Spokane7
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September 20, 2009 in City
Search for Paul expands
Officer says patient who escaped at fair may have left Spokane County
Local, state and federal authorities were still looking Saturday for Phillip A. Paul, a missing Eastern State Hospital patient committed in 1987 for killing an elderly Yakima-area woman.
Paul walked away from a group attending the Spokane County Interstate Fair on Thursday, triggering a manhunt that has attracted national publicity.
An inmate recovery team from the Washington Department of Corrections joined the search Saturday morning, said Sgt. Dave Reagan, spokesman for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. A helicopter swept railroad yards and transient camps.
But as officers worked through a list of possible hiding places, Reagan said, the recovery-team members and some deputies participating in the search were sent home.
“We’re running out of places to look for him locally,” Reagan said. “My sense is we’ll find him somewhere outside Spokane County.”
Reagan said Paul may have planned his escape.
Paul left little clothing behind in his hospital room and was carrying a backpack during the field trip, an annual event Paul could easily have anticipated.
He had $50 in his pocket from a Social Security check.
“It’s reasonable to assume he has changed his appearance” given the extra clothing Paul was carrying, Reagan said.
Although he said Paul has probably left the county, Reagan added that deputies are discovering that Paul had several Spokane contacts. He has periodically lived off the hospital campus, including stays at The Carlyle Care Center in downtown Spokane. The department was receiving six to 12 calls an hour reporting sightings Saturday, but few were timely enough to be of use, Reagan said.
Paul, in words and songs posted on the Internet, reveals a man aware of his schizophrenia and wary of the medications he takes to control it, but proclaims himself better for the experience.
In crudely mixed recordings that veer from rockabilly to heavy metal, he calls Eastern the “Nut Hut,” a “Castle on the Hill,” and a “palace of the pill.”
“24/7 you been laying in bed,” he sings in “Rock N Roll in the Mental Institution.”
“You be damn lucky to get those voices out of your head.”
Other song lyrics say people on the outside do not care, that he gets no letters, and that he misses the feel of grass under his feet, seeing the stars at night and the touch of a woman.
There is nothing on the My-Space page to indicate when or where Philly Willy and the Hillbillies recorded nine songs with titles such as “The Dare Song” and “Break These Chains.”
The site includes a photograph that Reagan, of the Sheriff’s Department, said most resembles how Paul looked Thursday when he disappeared.
In a brief, sometimes confused biography on the site, Paul refers to the killing that led to his commitment as “A four second mistake.”
He writes, “Psychotic symptoms were noted over the incident that landed Phil in the psychiatric ward of the Washington State Mental Institution.”
He adds, “It is next to impossible for others to see the depth of what he’s really like outside of song.”
Caldwell: West Point trained local bankers to survive 
alaskanmoose29 on September 20 at 1:10 a.m.
This guy has a myspace music page:
http://www.myspace.com/phillywillyandthehillbillies
itscalledpopnotsoda on September 20 at 5:37 a.m.
A “FIELD TRIP?” you gotta be kidding me…A field trip?
The people that arrange such things need to be examined themselves. You do NOT let someone like this lose in public…ever…there is a reason they are to be locked up.
And why does he have a myspace page? Are you kidding me? I went to the link and it does appear real.
mono on September 20 at 7:50 a.m.
This is an outrage! Money to take 30 criminally insane to the fair in Spokane according to the Spokane Spokesman Review. Yet state jobs are being cut! To add insult to injury the totally dysfunctional DSHS Mental Health Division (MHD) was disbanded 3 months ago and merged with the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.
The last MHD director Richard Kellogg was fired at the time but yet turned up as the DIRECTOR OF STATE MENTAL HOSPITALS!!!!! His salary $110.000. This gives me new meaning to ‘ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S TEST!!
How many of these tax payer supported outings have been funded over the last few years? Where is the accountability? If you want to find out here are the DSHS management staff that are responsible for the state hospitals. You can also ask at the upcoming DSHS Regional Town Meeting forums too.
DOUG PORTER, Assistant Secretary DSHS 360-725-1867, portejd@dshs.wa.gov
RICHARD KELLOGG, 360-902-0783, kellore@dshs.wa.gov
DAVID WESTON,Mental Health Services Chief 360-902-0782, westodb@dshs.wa.gov
MARY ANN LINDEBLAD, Temporary Mental Health Division Director 360-725-1630,
mskatzy on September 20 at 11:20 a.m.
I created this account just to comment on the stupidity of the people in charge at this facility. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINDS? You take 30 people that are criminally insane to a public place with children and elderly people. All of you need to lose your jobs. I have never seen such irresponsible behavior. They don’t need a damn field trip EVER. Their asses need to be kept in 24/7 lockdown.
MySpace account, what the hell is this Club Med. All heads need to roll. Who ever made these stupid decisions needs to be on the other side of the bars because them themselves are CRAZY, geez is anybody thinking?
circle8 on September 20 at 12:10 p.m.
How about a new law to control these visits to the outside world for locked up criminals. If the prisoner escapes then the director of the facility shall serve jail time until the escapee is caught. Sounds good to me.
This escape is a perfect example of these bleeding heart liberals making the rules for those persons who have committed crimes. They have the attitude that reasonable people do not have.
lewis8457 on September 20 at 12:35 p.m.
convitced killers have access to the internet? what the hecK?
stevescott on September 20 at 12:39 p.m.
The Eastern State Hospital staff aren’t the only clueless ones in this incident. My brother-in-law was accosted this morning after eating breakfast in Ritzville, surrounded by cops fingering their weapons. He has a beard, but he is 6ft 9in tall and weighs 300 very fit pounds! Talk about a bunch of losers— ready to gun down a responsible citizen who bears no resemblance to the escapee, all over some phone tip from some presumably blind idiot…
Take_A_Hike on September 20 at 1:05 p.m.
I wonder how the bleeding hearts will feel when this guy ends up on their doorstep or breaks into their house? When he harms or even worse, kills their loved ones? Do you think they will just sit down & sing koombahyah with him?
Common sense isn’t very common anymore :(
Rifleman_Dodd on September 20 at 1:21 p.m.
I enjoying the emitional ranting and raving of all the uninformed posters above. It tells me there is a need for more of these people to be committed to Eastern Washington Hospital.
HamstersTwinkleInHeaven on September 20 at 2:32 p.m.
Here let me make it easy:
ESH is not a prison.
The patients are not prisoners.
They are not serving sentences.
They can be released to complete freedom if the courts agree with the treatment team’s recommendations.
I’ve personally known of murderers released from ESH in less than two years of treatment.
If you don’t like this, you might want to consider shifting some of your clearly passionate energy and frequent use of the question ARE YOU KIDDING ME? from the internet to your legislator if you don’t like the law and want it changed.
itscalledpopnotsoda on September 20 at 3:18 p.m.
Here is another use of the question: ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
People released from ESH after two years for murder?
We wonder why people break into homes and kill whoever gets in their way. They can go to ESH for a couple years and “get well” while they are allowed to go on the internet and go to county fairs. Then they can be released because the courts and legislature in Washington are run by bleeding heart libs who would rather turn a killer loose than put them where they belong.
So, yeah, Are YOU KIDDING ME???
eagleproducer on September 20 at 4:39 p.m.
I always thought it was soda pop.
Take_A_Hike on September 20 at 4:47 p.m.
They found him!!!! YES!