An Oklahoma man charged with killing his parents when he was 19 was ruled not guilty by reason of mental illness on Thursday and ordered into the custody of a state mental health hospital.
Police reports at the time time said that Elijah Walker, now 24, shot and killed his parents, Michael and Rachel Walker, because “because they were sending him messages telepathically and they were Satan worshipers,” as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Walker’s then-17-year-old brother called 911 when he heard gunshots and found his mother in the hallway with gunshot wounds. He did, and “looked into the hallway again and saw his brother … walking down the hallway holding his gun.”
Both the elder Walkers were dead by the time police arrived.
Walker’s sister, Ashten West, told KWTV that Thursday was “a big day.”
“1,669 days that how long we’ve been waiting for this,” she said. “That’s how long it’s been since the death of our parents.”
West and other members of the family wanted Walker to continue treatment and not spend the rest of this life in prison.
In court, Walker’s attorney, Derek Chance, said that his client was now competent and understood the charges against him but also understood that he needed further treatment.
West said the parties signed an order sending her brother to Eastern Oklahoma State Hospital for treatment. He cannot leave without a judge’s order.
“These are difficult cases, but the right thing happened and I knew I was on the right side of this,” said Chance. “I knew mom and dad would have wanted him to get treatment. In fact, that’s why he was in the house in the first place when this took place. Mom thought she could take better care of him than anyone else.”
As Walker was led out of the courtroom to return to the county jail and await transfer to the state hospital, a reporter asked if he was glad the case was over.
“Yeah,” he replied.
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[Featured image: Elijah Walker is escorted into court/KOCO screenshot]
