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Atascadero murder suspect believes he’s a werewolf

February 25, 2015
Mark Andrews

Mark Andrews

An Atascadero man accused of murdering his neighbor has believed for 20 years that he is a werewolf, a psychologist testified Tuesday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court. [KSBY]

Mark Andrews, 51, is accused of killing his neighbor Colleen Marie Barga-Millbury, 52, in May 2013. Andrews has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and is currently standing trial.

Psychologist Carolyn Murphy testified that Andrews is schizophrenic but not a psychopath. He has suffered from long-term delusions, including his belief that he transforms into a werewolf or embodies the spirit of one, she said.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Kraut countered that Murphy had not seen Andrews prior to Sept. 2013 and relied on medical records to make a determination.

Andrews has previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia. After the fatal shooting, he told police that he was not taking his medication.

Andrews also confessed that he killed Barga-Millbury, telling police that he felt an evil coming from her and that he believed she was a vampire. A judge tossed the murder confession out of court, though, ruling that Atascadero police violated Andrews’ Miranda rights while questioning him.

Prior to trial, three doctors evaluated the murder suspect’s sanity. Two concluded that he was insane at the time of the shooting, but one said that he was sane.

The murder trial resumes Wednesday at 10 a.m.


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Schizophrenia is a very serious disorder. The average age of onset is late teens to early 20’s. Because of the stigma of the disease (and the fear) young adults will sometimes lie about hearing voices. It is actually possible for this to go on for a period of time-until is is impossible to hide. However, the positive signs of schizophrenia (as opposed to the negative ones) can eventually cause “combative voices” to evolve. These are the menacing voices that instruct the person to kill, as is the case here.


It is a shame it had to go this far. With proper mental health facilities-this might have been prevented. It seems the “plan” here is ASH-and only ASH (and the county–when they have an open bed). But the atrocities that have to transpire for a person to get to ASH-and these are just horrid. An in-between treatment with medication and psychotherapy could have stabilized this man years ago–before it came to this.


Please do not make fun of people like this. Imagine your child tormented by such horrors and concealing it as long as they could. There is deep suffering and anguish with mental illness-they want so badly to be “normal”.


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This man was under mental health treatment for the last 20 years. I guess he didn’t tell his doctor that he was a werewolf. But then again, we don’t have the mental health knowledge to cure werewolves, do we? The neighbors need to make sure that if he is deemed mentally ill and unable to tell right from wrong, that he is not allowed to return to this neighborhood or anyone else’s neighborhood –ever.


ever.


I feel so badly about the 15 year old boy who lost his only living parent, that as far as I’m concerned, this worthless human being should be taken out in the back forty and shot like a dog. His family should be required to help support the teenager until he is 21. Hopefully, someone will come forward to sue the family for unlawful death on behalf of this kid. After all, they own a house and a bunch of guns, they should have to replace the mom’s income for this child, and pay funeral expenses. I’ll bet that they have done nothing to help..


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I agree that this guy should be kept away from people in a safe place (ASH or CMC). However, schizophrenia is not a result of faulty parenting and they should not bear any responsibility for the actions of a related adult unless they intentionally failed to report him making specific threats or actions. I would be impressed if they did what you say but I don’t see any obligation for them to do it.


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I think that might be marginal….that faulty parenting does not contribute to this disorder. Look up research on Bowen and a term called “double binding”. You will discover that they used to hospitalize the whole family of schizophrenics. Some studies show this was highly effective. Personally, I think double binding could severely damage any child. If you look it up….add psychology to the search….or you will get a bunch of sewing terms.


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We don’t know what he told his doctor. He could have told that doctor many things. But people with mental illness go through a lot of despair and anguish….they try to hide the illness and the voices–they don’t want to disappoint those they love—they feel ashamed. Hating the mentally ill person will not change this–and it won’t bring back the person killed. What SHOULD have been done is building facilities that would treat this man—so it never got this far.


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When did werewolves start using guns?


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I guess when we started shooting them with silver bullets…lol


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I often wonder just what it will take to realize the mental patient liberation movement has been a monumental failure. Those afflicted with mental illness are NOT always able to conduct their lives in a rational manner and should not be out on the streets.

Once many of the institutions designed to help these people were shut down, there was no longer facilities that provided the necessary help.

Until something is done, these sorts of tragic events will continue to occur.


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It is also sadly true that many people who suffer from extreme depression or PTSD do not get the help they need. They may not be out killing people but their private life is so horrible. Someone I know recently tried to kill herself and would have succeeded had not a friend on a hunch gone over to see her, broke through the door and found her unconscious on the floor. She is still hospitalized with severe physical problems as a result. So sad.


We need places for the mentally ill who truly cannot care for themselves. Many of them end up homeless which exacerbates their problems and can endanger society, as in this case. We treat stray animals better than straying humans.


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We can thank ol’ Ronnie Reagan for our “mental patient liberation”:


http://www.salon.com/2013/09/29/ronald_reagans_shameful_legacy_violence_the_homeless_mental_illness/


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Bologna…. All Reagan did was give the whinny CA democrats what they bargained with him for. He got reduced taxes for Californians and the democrats got the evil mental institutions shut down. It was just about the time Coo Coo’s nest was on the big screen. As usual democrats using the emotion of the day to round out their agenda. Please Tomjones stay away from salon.com, the last time that web page was honest was never.


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Reagan only made the last step in a process begun by others. The old institutions didn’t exactly do a good job of consistently helping those with mental health problems either. That track record was a factor in deciding to close them down. Would they have had more success if they were better funded? I don’t know and I am not sure that anyone else does either. Their primary social benefit was warehousing the mentally ill away from the rest of the public and there are problems with that scenario too.


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The liberal outcry in the late 70’s and 80’s in California was to release these poor souls and create out patient clinics for them where they could receive medication and counseling. You know Born Free and all of that nonsense. As usual well intended liberals failed in their attempt to do good for others. The homeless situation in our nation is worse than ever and we hear nothing about it in the media. I would bet my last dime that if there were a republican mayor sitting in Sac town we would hear a whole different story. The lack of honest information and blatant deception coming from our senior news networks is hurting this nation in unrecoverable ways. This is why the internet and websites like CCN is so important. I know this is off topic but look out for Net Neutrality. Do a story on that CCN.


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Yes! Yes, let’s point to a small number of tragic incidents and completely ignore the tens of thousands who HAVE been able to conduct their lives in a rational manner.


Screw the truth, there’s an AGENDA to support or demean!


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Demon possession is real…

or just send him to London.


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Hopefully he was unable to pass on his defective DNA.


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Dunno… the family dog seemed to have a limp…


¯\_(ツ)_/¯ WHAT!? I kid, I kid!


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