Suspect in fatal beating of Lincoln Hospital patient had been nabbed, but was cut loose

A suspect in the vicious beating of a Bronx woman in her room at Lincoln Hospital who later died was in the custody of the hospital’s police force, but was cut loose after prosecutors decided not to move forward with charges without additional evidence, law enforcement sources told the Daily News.

Earlier this week, the NYPD reclassified the death of Cynthia Vann, 55, as a homicide, disclosing only that an unidentified person punched her repeatedly in the head Sept. 10 and then fled to “parts unknown.”

But before the person fled, the Hospital Police at Lincoln had conducted their own investigation and arrested the suspect apparently without NYPD involvement and referred it to the Bronx District Attorney’s office, the News has learned from law enforcement sources.

Bronx prosecutors