Man who killed half-brother over COVID vaccine takes insanity plea deal

A Maryland man who fatally shot his half-brother and the brother’s wife over the COVID-19 vaccine was sentenced Tuesday to indefinite confinement in a state mental hospital.

Jeffrey Burnham, 48, had been ruled incompetent to stand trial in the case.

Instead, Howard County prosecutors and Burnham’s defense team agreed he was guilty on two counts of first-degree murder but “not criminally responsible” for the killings — Maryland’s version of an insanity plea, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Burnham fatally shot Brian and Kelly Sue Robinette on Sept. 30, 2021, at their home in the Baltimore suburb of Ellicott City.

In the days before the murders, Burnham told one person, who was later interviewed by police, that his half-brother Brian was “killing people with the COVID shot.” Evelyn Burnham, the suspect’s mother, told cops that he’d been repeating the phrase, “Brian knows something.”

Burnham also thought the FBI was watching him and had been acting strangely for an extended period, police said in charging documents.

After 18 hours on the run, Burnham told a firefighter in West Virginia he’d been “forced to kill three people,” leading directly to his arrest.

Burnham is also accused of killing his mother’s friend, Rebecca Reynolds, one day earlier. Reynolds, 83, was found stabbed to death at her home in Cumberland. Burnham stole her car and drove about 100 miles east to kill the Robinettes in Ellicott City the next day, police said.

Despite his insanity plea in the double murder case, Burnham is still scheduled to stand trial next week for the killing of Reynolds, according to the Baltimore Sun.

“I just hope they found out what went wrong in his head,” Evelyn Burnham told the paper.