Deacon: Slain mother a 'wonderful person'

Friends and co-workers of a St. James woman allegedly stabbed to death by the father of her 13-month-old son described the nursing home housekeeper as a doting mother who was preparing for her toddler's upcoming baptism.

"She loved her baby more than anything," said William St. George, administrator of the St. James Healthcare Center nursing home, where Katherine Farrell, 23, had worked since July. "I remember last Christmas her telling me she got all these presents and the baby was playing with the boxes."

Farrell was found stabbed to death inside her St. James home early Monday. James Schultz, the father of her 13-month-old boy, killed Farrell after he had come to the Hill Road home to pick up his son, police said. He returned to the East Northport home he shared with his parents and killed himself with a shotgun just before 9 a.m., police said. His parents and son were in another part of the house and were not harmed.

Deacon V. Anthony Maggipinto of Sts. Philip & James Church in St. James stood outside the Farrells' home on Hill Road Tuesday morning, hugging a friend of the Farrell family.

"Her overriding, predominant interest was taking care of her son," Maggipinto said.

Tuesday, police offered no clues into why Schultz left the young boy without parents.

The Schultz family could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Monday night, a man sitting on the porch of the home on Loret Lane offered up few words when asked about the killings.

"I'm the father," he said. "We have nothing to say."

Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commander of the Suffolk homicide squad, said officers found Farrell's body at her Hill Road home about 11:20 a.m. Monday. They went to her home after first responding to the East Northport shooting and learning she and Schultz had a child together. They were unable to reach Farrell at work.

Fitzpatrick said the toddler was in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Records show Schultz pleaded guilty in 2010 in Suffolk County to criminal possession of a weapon, but Fitzpatrick said there no reported history of violence between the unemployed East Northport man and Farrell.

Maggipinto said he had recently been coming to Farrell's home to give religious instruction to her sister, who was going to be godmother at the son's baptism.

She had "a very loving demeanor," Maggipinto said of Farrell. "She worked hard to take care of her son. She was not outspoken. She was meek in a lot of ways . . . a wonderful person who drew you in."

With Bill Mason and William Murphy