Warning signs preceded N.Y. murder-suicide

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BUFFALO, N.Y., June 19 (UPI) -- Police and a hospital manager were alerted to concerns about a Buffalo, N.Y., surgeon who last week killed a hospital employee who was his ex-girlfriend.

The victim, Jackie Wisniewski, had told West Seneca police in February that Dr. Timothy V. Jorden Jr. had made threatening phone calls, but she declined to pursue charges or seek protection from him, the city police chief told The Buffalo News Monday.

Tracy Myles, the estranged husband of a woman who was Jorden's personal secretary, said he had complained to Jorden's employer in April that the doctor was behaving in an "inappropriate, unethical and unprofessional" manner with women who worked with him, the newspaper said Tuesday.

Police say Jorden shot and killed Wisniewski, 33, of West Seneca, at the Erie County Medical Center last Wednesday and then took his own life.

West Seneca Police Chief Edward F. Gehen said the violence might have been averted had action been taken against Jorden.

"I'm not blaming the victim, I would never blame the victim ... but we see this way too often with domestic violence victims," Gehen said, noting many can't bring themselves to have an estranged husband or boyfriend arrested.

Gehen said officers had found a global positioning satellite device they believed Jorden had secretly attached to her car to track her whereabouts.

Myles, who said Jorden had affairs with his estranged wife and other female co-workers, said Monday had hospital administrators taken action on his complaint that Jorden was a "womanizer" Wisniewski might not have been slain.

The hospital manager he had contacted had no comment on the matter, the News said.

Myles acknowledged his estranged wife had taken out an order of protection against him and she described as a "bitter and disappointed man," the newspaper said.