Eric Bellucci, a man diagnosed with schizophrenia who was not taking his medication at the time, faces charges that he killed his mother and father in their home in the upscale Annadale section of Staten Island, a borough of New York City. His sister arrived at the house on Wednesday and saw blood so immediately called the cops to investigate. She had moved out recently because her brother had turned violent against her and their parents.
The suspect boarded a plane to Israel and was apprehended after a ticket agent in the Ben Gurion Airport recognized him from media accounts and called the Israeli police. He was trying to get a ticket to Beijing and when his credit card was rejected he went to get cash from an ATM. That's when the ticket agent called the police. The man will be extradited to the U.S. to face charges of second degree murder.
Eric Bellucci attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and graduated from Williams College. He was a football star on campus. According to a person who commented in response to an online news account of the murder, the suspect traveled in an elite crowd and was brilliant with an encyclopedic knowledge of things. The commenter alleges he was a heavy pot smoker and had become increasingly erratic.
The risk of violence in someone with schizophrenia escalates to 28 percent with a co-occurring substance abuse problem, according to studies. Otherwise it is less than 9 percent.
Staten Island police had been called to the parents' house numerous times because of their son's behavior. He was committed for observation at a hospital at least twice.
The people who posted comments in response to various online accounts of this crime varied in what they had to say. A lone couple of posters had empathy. A few criticized the policy of deinstitutionalization that freed people with mental illnesses to walk the streets without the safety net of community services to help the former patients get stable.
Others claimed that using the word "brilliant" to describe this troubled 30-year old was a mistake because he had done nothing of significance like cure cancer or create a physics theorem. Most felt that if he had the ability to get on a plane and fly to Israel after committing the crime he was rational enough to stand trial and should be given the death penalty.
I'll open the call to hear your comments after I give my own take on the news here:
Years ago I wrote a SharePost reviewing the book Crazy by Pete Earley who talked about how the staff at hospitals routinely turn away people they deem not to be an immediate danger to themselves or others, only to have their conditions worsen to the point where they commit crimes and end up in jail.
The commitment laws in the U.S. require a person to be perceived as a danger to himself or others before he will be admitted for observation. Pete Early's son committed a crime within 48 hours of being turned away by hospital staff.
Kendra's Law in New York State has been renewed yet not made permanent: it legally requires certain people with schizophrenia with a history of medication non-compliance and violence to take their meds and stay in treatment. It has not been made permanent because the anti-psychiatry contingent claims a person should have the right to choose whether or not they want to take medication: the civil liberties defense.
