Dead for a day when hub called 911, police say
An Upper East Side woman, three months after getting an order of protection against her abusive husband, was dead for at least 24 hours before her spouse dialed 911 to report she stopped breathing, police said.
Janet Baran, 67, died long before her husband summoned police to their apartment around 10 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said. The woman, with scratches on her neck, was apparently strangled by spouse William Winkler in the ritzy E. 87th St. building, cops said — although no charges were immediately filed Thursday.
The victim’s sister Donna Perri said she had long worried about her sibling’s safety. Winkler was arrested Oct. 30 on charges of attempted assault and harassment after a fight with his wife — sparked irrationally by her choice to sleep on the left side of their bed.
“Be careful what you wish for,” said Perri, who lives in New Jersey. “You wanted a doctor and you got a murderer . ... I would have kicked the crap out of him a long time ago. I would rather be alone, because I think he’s completely psycho.”
Police reported repeated spousal abuse calls to the apartment, including the incident over the bed. After taking the husband into custody for violating the order of protection, cops were questioning him Thursday about the death.
Perri said her sister had taken care of Winkler, a 71-year-old doctor, for the past four years after he was diagnosed with cancer.
“She was bubbly, sharp as a whip,” said Perri of the victim. “Stunningly beautiful. She had long blond hair . ... She was a dead ringer for Michelle Pfieffer.”
Baran once worked as an assistant for billionaire businessman Clive Calder — a record executive best known for signing Grammy-winning mega-star Britney Spears.
The husband was accused in the fall attack of pushing Baran to the floor after kicking her out of bed, with the wife taken to Lenox Hill Hospital for treatment of an injured wrist.
A Manhattan Criminal Court judge ordered the husband released without bail at his arraignment for that incident and signed off on the order of protection, court papers show.
Stunned neighbors in the couple’s Upper East Side building were grappling with word of the woman’s death.
“I think he had some kind of cancer,” said one neighbor who wished not to be named. “You’d see him around with a walker. He lost weight. If you saw him, he didn’t look very well.”
An autopsy was scheduled to determine the exact cause of death for Baran. The victim’s sister had no doubts about where the investigation would lead, adding that she never liked her brother-in-law.
“He killed her,” said Perri. “I’m still so shocked. I said to people, ‘This jerk— is going to kill her . ... My relatives, they’re hysterical. I wish I could have taken her pain.”