Airdrie man who killed his mother in manic-psychotic state to remain in psychiatric custody

Alexander Thorpe will not have any unsupervised privileges for at least another year if the Alberta Review Board decides to accept the recommendations of his treatment team.

But the 21-year-old could be permitted closely supervised trips away from his psychiatric treatment centre for treatment programs, medical appointments or possibly camping trips. The supervised trips would have to be unanimously agreed to by his treatment team.

Thorpe was found not criminally responsible for killing his mother - 48-year-old Melanie Lowen - sometime in the early hours of Jan. 13 in Airdrie.

He was arrested that morning after wandering naked through a car dealership while listening to religious sermons. He told RCMP officers that he had killed the devil that had possessed his mother.

During Wednesday's hearing, his psychiatrist Dr. Ken Hashman says Thorpe has been "absolutely stable" and not shown any signs of relapse in the last 10 months.

He says Thorpe suffers from bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder and added the psychotic break that lead to the violent killing was likely brought on by what he termed the "positive stress" of a religious convention Thorpe attended in Atlanta, Georgia, days earlier.

In video evidence shown during his trial in October, Thorpe could be heard referring to himself as a prophet, believing he had killed the devil in his mother, and thinking the RCMP detachment he was taken to was heaven and the officers angels.

The board also heard that the former high school valedictorian and university honours student has been a model patient, working to understand his illness and reporting to staff when he has concerns of a relapse.

Hashman gave an example from earlier this month when Thorpe reported a metallic taste in his mouth to doctors, saying he worried it might be an early warning of a relapse.

Hashman said Thorpe had noted the taste of cinnamon and Myrrh in his mouth at the time of the fatal attack on his mother. The source of the metallic taste turned out to be a change in vitamins that contained zinc.

Doctors also noted that Thorpe's replies during interviews were consistent and checked out with what others reported.

No date is set for the review board to release their decision.