The man who escaped a North Texas state hospital and prompted a 2-week manhunt has been captured, police say.
Alexander Ervin, 29, was taken into custody shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sunday by Austin police, said police in Vernon, near Wichita Falls.
Ervin had been committed to the North Texas State Hospital after being acquitted by reason of insanity in the 2013 stabbing death of his father in Austin.
The hospital's security video showed Ervin had left his dormitory room late last month and scaled the hospital’s 8-foot security fence before disappearing. Law enforcement officials had warned that he was to be considered armed and dangerous.
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A Travis County jury in 2014 found Ervin, who is autistic, not guilty of murder by reason of insanity in Ray Scott Ervin’s death. Police and emergency medical personnel dispatched to the Ervins’ home in west Austin found the suspect calm and quiet but scratched, beaten and covered in blood, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
His brother, Maxwell Ervin, testified that his brother attacked their father with a pipe wrench and a folding knife, alleging that Ray Ervin was an imposter. Alexander Ervin claimed to be a trained member of the CIA on a mission to kill his father, Maxwell Ervin testified.
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours before acquitting the defendant. As recently as this April, a magistrate ordered Alexander Ervin’s commitment to continue at a state mental hospital.
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His mother, Leslie Ervin, previously said she was "terrified for the community," after learning of his escape.
“I love him, but he committed murder. And now, because of some incompetence at North Texas State Hospital, he’s now on the street,” she said before his capture.
