Admitted killer of 2 walks away from N.J. psychiatric hospital, search broadens to Canada

An admitted killer with a history of escapes walked away from a psychiatric hospital, scaring residents of the surrounding area.

The search for William Enman, 64, extended as far as Canada on Tuesday because authorities said he might own land in Nova Scotia, said Ellen Lovejoy, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. In the area around the hospital, police used dogs and infrared scanners to try to find him.

In the 1970s, Enman was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the beating deaths of his roommate and the man's 4-year-old son.

He confessed to the killings and has been involuntarily committed to state hospitals ever since, though he has frequently asked judges to release him. He was scheduled for another hearing Thursday.

"As far as we're concerned he's still a danger to others," said Robyn D'Onofrio, a spokeswoman for the Morris County prosecutor's office.

Lovejoy said the department has about a dozen detectives working on the case, assisted by local, state and federal law enforcement officers.

Enman had privileges to walk unescorted around the 657-acre grounds of Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, and on Sunday he failed to return from a walk that was supposed to last only an hour.

The hospital is not secured like a prison. Its perimeter is enclosed by an 8-foot-high fence, but Lovejoy said there are several open, unguarded gates.

Enman has walked away from hospitals in the past, and has been caught with marijuana and a crossbow smuggled back into his room. A judge once reprimanded him for getting married and fathering a child when he was allowed to visit people outside the hospital, a privilege that was revoked.

By the end of the 1990s, his wife had stopped visiting him in the hospital, according to testimony from annual court hearings to review his status.

People who live near Ancora can sign up to receive phone calls from the hospital when a patient escapes.

Still, some Ancora neighbors say they were unnerved by Enman's escape.

"My husband slept with a baseball bat near the bed," Diane Christy told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill.

"I'm troubled that they would let someone like that just walk away. That's ridiculous," Craig Reynolds, 41, told the newspaper.

Enman faces charges of escape once he's captured.