she’s very close with them,” Festa said.
With Frank Rosario, C.J. Sullivan, Priscilla DeGregory, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Beckie Strum