A fight over unwanted sexual behavior may have led to the apparent murder of a patient at Washington’s Western State Hospital. Prosecutors have not yet filed charges in connection with the death last Friday.
It was around 3 o’clock last Friday afternoon that staff at Western State found the victim, 28-year-old Paul Montefusco in another patient’s room. Lt. Chris Lawler of the Lakewood Police Department describes the scene.
“The victim that was on the floor had a pen shoved into one of his ears and he had like some shaving cream on his head. So it didn’t look like an expected death or a natural death.”
The suspect tells police Montefusco entered his room, urinated on him and then began unwanted sexual behavior. That triggered a fight and the stabbing. Afterwards, the 40-year-old suspect apparently sprayed shaving cream on the victim before retreating to another room.
Both men were non-criminal patients in the civil commitment ward at the mental hospital.
The CEO of Western State calls it a “tragic death” and the first incident of its kind at the hospital in nearly 20 years. The suspect who is a registered sex offender is now being held for second degree murder.
On the Web:
Western State Hospital:
http://www.dshs.wa.gov/mhsystems/wsh.shtml
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network
