NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Criminally Stupid Idea Facilitates Escape Of Criminally Insane Man
Reading the headline of this Associated Press article - “Insane Killer Escapes On Field Trip To County Fair” - The Stiletto mistook it for something ripped from the pages of The Onion. Unfortunately, it really happened:
A criminally insane killer from eastern Washington is on the run after escaping during a field trip to the [Spokane County Interstate Fair] that his mental hospital organized. …
Authorities at Eastern State Hospital, where [Phillip Arnold Paul] is a patient, are being criticized for allowing him to visit the fair despite his violent criminal past and a history of trying to escape. …
Paul was committed after he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1987 slaying of an elderly woman, whose body he soaked in gasoline to throw off search dogs. Paul buried the woman's remains in her flower garden. …
Like the 30 other mentally ill patients on the annual field trip that day, Paul was allowed to wear street clothes – and he had also been allowed to carry food and extra clothing in a backpack. Eastern State had 11 staffers escorting the patients, several others of whom may also be criminally insane. That’s roughly one staffer to three patients wandering around a chaotic, noisy environment heavily populated with women, elderly and young children. The state Department of Social and Health Services has put the kibosh on such trips, pending the outcome of a taxpayer-funded investigation into the pros and cons of allowing homicidal maniacs to roam free.
After a three-day manhunt, authorities apprehended Paul in Goldendale, which is near the ID border and about 185 miles southwest of Spokane.
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