Psychiatrist says Iowa football coach murder suspect had been delusional days before killing

Psychiatrist: coach murder suspect was delusional

ALLISON, Iowa — A psychiatrist testified Thursday that a former football player accused in the shooting death of his high school coach had been suffering from severe delusions but that his condition had improved a day before the killing.

Testimony Thursday provided the closest look yet at the mental state of Mark Becker in the days leading up to June 24 when, prosecutors say, Becker walked into the weight room at Aplington-Parkersburg High School in Iowa and repeatedly shot coach Ed Thomas.

Dr. Sunita Kantamneni said Becker claimed he saw Satan, heard “command hallucinations” and was controlled by other people when he arrived at Covenant Medical Center on June 21.

“He was mentioning hearing voices telling him to do bad things for people, do drugs,” Kanamneni said.

In two days, after moderate doses of antipsychotic medication, Becker’s condition improved significantly, she said.

“The intensity of voices decreased,” she testified. “I explained to him ‘You’re doing better, but we’re going to need you to stay in hospital the next couple of days.’ He said, ‘Fine.’”

Becker has been charged with first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Kantamneni said the antipsychotic drugs she prescribed for Becker likely would have lasted in his system for up to two days after his discharge, but said it wasn’t clear that was the case with Becker.

Becker was taken to Covenant in Waterloo after he went on a rampage at a home in Cedar Falls. Homeowner Dwight Rogers told the court he had never met Becker before that day.

“He asked if I was Dwight Rogers. I said ‘Yes, and you are?’” Rogers said. “He said, ‘You know who the F I am.’”

Rogers said he told his wife to call 911. Becker tried to shove his way into the house, then brought out a baseball bat from his car and began smashing windows, Rogers said. He rammed his car into Rogers’ garage then led police on a 90-miles-per-hour chase that ended when Becker struck a deer.

Becker, 24, later told investigators he thought Rogers was trying to cast a spell on him and hypnotize him, and alleged that 53-year-old Rogers had attended preschool with him. In an amusing exchange with defense attorney Susan Flanders, Rogers said he had not attended preschool with Becker, and denied casting a spell or trying to hypnotize him.

Police arrested Becker and charged him with eluding — his trial on that charge is scheduled for March 9 — then turned him over to the hospital with an order to hold him for 48 hours.

Becker’s more severe hallucinations had subsided by June 23 and he began asking if he could leave the hospital. Kantamneni said she recommended Becker be held for four or five days more, but consented to his discharge from the hospital’s psychiatric ward when told Becker would be met by a social worker.

The social worker, Adam Taylor, said he collected Becker from the hospital and took him to Becker’s apartment in Waterloo.

Taylor was supposed to help Becker fill his prescription on June 24, but when he arrived at his apartment the door was unlocked and Becker was gone. Taylor said he learned of the shooting soon after.

Judi Arjes, director of the Cedar Valley Community Support Services, told the court that months earlier Becker had said he was not sleeping well and was experiencing constant hallucinations. Arjes interviewed Becker at his mother’s request.

“He described that he could not feel water when he showered,” Arjes said. “He also felt like there was someone who was behind him putting their thumbs … over his eyes. He felt like he was being choked.”

Becker’s former roommate, Erik Kalkwarf, said Becker was hospitalized twice after using methamphetamine in 2005. He testified that he saw physical and mental changes in Becker after he began using drugs.