Pratt Professor Dies Four Days After She Was Shot In Horrific Home Invasion

Late on Saturday night, five people were shot in the head at the Pennsylvania weekend home of an East Village couple, plumber Paul Shay, 64, and his wife, Pratt professor Monica Shay, 58. Yesterday morning Shay died from her injuries at Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Allentown, Pa. "The Pratt Institute community is shocked and deeply saddened by Professor Monica Shay's untimely death," Pratt President Thomas Schutte said, adding, "Our sympathy goes out to her family and friends and to all of those at the Institute whose lives she touched."

Also slain was Paul Shay's son Joseph L. Shay, 43, and 2-year-old Gregory Erdmann III, the son of Joseph Shay's girlfriend Kathryn Erdmann, who was wounded. Paul Shay is critically injured, but police say he and Kathryn are expected to survive. The murderer, Mark Geisenheyner, was cornered and shot to death by a SWAT team early Sunday. Geisenheyner was an ex-con with an extensive rap sheet, and prosecutors believe he's been plotting to kill Paul Shay since getting out of prison over a year ago. Investigators are looking into whether the killings were motivated by revenge because Geisenheyner believed Paul Shay had cheated him out of an alleged insurance scam.

According to the Times, Geisenheyner claimed that he and Paul Shay had "planned to torch the Shays’ country home, file an insurance claim and split the money." There was a fire in the home in 2006, and Geisenheyner was later arrested for stealing an expensive painting from the house after the fire. Shay also had him arrested for stealing his lawn mower seven years ago, The Daily News reports.

Monica Shay had worked for the Pratt Institute for more than a decade, and served as the director of its arts and cultural management program. "She has been very active in establishing programs that bring the arts to communities,” Peter L. Barna, the institute’s provost, told the Times. "Sort of living what her program teaches." And the Montgomery County DA Risa Vetri said in a statement: "While we knew that this was a likely possibility from the beginning, we were still very sad to learn of Mrs. Shay’s passing this morning. The devastation caused by this evil monster continues to grow."