Friend of doctor Kiersten Cerveny says she was out for quiet night

Home Top

'He's tough': DWTS train terror hero supports friend Spencer Stone through intensive care as chilling new footage shows two attackers fleeing gay nightclub after stabbing the airman in a violent brawl
The couple who hid A SINKHOLE under their home: Family found guilty of not telling new owners that the property was splitting in TWO and pocketing thousands
Family of Walter Scott reach $6.5million settlement with North Charleston
Gun discovered in case of tantric yoga guru 'who was randomly murdered by three drifters' while walking his dog
Cheating New York Giants ace rumbled by his fiancée who sent group text message to his secret lovers
Live-in nanny claims Uber executive and his Airbnb boss wife sexually-harassed and underpaid her for years while she worked at their $7million San Francisco home
'The whole thing just seems very shady': Friend of high-flying doctor 'who died from cocaine overdose' says she was just out for a 'quiet night on the town' when he saw her hours before her death
Netflix to raise streaming price by $1 to cover production costs of shows like House of Cards
Can't lose weight like you did in your 20s? Try the age-defying diet! 23 top tips to outsmart your fat hormones - and shed 14lbs in three weeks
Eat peas and blue cheese to 'stave off cancer': Compound 'makes your body clock YOUNGER - and could also protect against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's'
'We love you all the way to the White House!': Trump meets his most enthusiastic fan yet, who just happens to be Hispanic... but he swears it isn't a stunt
Ben Carson claims arming Jews would have stopped the Holocaust in controversial gun control views
Chelsea Clinton says 'I won the mom jackpot' on Ellen and takes credit for pushing Hillary to support same-sex marriage
Hillary blasts The Donald for 'ugly rhetoric' at Hispanic gala on same day Trump is a no-show at Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Obama tears into 'bigotry' in presidential race in speech to Hispanics: 'Leadership is not fanning the flames of intolerance and then acting all surprised when a fire breaks out'
Pro-Biden campaign pulls TV advert on order of the Vice President after 'exploiting' the deaths of his first wife and daughter and his grief over son Beau
EXCLUSIVE: It's Chelsea vs Huma! The two competitive, power-hungry women vying to become Hillary Clinton's official First LADY
Obama to party with Jamie Foxx for $10K-a-ticket fundraiser hosted by the DNC in Southern California
Ben Carson in gay parenting fight after Democratic Party reinterprets comments about single mothers - and sends LGBT spokesman out to smack him
Ben Carson recounts his less-than-heroic reaction of when he was once held at gunpoint in a Popeye's...just one day after angering Oregon victims by saying they should have teamed up to take down gunman
Awkward moment Today weatherman Al Roker revealed his colleague's engagement live on air... and she didn't seem too happy about it
At least four Russian cruise missiles heading for Syria crash-landed in IRAN, say American officials
Pictured: Russia's 'proof' that ISIS are using civilians as human shields in Syria during airstrikes
Jihadi bride releases home address and personal photos of 'America's deadliest' soldier after he killed 'more than 2,500 in Iraq'

A friend of Long island dermatologist Kiersten Cerveny said he saw the doctor just hours before her death on Saturday night
Rod McClave said he met Kiersten Cerveny at a Manhattan hotel around 8pm on Saturday and she had planned a 'quiet night on the town'
'I never knew her to do drugs,' said McClave, adding that he wanted to see the toxicology report following reports her death was drug related
A law enforcement source confirmed that tests showed that Cerveny did have cocaine in her body when she died, though how much is unknown
Cerveny met up with producer Marc Henry Johnson in the early morning hours of Sunday, and the two then went to an apartment in Chelsea
The 38-year-old was found at 8:30am that morning slumped in a doorway of the building

Published: 08:25 EST, 8 October 2015 | Updated: 12:32 EST, 8 October 2015

540

View
comments

An old friend of the Long Island dermatologist who died on Sunday after a night of 'doing cocaine' and drinking said he saw the woman just hours before her death.

Rod McClave met Kiersten Cerveny at a Manhattan hotel around 8pm on Saturday evening, stopping to catch up and make plans with his friend of 15 years.

He left soon after, only to later discover his friend had died of a suspected drug overdose, something he called 'very shady.'

Cerveny was found with cocaine in her body at the time of her death a law enforcement source told Newsday, but it is still not known if that is what caused her death.

Scroll down for video

Final moments: A friend of Long island dermatologist Kiersten Cerveny (above with her husband Andrew and children) said he saw the doctor just hours before her death on Saturday night

Details: Rod McClave said he met Kiersten Cerveny at a Manhattan hotel around 8pm on Saturday and she had planned a 'quiet night on the town'

Next stop: Cerveny would later meet up with her friend Marc Henry Johnson (above) an HBO producer

'She was hanging with a few girlfriends. I stopped by the hotel to say hi,' McClave told the New York Daily News.

'She was going to have a quiet night on the town, I thought. I said goodnight and went to sleep.'

McClave said that he was unaware that Cerveny even did drugs.

'This was so out of character ... I know this was atypical,' he said.

'I never knew her to do drugs ... the whole thing just seems very shady. Only the people who were with her know exactly what happened - but it’s weird.'

He then added; 'I want to see the toxicology report.'

Many friends of Cerveny are now coming forward to discuss this weekend's tragedy, and how upset they are that this has come to define such a wonderful mother and doctor.

'It was an unfortunate mistake that cost her life, but I want people to lay off that,' said Maria Benvenuti.

'She was a loving mother. Everyone goes into the spinning wheel now and then. I never knew her to be involved in that. She was human. People forget that because she was so perfect.'

Site: A law enforcement source confirmed that tests showed that Cerveny did have cocaine in her body when she died after a night at a Chelsea building (above), though how much is unknown

Home: Cerveny and her husband lived in this $1.2million home in Long Island (above)

Caron Bernstein, another friend of Cerveny, told the New York Post; 'She was a bit of a happy drunk, and every blue moon she would go out and tie one on, but she was a good girl.

'Once she had the second drink, she didn’t make the best choices, and it would be up to us to make sure she got home safe.'

After leaving the hotel on Saturday night, Cerveny and her friends went to some bars in the Lower East Side before she met up with Marc Henry Johnson, an HBO producer she was friendly with.

The two then headed to the apartment of James 'Pepsi' Holder in Chelsea.

On Monday, a resident in that same Chelsea building with close knowledge of what had happened told DailyMail.com that Cerveny, 38, had been taking cocaine and drinking with two men in a third-floor apartment before her lifeless body was discovered.

Johnson, 51, and Holder, 60, were reportedly captured on surveillance camera carrying Cerveny's body down the stairs early Sunday.

She was discovered slumped in the vestibule of the building around 8:30am by a man who called 911.

Johnson was questioned by police but not charged.

Clues: Evidence is removed by from the building where Cerveny was found dead Sunday Morning

Police sources told the New York Post that Johnson had been having marital problems recently, and that in April his wife Marlisa Vinciguerra called authorities after she claimed he kicked her while they were at their Tribeca apartment.

No charges were ever filed against Johnson.

A friend said that Johnson 'certainly traveled in a circle of serious drug users.'

And a bartender who knows Johnson told the New York Daily News; 'He’s the kind of guy you stay away from.'

Added another bar worker; 'He was always messed up and I seriously doubt it was just booze.'

Johnson is reportedly the heir to the Parks Sausages fortune, which was founded by his grandfather Henry G. Parks.

Cerveny had a notable career in dermatology after graduating magna cum laude from Duke University, then studying medicine at Tulane medical school in New Orleans.

She practiced under her maiden name, Rickenbach, and had risen to be an assistant professor and lived in a million dollar home in Long Island with her husband and three children. This was her second marriage.