48 Hours - Death of a Dream

This classic episode of “48 Hours" reports on Catherine Woods, an aspiring dancer, who moved to New York in 2002 in search of fame and fortune. She became involved with fitness instructor Paul Cortez. On Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, Catherine was savagely murdered.  Cortez became a suspect in her murder. “48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. This "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/7/2008. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.

Duration: 42m
Broadcast on: 23 Nov 2023
Audio Format: other

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Katherine had a wonderful ballet base. She would take jazz class, she would take theater dance class, any kind of dancing just to be a dancer. I remember being really interested in her right away. She was dancing in one of the studios. We started talking. The very next day she called me. I was just like blown away and I never really had someone be that kind of interested in me like that. I don't really know what to say. She came home on vacation for a few weeks. I met her in the parking lot. I spoke to her and she just seemed real nice and I was like, "Wow." You know, I never seen this girl before. You know, she's beautiful. We definitely liked each other. She accepted me for who I was. She became my best friend. I told her everything. We were best friends. She wanted to be friends with everybody. She needed people and she needed to be around someone that she felt cared about her. I loved her deeply and I would do anything for her. I loved her. I would have did anything for her. You have a young girl who comes from Ohio to New York. A young girl trying to fulfill her dreams, trying to make it in your big city. You have to pay the rent. You have to work several hours a day and then you have to dance several hours a day. It's growing. It's tough and not everybody's going to make it. Things with her apartment and money and everything was really tight. Not a lot of people knew what she did to pay her rent. You get concerned for someone who feels the need to do that. You could work one or two days a week. Make as much as a person would make a normal week at a full job. She would hide some things for me because she would know that I wouldn't approve of them. She wouldn't want me to be ashamed of her. She said she was living with someone, an ex-boyfriend. She tried to kick them out several times. I moved out for a few weeks kind of to give us both space to clear our heads and we both came to the conclusion that we could still live together. Their relationship was strictly platonic. They were friends. As far as I knew, you know, they were friends. We loved each other. We always were thinking about each other. A day I met him, he actually had said that he had been seen Catherine since August of the year before. I know from the conversation that I had with him that it was the first time he found out that we were intimate. I heard him out but I told her and she denied it. He called me up and he was like you better not see her anymore. I remember a few incidents where she was a little worried. I told Catherine to get a restraining order. The news watch never stops. An aspiring Broadway dancer found Stan to death with 16 years as a police officer. Never in my life have I have seen anything so violent. My name is Detective Steven Getz and I was the lead investigator on the Catherine Wood's homicide. She was just such a beautiful person and I think that's why I fell in love with her. I felt like she was my angel. David and Paul were our two main suspects. Beth of a dream. Hey I'm glad I'm here to tip and I'm Kelly O'Grady and we're here to tell you about our new show straight up. Every week we're ditching the anchor dust to break down the story. The internet can't stop talking about it. And we'll have a cocktail recipe to match the mood. Straight up is out now wherever you get your podcasts. Every seven, eight, nine, ten year old that goes and sees a Broadway show. All they can think about is oh I'm gonna be up there someday. Some children never lose

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