Escaped psychiatric patient had planned bombing, police reports allege

SEATTLE (AP) — Newly released documents reveal a patient accused of torturing a woman to death before escaping from a Washington state psychiatric hospital also had a fascination with the Islamic State group and planned to blow up a state building.


Detectives who investigated Anthony Garver's escape from the troubled Western State Hospital found that he had threatened to kill a federal judge and prosecutor and previously was caught with bomb-making materials.

The Associated Press received the police reports through a public records request.

Despite his extensive criminal history, Garver lived in a ground-floor room and spent five months loosening his window frame. He and another patient fled out the window April 6 and he was on the loose until April 8.

Police expressed concerns that it took the hospital almost two hours to report the escapes.