Murder suspect’s roommate talked of having him ‘committed’ before the killing
A Richland woman fought back tears on the witness stand as she told jurors how she became desperate to help her roommate as his mental health deteriorated.
And by the time she’d returned from an out-of-town trip, Joshua D. Davis already had fatally stabbed a Pasco school bus driver in front of a bus load of elementary school children.
Laura Astudillo-Ocampo testified Friday and Monday as Davis’ trial for first-degree murder moved into its third week. He has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to the death of Richard “Dick” Lenhart, 72, in 2021.
While prosecution and defense experts agree Davis was suffering from schizophrenia, they disagree on his ability to understand what he was doing and right from wrong. Neither has yet to testify.
One of the key pieces of evidence that Washington state forensic psychologist Richard Yocum used for his written evaluation was a note Astudillo-Ocampo found in her room that she believes is from Davis.
“Laura, if you are reading this, I have murdered children,” the note began. It went on to tell her to give his two kittens to his mother.
Davis is accused of attacking Lenhart with a knife after Lenhart opened the bus doors to let him ask a question. No children were hurt.
Mental health decline
Astudillo-Ocampo previously testified that she initially met Davis in 2003 or 2004 when they were working at the Pasco School District as students. After they both finished school, they kept in touch occasionally.
She offered him a room in the duplex she rented in Richland sometime in 2021.
Defense attorneys showed jurors three videos that Davis sent to Astudillo-Ocampo. The videos show Davis rubbing his face and making a loud humming noise.
The videos are part of more than 60 reviewed by defense expert Alexander Patterson. He previously testified that Davis’ schizophrenia left an otherwise healthy man in debilitating pain and unable to distinguish right from wrong.
While Astudillo-Ocampo wasn’t allowed to give jurors her thoughts on what Davis was doing, court documents said that he complained about air bubbles under his skin and about hearing strange noises.
She testified Davis had become more disorganized and withdrawn.
On the day she left for her trip, she was worried about his declining mental health, she testified. Their neighbor had called police after hearing Davis screaming.
Astudillo-Ocampo arrived to find Davis and police in her home in what she described as a confrontation. Later the same night, she talked with her landlord about what happened.
“I said that I was going to try to have him committed,” Astudillo-Ocampo testified through her tears. “I didn’t even know if I could have it done.”
She didn’t know what else to do for her friend, she said.
Letter on the bed
Astudillo-Ocampo returned to the Tri-Cities the day of Lenhart’s murder in September 2021, but didn’t return to her duplex until the next day.
She described her home as a mess when she walked inside. Her curtains and sofa had been destroyed by the kittens, she testified.
“There were tufts of hair like someone had cut their hair and left it,” she said.
When she entered her bedroom, items had been moved around, there were plastic bottles on the dresser and a cell phone that wasn’t hers on the night stand.
She found the letter on her bed. While the contents of the letter have been included in reports, they weren’t shared with the jury.
Astudillo-Ocampo fought back tears as she identified the letter. When Judge Jackie Shea Brown asked if she wanted a break, the witness told her, “I want this over.”
She told the jury that finding the letter “was a big shock.”
“I just started crying. I’m not sure if I yelled out or not, I just remember crying, and I dropped to the floor,” she said.
She ended up turning that letter over to investigators.
The Franklin County Superior Court trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday.