Texas Man Cleared of Dad’s Murder on Insanity Plea Hops Hospital Fence and Vanishes
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?
Alexander Ervin was acquitted in 2014 after his attorneys argued that he had been in the throes of a psychotic episode when he stabbed his own father to death.
A man found not guilty by reason of insanity in the bloody murder of his own father nearly a decade ago has escaped from a criminal psychiatric hospital, Texas officials said Tuesday. Alexander Ervin, 29, climbed over one of North Texas State Hospital’s 8-foot security fences on Sunday night—a feat captured on surveillance footage. Authorities were alerted the next morning, according to the Vernon Police Department. Ervin, who is bald, mustachioed, and was last seen wearing a gray zip-up hoodie, is considered armed and dangerous by Vernon police, who did not elaborate on with what he might be armed. The Austin American-Statesman reported that Ervin was acquitted in 2014 for his 58-year-old father’s stabbing death the year prior after his lawyers successfully argued that he had been in the throes of a delusional, paranoid psychotic episode. His brother, who witnessed the aftermath, told investigators that Ervin had, in a flat, calm voice, identified himself as a trained federal agent sent to assassinate the man masquerading as their dad.
