SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — The man who broke out of Washington state’s largest mental hospital last year and made it all the way to Spokane was found guilty of murder Tuesday, according to the CBS affiliate in Seattle.
Anthony Garver was charged with the 2013 murder of 20-year-old Phillipa S. Evans-Lopez but was committed to Western State Hospital after the court found he was mentally ill and unable to face charges, the station reported.
Garver was found guilty following a bench trial that began earlier in October.
Prosecutors filed a new charge after learning he could soon be released from jail in Jan. 2017.
Garver escaped from Western State Hospital in April 2016 and took a bus to Spokane, prompting a two-day statewide manhunt. He was found hiding near his parents' home in Spokane Valley.
The doctor who evaluated Garver after his escape said, "he is exaggerating his psychotic symptoms and exaggerating, if not feigning, memory impairment."
Garver is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. in Snohomish County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.