ALL'S (NOT) FAIR...
Monday, September 28, 2009 at 05:01PM Who's running the asylum?
I mean that literally.
In Seattle recently, a hospital administrator allowed a mentally ill murderer to accompany 30 other patients on a "field trip" to the Spokane County Fair and - ooopps, wouldn't ya just know it - the killer slipped through the crowds and managed to escape.
The absconded murderer had been committed to the mental hospital in 1987 after he was acquitted by reason of insanity of slaying an elderly woman, soaking her body in gasoline to throw off the search dogs and burying her in her flower garden.(Yes, he was deemed insane, yet was apparently sane enough to try to cover up his dirty deeds. Interesting...)
So, obviously, this wasn't your commonplace criminal or even a remorseless thug- you know, the ones who claim that their victim "fell into the knife I was using to defend myself." This 47-year-old was a psycho killer who possessed a creative knack for finding innovative ways to dispose of little old lady corpses. Maybe it's just me, but if I'm reviewing the list of who gets to attend outings from the mental institution and who should stay behind for more intense therapy, I'd put the vicious cutthroat in the "not the County Fair type" category.
And he wasn't a model mental hospital patient, either. According to the newspaper report, two weeks before he escaped, a judge ruled that this man remained a threat to the public because of "his aggressive behavior and his decreased awareness of his psychosis." Yeah, that sounds like just the type of fella we want to come to our little fair! Come on down, folks, we have a Ferris wheel, farm animals, cotton candy and an escaped lunatic that will make the Haunted House tent seem like a Wiggles concert!
The good news is that eventually the slippery killer was captured, without incident, more than 180 miles away. All old women in the area were deemed safe and able to return to their gardening.
Hopefully, though, the next time the mental hospital administrators decide to schedule a fun outing, they'll bring the whole gang along, but leave all murderers behind, even if they are accused of being killjoys.
Reader Comments (1)
Really, who is making these decisions? You know my saying - "I could do that"! And without the Doctorate Degree in "how to make stupid decisions that put innnocent people at risk, but give phsycotics a second chance".