EVERETT, Wash. — Prosecutors filed second-degree murder charges against Todd Brodahl on Wednesday, two days after he was released from Western State Hospital where doctors were treating him for schizophrenia.
He has been deemed unfit to stand trial for 22 years. Prosecutors now plan to challenge that.
Inside an unassuming Everett adult care home resides the man some said is a monster.
"I think Todd is very capable of killing me, killing my son, killing other people," Tamera Sheary said.
Sheary's 18-year-old son, Brady, was murdered outside a Marysville middle school in 2002. He was beaten and stabbed in the heart.
Sheary said the suspect, Todd Brodahl, knew her son and may have killed him in a jealous rage over a girl.
"I got a phone call that said, 'I don't care if Brady's mom hears this, I don't care if Brady's brother hears this. Brady's a dead man,'" Sheary said.
In 2003, a Snohomish County judge ruled Brodahl was mentally unfit to stand trial. He has spent 22 years at Western State Hospital undergoing treatment.
Brodahl was released back into the community on Monday with supervision and a discharge plan. That's despite a state Public Safety Review Panel determining Brodahl is an "undue risk to public safety." The panel said he "doesn't think he's mentally ill" and doesn't think he needs medication. According to the panel, Brodahl wants to live with his parents, even though both are dead.
Brodahl was on "one trip back into the community" before his release. That raises too many questions for prosecutors.
"Is he ready to be in a less restrictive alternative setting today?" said Elise Deschenes, Snohomish County chief deputy prosecuting attorney. "Will those restrictions in place keep the community safe?"
In response, prosecutors have now refiled second-degree murder charges against Brodahl.
"If they are of the opinion that he is ready to be returned to this community, I will rely upon those experts and that's why we're going to be filing murder charges," said Jason Cummings, Snohomish County prosecutor.
Prosecutors said once charges are formally brought they will not seek to have Brodahl brought to jail, but rather to have him fitted with a home monitoring device so they can keep track of him.
Meantime, a mother worries for her family and community.
"I don't want something to happen because I haven't done everything I can to keep him locked up," Sheary said.
In a written response to KING 5 News, a spokesman for Western State Hospital said.
“While we cannot comment on specific discharge and treatment plans due to patient privacy laws, it is important to note Western State Hospital is not a correctional facility where patients are sent to us for a specific length of pre-determined time," the spokesperson said. "The role of the state hospitals is to treat people with a mental illness with the long-term goal of eventually returning them back to the community, with court approval. The law requires DSHS to notify several parties of court-approved discharges, which was carried out. The law also allows for a Prosecutor’s Office to re-charge a person with criminal charges if they believe a case warrants such.”