Alleged Naked Killer Said to Fake Insanity

 By LOVASHNI KHALIKAPRASAD & SINDY NANCLARES

A psychological expert testified in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday that the man accused of killing two of his neighbors and injuring two others in a naked rampage in his Washington Heights building three years ago was feigning mental illness.

The witness William B. Barr, a forensic neuropsychologist, alleged that the accused killer, Christian Falero, 26, faked illness on standardized psychological tests. Barr added that before the crime, Falero constantly updated his Facebook posts, indicating that he was mentally stable,

When a person has a mental illness he tends to become socially withdrawn and shows signs of depression, Barr said.

According to Falero’s Facebook posts, he wrote about marijuana abuse and described the kind of alcohol he was consuming which showed that he was socially active.

In one post he mentioned cryptically to his friends that “something was going to happen.”

In August 2011, Falero left his apartment at 870 Riverside Drive naked and stabbed four neighbors after randomly knocking on their doors, facts that the defense does not dispute.

But the defense team argued that he was “delusional.” The defense psychologist, Cheryl Paradis testified that Falero, a movie lover, believed that he was a character from the movie, “The Matrix.”

But Assistant DA Maxine Rosenthal, counters that Falero was feigning his mental illness  to escape punishment.

The tests given by Barr indicated that his behavior was “consistent with a diagnosis of malingering.” Barr concluded.