Doctor tells judge: Suspect in Freetown stabbing may have had a paranoid psychotic break
FALL RIVER — A woman accused of stabbing a 61-year-old relative in the face last week may have experienced a psychotic break from reality and was suffering from alarming hallucinations and paranoia, according to her defense attorney and a psychologist.
Angel-Leah Duarte, 25, of Freetown, appeared in Fall River District Court Thursday, in which Dr. Kimberly Bistis delivered the results of a mental competency evaluation to Judge Kevin Finnerty.
Duarte was arrested on Dec. 16 on charges of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, in an incident that also kicked off a late-night manhunt for a missing 2-year-old child.
In that incident, shortly before 8:30 p.m., a Freetown resident in the area of Bullock Road and Snuggles Way reported to police that their neighbor appeared at their door covered in blood. Upon arrival, police discovered the neighbor had been stabbed in the face. The victim told police that Duarte was responsible for the stabbing at a nearby home and had fled the house into the woods with a 2-year-old child. Police found Duarte, and both she and the victim were hospitalized while a search and rescue was conducted for the missing child. The toddler was located after 10 p.m. with the use of a drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera, in a wooded area about a quarter-mile from where the child had been last seen.
The child was treated at a local hospital for exposure to cold and rain. Duarte’s defense attorney, Rene Brown, said in an interview Thursday that the child is home and doing well.
“Agencies are involved, overseeing that and investigating, making sure everything’s safe,” Brown said.
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Interviews: Suspect has history of trauma, with mental illness surfacing during COVID pandemic
Based on interviews she conducted with Duarte, her sister and her partner of five years, Bistis testified in court that Duarte had been exhibiting “signs and symptoms of potential mental illness during [the] COVID [pandemic], when she felt very isolated, being locked in her home.”
Bistis said Duarte told her she had an “extremely tumultuous childhood,” losing her mother to cancer when Duarte was 6 years old, and was sent to live with relatives, “during which time she experienced physical and emotional abuse to the extent that she was actually removed from their care.” She told the court that Duarte lived with her father for a time, who also died of cancer, and eventually was placed in foster care for a period of years and experienced homelessness. She testified that Duarte is a college graduate; records confirm that Duarte graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Bistis testified that Duarte told her in the past two years she had experienced auditory hallucinations that eventually disappeared, and self-medicated with Tylenol PM in order to sleep. She told the court that Duarte has no history of substance or alcohol abuse.
“Part of her childhood trauma was being locked in the house, or locked in the closet, locked in rooms," Bistis said, adding that Duarte’s sister told her that Duarte's caregivers had had an alarm system to prevent her from leaving the home.
“In the past two weeks, [Duarte] began experiencing what seems most consistent with a psychotic episode,” Bistis testified.
She said, based on her interviews, that Duarte had become paranoid that people around her were attempting to poison her food, was suffering from disturbing visual hallucinations and hearing voices making upsetting accusations, and was not speaking or thinking rationally. Bistis testified that Duarte’s partner told her Duarte had become preoccupied with “the meanings of various colors — that she was obsessed with the color yellow.”
“He described her as catatonic at times,” Bistis testified. “She would just stare and wouldn’t reply to their questions.”
On the night of the incident at the home of Duarte’s relatives, Bistis testified, Duarte had been hiding a pair of scissors under her arm, and the family hid their knives out of caution that Duarte might try to harm someone.
Bistis testified that during her interview with Duarte, "she was extremely despondent. She was sobbing uncontrollably at times, very depressed. She was staring off at times during the evaluation and demonstrating what I would call thought-blocking, in which, when someone is having psychotic experiences, they want to say something but it takes a long time for them to generate the thoughts. Their thoughts are blocked by the psychosis.”
In both court appearances, Duarte has stood or sat in the dock with her head bowed and shoulder-length brown hair entirely covering her face, and has not spoken or moved.
Based on Bistis’ recommendation, Duarte was ordered sent to Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital for 20 days for further evaluation, to determine Duarte’s mental competency to stand trial and evaluate any issues regarding her understanding of criminal responsibility.
Prosecutors from the Bristol County District Attorney’s office offered no objection.
Duarte is due back in court on Jan. 10. A dangerousness hearing and her arraignment have been postponed pending the outcome of the evaluation.
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Brown said Duarte’s partner described her as “probably one of the most passive people he’s ever met.”
Relatives for Duarte have not appeared in court; Brown said this is at her suggestion.
“I do know that the family loves her. They’re praying for her,” Brown said. “I hope my client gets the help she needs, and I hope the family can heal from this. It’s tragic.”
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Doctor: Suspect in Freetown stabbing, manhunt was paranoid, psychotic
