Man who stabbed sister to death sent to mental hospital

PORTLAND – An Oregon man who stabbed his sister to death at his apartment and then lived there with the body for possibly more than a week has been sentenced to life at the state mental hospital.

The Oregonian reported that 54-year-old Joseph Rockwood suffered from schizophrenia and his 52-year-old sister, Theresa Rockwood, had been trying to find a group home for him.

Investigators said Joseph Rockwood repeatedly stabbed his sister in the stomach when she went to visit him in late October or early November of 2008.

Theresa Rockwood had written to her brother’s mental-health caseworker and doctor, saying her brother wasn’t taking his medication, was growing more delusional, carried a bat and raised the volume on three TVs in his house to drown out the voices in his head.

Investigators said Theresa Rockwood died sometime between Oct. 28, 2008, and Nov. 7, 2008.

Police found her body on the bathroom floor of her brother’s apartment.