Kiersten Cerveny remembered at private service

Joe Nikic And Bill San Antonio

A funeral service was held last week for Dr. Kiersten Cerveny, the Manhasset woman who was found dead on Oct. 4 in the lobby of an apartment building in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood.

The service was private and only for immediate family members, according to an obituary posted on the Fairchild Sons Inc. funeral home website.

Efforts to reach administrators at the Manhasset funeral home, located at 1570 Northern Blvd., were unavailing. 

A police source told the Daily News last Monday that preliminary autopsy findings show that Cerveny, 38, a dermatologist who practiced at Prohealth Care Associates LLP at 2 Hillside Ave. in Williston Park, was not a homicide victim, but instead died of a cocaine overdose.

“Based on the preliminary finds, we are not treating this as a homicide case,” the source told the Daily News. “There is nothing at this point to suggest criminal activity. We have no indication, so far, of any force issue in her death.”

A law enforcement official told Newsday last Tuesday that the preliminary autopsy revealed that Cerveny had cocaine in her system but further toxicology tests were needed to determine how much was in her system and whether there were other drugs present as well.

An official from the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said that toxicology tests are currently ongoing.

Results of the tests can take anywhere from a few days to two weeks to determine, depending on the case, the official said. 

Cerveny was discovered “unconscious and unresponsive” around 8:30 a.m. in the vestibule of the building, located at West 16th Street near Seventh Avenue, according to published reports.

She was later pronounced dead at Lenox Health Greenwich Hospital. The cause of her death will be determined by the city’s medical examiner.

A New York City police department source told Newsday that authorities have obtained video that purportedly shows two men carrying Cerveny down the stairs, and have already interviewed one of the men in the video.

According to a DNAInfo report, the mother of three died of an apparent drug overdose and was discovered with bruises around her neck that may have been caused by surgery.

Cerveny had reportedly gone out with friends earlier in the evening but later met with 51-year-old HBO producer, Marc Henry Johnson, who she had met online, and according to DNAInfo he is the man police have questioned about her death.

The two went to the 16th Street address, and the producer reportedly called 911 to notify authorities of Cerveny’s death before fleeing the scene toward Eighth Avenue.

Conflicting reports suggest Cerveny may not have been fully clothed when authorities arrived at the building, but she was identified at the scene. 

Cerveny’s medical office is currently being protected by security and would only allow patients and doctors into the office.

A manager at the office, who when contacted by Blank Slate Media requested to remain unnamed, confirmed that Cerveny practiced in the office of dermatologist Dr. Joel Spitz.

The manager provided a statement from the office: “Dr. Cerveny was a wonderful person and doctor. This has been a terrible tragedy. Right now our thoughts and prayers are with her family.”

A telephone message to Prohealth Care Associates’ administrative office went unreturned.

A college fund will be established for Cerveny’s three children, according to the funeral home’s obituary.

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