Ancora--From the Courier Press, 12 Sep 2007
The search spread from Cape May County to Canada, but William Enman didn't go very far at all.
The 64-year-old paranoid schizophrenic who admitted to a 1974 double killing was found in a wooded area on Ancora Psychiatric Hospital's 657-acre grounds around 3 p.m. Tuesday, officials said. He was wearing camouflage. Enman was believed to have walked away from the hospital Sunday afternoon when he failed to return from an unsupervised walk. A search for him included a state police helicopter, infrared scanners and police dogs, but it was two staff members looking out a window who recognized Enman as he wandered the hospital's grounds, said Ellen Lovejoy, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services.
The staff member got into a car and followed Enman until a state trooper and members of the hospital's police staff arrested Enman. He had banged his head after scaling a fence and, despite concerns of a flight to property he owned in Nova Scotia and a rumored sighting at Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May Courthouse, Enman remained in the area during the 48 hours he was missing. Lovejoy said Enman was taken back to Ancora and will be transferred to Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton. He is under one-on-one supervision, Lovejoy said.
He was unarmed and taken into custody without incident. Though he did have a backpack with him, Lovejoy said it was "more like a toiletry bag." It contained toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, candles and Band-Aids. Enman faces a criminal charge of escape, Lovejoy said. If convicted, it is possible he will end up in a state prison. "It's a relief," she said. "We were making a diligent effort to apprehend him." Enman's disappearance frightened residents who live near the hospital and some said they slept with baseball bats in the event they would have to fend off the slightly -built man. Enman is 5 feet 9 inches tall and 145 pounds.
In 1975, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for murdering his roommate, Peter LeSeur, and LeSeur's 4-year-old son, Eric, in Morris Plains, authorities said. Since then, he's been in state psychiatric hospitals. Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi said Enman has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Within a few years of being housed in a psychiatric hospital, Enman began petitioning the court to buy a motor vehicle -- which was not allowed -- and to open bank accounts, according to court records.
He was caught with marijuana and a crossbow in the 1990s. Between 1993 and 2000, he was allowed to leave Ancora's grounds and married a woman who lived in Hammonton. He also fathered a child with her, officials said. Over the years, Enman has refused to take psychotropic medications -- a decision that was upheld by a Superior Court judge in Morris County -- but was still deemed to be in remission from his mental illness a few years ago. At the time of his disappearance, a court order permitted Enman to take unescorted walks on the hospital's property. Those privileges were revoked Tuesday, Lovejoy said. His Sunday walk, which began at 2:10 p.m. was scheduled to end at 3 p.m., officials said. But hospital officials should not shoulder the blame for the incident, said Phillip Lubitz, director of advocacy for the New Jersey chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"It wasn't a haphazard decision about letting a guy have grounds privileges," Lubitz said. "This was a guy who was allowed -- as a result of the judge's decision -- not to take medication. You have to consider that as a contributing factor in what has occurred."
Under state law, Lubitz said, physicians can order hospitalized psychiatric patients to be medicated involuntarily. But patients are provided the right to appeal those recommendations, said Sarah Mitchell, a lawyer with New Jersey Protection and Advocacy Inc. It's rare, she said, for a judge to overrule a state recommendation. Lubitz said Ancora and the state's other psychiatric hospitals have recently made strides in overcoming long-standing struggles with aging facilities, overcrowding and a lack of resources for programming. The state has recently brought in a team of veteran mental-health managers to serve as mentors and begun collaborating with concerned families of patients, Lubitz said. "I really have to give them credit for making a sincere effort to take outside input and make efforts to improve the hospital," Lubitz added
The 64-year-old paranoid schizophrenic who admitted to a 1974 double killing was found in a wooded area on Ancora Psychiatric Hospital's 657-acre grounds around 3 p.m. Tuesday, officials said. He was wearing camouflage. Enman was believed to have walked away from the hospital Sunday afternoon when he failed to return from an unsupervised walk. A search for him included a state police helicopter, infrared scanners and police dogs, but it was two staff members looking out a window who recognized Enman as he wandered the hospital's grounds, said Ellen Lovejoy, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services.
The staff member got into a car and followed Enman until a state trooper and members of the hospital's police staff arrested Enman. He had banged his head after scaling a fence and, despite concerns of a flight to property he owned in Nova Scotia and a rumored sighting at Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May Courthouse, Enman remained in the area during the 48 hours he was missing. Lovejoy said Enman was taken back to Ancora and will be transferred to Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton. He is under one-on-one supervision, Lovejoy said.
He was unarmed and taken into custody without incident. Though he did have a backpack with him, Lovejoy said it was "more like a toiletry bag." It contained toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, candles and Band-Aids. Enman faces a criminal charge of escape, Lovejoy said. If convicted, it is possible he will end up in a state prison. "It's a relief," she said. "We were making a diligent effort to apprehend him." Enman's disappearance frightened residents who live near the hospital and some said they slept with baseball bats in the event they would have to fend off the slightly -built man. Enman is 5 feet 9 inches tall and 145 pounds.
In 1975, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for murdering his roommate, Peter LeSeur, and LeSeur's 4-year-old son, Eric, in Morris Plains, authorities said. Since then, he's been in state psychiatric hospitals. Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi said Enman has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Within a few years of being housed in a psychiatric hospital, Enman began petitioning the court to buy a motor vehicle -- which was not allowed -- and to open bank accounts, according to court records.
He was caught with marijuana and a crossbow in the 1990s. Between 1993 and 2000, he was allowed to leave Ancora's grounds and married a woman who lived in Hammonton. He also fathered a child with her, officials said. Over the years, Enman has refused to take psychotropic medications -- a decision that was upheld by a Superior Court judge in Morris County -- but was still deemed to be in remission from his mental illness a few years ago. At the time of his disappearance, a court order permitted Enman to take unescorted walks on the hospital's property. Those privileges were revoked Tuesday, Lovejoy said. His Sunday walk, which began at 2:10 p.m. was scheduled to end at 3 p.m., officials said. But hospital officials should not shoulder the blame for the incident, said Phillip Lubitz, director of advocacy for the New Jersey chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"It wasn't a haphazard decision about letting a guy have grounds privileges," Lubitz said. "This was a guy who was allowed -- as a result of the judge's decision -- not to take medication. You have to consider that as a contributing factor in what has occurred."
Under state law, Lubitz said, physicians can order hospitalized psychiatric patients to be medicated involuntarily. But patients are provided the right to appeal those recommendations, said Sarah Mitchell, a lawyer with New Jersey Protection and Advocacy Inc. It's rare, she said, for a judge to overrule a state recommendation. Lubitz said Ancora and the state's other psychiatric hospitals have recently made strides in overcoming long-standing struggles with aging facilities, overcrowding and a lack of resources for programming. The state has recently brought in a team of veteran mental-health managers to serve as mentors and begun collaborating with concerned families of patients, Lubitz said. "I really have to give them credit for making a sincere effort to take outside input and make efforts to improve the hospital," Lubitz added
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