Still missing Anthony Garver (L) and the now-captured Mark Adams (R) were being treated for mental illnesses
Lakewood Police Department
Police in Washington
state are hunting for a mentally ill killer after two men escaped from a
psychiatric hospital. The two men, who were said to be dangerous by the
officers tracking them, escaped from the Western State Hospital
facility in Pierce County, south of Tacoma on 6 April.
The two men were named as Mark Adams, 58, and Anthony
Garver, 28. Adams was arrested for domestic assault in 2014 but was
found not competent to stand trial and was subsequently sectioned.
Adams was picked up without incident 25 miles from the
hospital after being spotted on a transit bus after inquiring about
travelling to the Seattle-area airport. His accomplice, who also uses
the alias Deryk Garver, is still missing and authorities have alerted
local residents.
Garver was arrested for murder in 2013 but a court found
that he was not competent to stand trial. His real last name is Burke,
but Lakewood Police Lieutenant Chris Lawler said he goes by the name
Garver.
Garver was charged with torturing Phillipa Evans-Lopez to
death, Snohomish County Assistant Prosecutor Craig Matheson said. The
20-year-old woman was found tied to her bed with electrical cords and
had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and slashed in the throat.
Despite their alleged crimes, it is understood that the two
men were not on a high security ward with checks every hour. Although it
has not been stated how they escaped, Garver was relocated to a
lower-security unit of the hospital after a judge ruled his treatment
was not working.
Lakewood police posted to Facebook: "One down ... one to go!!" after Adams' apprehension.
The department had earlier released images of Adams captured
by CCTV cameras on the bus before he was arrested in Des Moines. The
only lead that police currently have on the other escapee is a bus
driver who may have picked Garver up during the evening of 7 April.
Post a Comment