Criminally insane killer disappears from fair
SPOKANE -- A criminally insane killer who strangled a woman because voices told him she was a witch has walked away from an Eastern State Hospital field trip to the Spokane Interstate Fair and may be trying to hitchhike home to Sunnyside.
Deputies have been combing the fairgrounds and the area within several blocks of the sprawling complex in search of Phillip Paul, 47, a man with a history of escape and assault in Spokane County in addition to being found criminally insane in the wake of the 1987 strangulation killing of an elderly Granger woman.
Paul was on a field trip to the fair with a group of Eastern State Hospital patients Thursday morning when he disappeared from the rest of his group. The rest of the patients from the group from Eastern State Hospital have been accounted for and taken from the fairgrounds.
The Spokane County Sheriff's Office acknowledges they are "dismayed" with Eastern State's Hospital reporting of Paul's disappearance. While he was reported missing at 1:14 PM apparently Eastern may have known Paul was missing as early as 11:30 AM, more than an hour and a half before they notified authorities about his disappearance.
"It appears now there was a two hour lapse from the point he disappeared from his attendant to the sheriff's office was notified of his escape and obviously that's a concern to us," Sgt. Reagan said. "We're concerned that we were not aware that people of his criminal history were being brought to the fair for day trips. As a courtesy we would have liked to have been notified ahead of time."
"Certainly as a matter of professional courtesy once he disappeared we feel the responsible thing would have been to have been immediately notified," Reagan continued. "As soon as we were notified within 30 minutes we had saturated the fairgrounds with security people and Spokane Valley police officers."
Reagan added that had notification been made to authorities by Eastern State Hospital in "a more timely fashion the odds of catching him would have been much greater."
Shortly before 4 PM the Sheriff's Officer reported they have a witness who says that Phillip Paul walked into a business located in the 3600 block of E. Springfield at 11:30. Authorities say they are between 80 and 85-percent sure this was an actual sighting of Paul.
The man they think might have been Paul was last seen walking westbound from the Sprague/ Trent corridor. Authorities think Paul, who has no money, may be attempting to hitchhike home to Sunnyside in the Yakima Valley where his parents live.
"His sister tells us he calls his parents in Sunnyside virtually every day and that if he's escaped he's headed home," Spokane County Sheriff Sergeant Dave Reagan said.
Paul is described as being 5'9", 207 lbs, Caucasian with brown hair and goatee. He was wearing blue jeans, a blue T-shirt and a red windbreaker.
Field Trip not approved by Fair officials
The fair director confirmed that they never received a request from Eastern State Hospital to have a group of their patients attend the fair and they were unaware a group of patients were at the fair Thursday. Fair officials say they never would have approved such a request.
Eastern State Hospital has declined comment on the incident but Jim Stevenson at DSHS says that field trips are not uncommon. Stevenson says field trips are determined on a case-by-case basis by each patient's treatment team as to whether or not they can participate.
Stevenson said it has nothing to do with their crime but more to do with where they are in their treatment. The number of staff that goes on these field trips is determined by the number of patients that go.
Voices told him Granger woman was a witch
Paul was originally charged with murder in Yakima County in 1987 for the killing of 78-year-old Ruth Mottley in her home near Granger. He was later diagnosed as being criminally insane and suffering from schizophrenia and had been receiving treatment at Eastern State Hospital.
He claimed he heard voices which told him that Mottley was a witch and he strangled her to death.
State Department of Corrections officials confirm that Paul has spent all of his correctional time in mental health facilities such as Eastern State Hospital. Since he was put in the hospital for psychiatric care he has received several opportunities to get out of the hospital.
In 1996 a judge ruled that Paul could attend Spokane Community College during the day as long as he returned back to the hospital at night. Two years later Judge Michael Leavitt ruled Paul could have overnight visits in Spokane as long as he was with an adult member of his family.
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What I want to know is...why? Why would you take a criminally insane man....to the fair? Who the Hell thought this was a good idea?
I hope someone gets fire over this.
