Like fan-stalkers of porn stars, the accused killer of a stripper tried to be her savior.
NYC- The Manhattan yoga instructor charged with slaying a young stripper tried to portray himself as his girlfriend's would-be savior - saying he called her father in Ohio and told him of her wild lifestyle, it was revealed yesterday.
Accused killer Paul Cortez told cops he made the call after a weeping Catherine Woods was drugged and almost raped at a West Side strip club.
Cortez claimed he tried to persuade her to stop stripping, but she refused, court records revealed.
"She mentioned that she needed to go back into stripping to support her lifestyle," Cortez told cops. "I told her that it was a bad idea, but she went anyway."
Cortez, 25, is charged with stabbing Woods, 21, to death in a jealous rage on Nov. 27. His bloody fingerprint was found at the scene, authorities have said.
He said he promised not to call Woods' family after the purported strip club incident, but he found her father's cell phone number and spilled the beans.
"I also told him about my relationship with her, how I loved her and that we were a couple," Cortez claimed to cops.
Jon Woods rushed to New York, according to Cortez, but left town after his daughter convinced him Cortez was lying. The father, who has said he knew nothing about his daughter's lifestyle, couldn't be reached for comment.
"Because I betrayed her trust, she stopped speaking to me," said Cortez, who had met Woods, an aspiring Broadway dancer, while working out.
The couple reconciled, but split for good after Woods caught Cortez trying to check whether other men called her, he told cops. "She couldn't trust me," he said.
Minutes before she was killed, Cortez called Woods seven times while standing outside the E. 86th St. pad she shared with an Ohio beau, authorities have said.
