SPOKANE, Wash. - Authorities say a man accused of torturing a woman to death who escaped from a Washington state psychiatric hospital has been captured.
The manhunt for Anthony Garver stretched from Lakewood to Seattle to Spokane over the past two days.
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said K9 teams tracked 28-year-old Garver’s trail near a home where he was last spotted in the Spokane Valley area. They found Garver in a wooded area, dehydrated and hiding under a pile of debris. He was taken into custody without incident.
Knezovich said Garver will receive medical treatment, then be taken to the Spokane County Jail.
During a news conference announcing his capture, Knezovich had some harsh words for the state.
"It's my hope at this time the Department of Corrections in the State of Washington finds a way to make sure this dangerous criminal does not escape again," he said. "This is the second time, and thank goodness because of the good police work done today, there was not a loss of life like there was on the previous escape.
He's referring to the time when Garver was charged with stabbing a woman to death in her home but found too mentally ill for trial.
He was moved to a lower-security unit of the state's largest psychiatric hospital after a judge said treatment to prepare him to face criminal charges wasn't working and ordered him held as a danger to himself or others.
Garver crawled out a window April 6 with another patient, Mark Alexander Adams, who was found the next day in Des Moines.
"There seems to be a pattern here, and the State of Washington needs to get a clue. And they need to make sure this doesn't happen again. Because none of our citizens in this state should have to face this type of activity," said Knezovich.
The escape was the latest problem for Western State Hospital, where violent assaults on both staff and patients have led to federal scrutiny.
On Friday, Western State Hospital said in a separate incident, a third patient went missing Wednesday. No word on the whereabouts of that patient.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
