An autistic and mentally-ill Utah man was recently ruled not guilty in his mother’s homicide by reason of insanity. Authorities say that the 23-year-old Bountiful man killed his mother and stuffed her body in the freezer of their Davis County home. The man then fled to Montana, where he was found a few days later.
“The state’s position is we can prove this crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Deputy Davis County Attorney David Cole. “It is our belief that he would be found not guilty by reason of insanity.”
The man is a paranoid schizophrenic who believed that his mother was replaced by a “replicant” who sought to cause him harm. The Salt Lake Tribune also says that there was evidence that the man had attempted to cut out an imagined microchip from his arm a few days before the murder.
Paranoid schizophrenia is a chronic mental disease characterized by delusions and auditory hallucinations. Observers of this case say that the man will be held at the Utah State Hospital for at least 15 years, and that he likely will be institutionalized for the rest of his life.
The man’s mental disorder went undiscovered due to his autism and inability to display much emotion.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, “Utah man found not guilty by reason of insanity in mom’s murder,” Jessica Miller, Mar. 3, 2013