Ancora--Reported by CBS News, 11 Sep 2007
An admitted killer who walked away from a southern New Jersey psychiatric hospital over the weekend has been captured, CBS 2 and wcbstv.com have learned. William Enman was found in Ancora, wearing camouflage clothing in a wooded area behind the Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, where he had escaped from on Monday, authorities said. He was taken into custody without incident. Enman now faces charges of escape.
"He banged his head after scaling a fence the first night and remained in the area ever since," State Police spokesman Steve Jones said.
Enman, 64, was taken back to Ancora after being discovered by a State Police detective and two Human Services police officers. Jones said he was unarmed and taken into custody without incident. The arrest ended 48 hours of frantic searching that had authorities chasing several leads that ended nowhere. Now that Enman has been caught, he will likely face criminal charges of escape. If convicted, it is possible he will end up in a state prison.
His apprehension still leaves unanswered questions about the extent of Enman's privileges to walk on the hospital grounds without an escort and overall security at psychiatric hospitals in New Jersey. Though he is a slight 5-foot-6, Enman's escape struck fear in the neighborhoods near Ancora.
In the 1970s, Enman was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the deaths of his roommate and the man's 4-year-old son in Morris County. He admitted beating them with a baseball bat. He has been involuntarily committed to state hospitals ever since, including Ancora since 1992. He has frequently asked judges to release him and was scheduled for another such hearing Thursday.
"As far as we're concerned he's still a danger to others," Robyn D'Onofrio, a spokeswoman for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, said Monday. Enman had privileges to walk unescorted around the 657-acre grounds of the hospital, and on Sunday he failed to return from a routine, unsupervised walk that was supposed to last less than an hour.
He has walked away from hospitals in the past and has been something of a poster child for permissive rules regarding the criminally insane in state mental institutions. State Sen. Richard J. Codey brought up Enman in a 1995 state hearing and talked about how he had walked away from hospitals. In the 1990s, Enman was caught with marijuana. And at one point when he was at a psychiatric hospital in Marlboro, he was caught with a crossbow. From about 1993 until 2000, he was allowed to leave the hospital occasionally. During that time, he got married to a woman who lived in Hammonton and fathered a child with her. A judge reprimanded him for doing so without permission.
By the end of the 1990s, though, his wife stopped visiting him in the hospital, according to testimony from annual court hearings to review his status.
It was unclear why he lost the privilege to leave the hospital's campus. However, Jones said it's safe to assume he won't have that privilege or the right to be on the hospital grounds without an escort.
"He banged his head after scaling a fence the first night and remained in the area ever since," State Police spokesman Steve Jones said.
Enman, 64, was taken back to Ancora after being discovered by a State Police detective and two Human Services police officers. Jones said he was unarmed and taken into custody without incident. The arrest ended 48 hours of frantic searching that had authorities chasing several leads that ended nowhere. Now that Enman has been caught, he will likely face criminal charges of escape. If convicted, it is possible he will end up in a state prison.
His apprehension still leaves unanswered questions about the extent of Enman's privileges to walk on the hospital grounds without an escort and overall security at psychiatric hospitals in New Jersey. Though he is a slight 5-foot-6, Enman's escape struck fear in the neighborhoods near Ancora.
In the 1970s, Enman was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the deaths of his roommate and the man's 4-year-old son in Morris County. He admitted beating them with a baseball bat. He has been involuntarily committed to state hospitals ever since, including Ancora since 1992. He has frequently asked judges to release him and was scheduled for another such hearing Thursday.
"As far as we're concerned he's still a danger to others," Robyn D'Onofrio, a spokeswoman for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, said Monday. Enman had privileges to walk unescorted around the 657-acre grounds of the hospital, and on Sunday he failed to return from a routine, unsupervised walk that was supposed to last less than an hour.
He has walked away from hospitals in the past and has been something of a poster child for permissive rules regarding the criminally insane in state mental institutions. State Sen. Richard J. Codey brought up Enman in a 1995 state hearing and talked about how he had walked away from hospitals. In the 1990s, Enman was caught with marijuana. And at one point when he was at a psychiatric hospital in Marlboro, he was caught with a crossbow. From about 1993 until 2000, he was allowed to leave the hospital occasionally. During that time, he got married to a woman who lived in Hammonton and fathered a child with her. A judge reprimanded him for doing so without permission.
By the end of the 1990s, though, his wife stopped visiting him in the hospital, according to testimony from annual court hearings to review his status.
It was unclear why he lost the privilege to leave the hospital's campus. However, Jones said it's safe to assume he won't have that privilege or the right to be on the hospital grounds without an escort.
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