An 84-year-old man declared a dangerous offender for kidnapping a hitchhiking couple in 1979 and trying to stab the man to death, then escaping the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital in 1992 and abducting a 16-year-old girl he confined, sexually assaulted and threatened to kill, has not “‘aged out’ of posing a physical and sexual aggression risk,” according to a recent decision from the Ontario Review Board (ORB).
Denis Russell McCullough was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” in July 1980 for the kidnapping and attempted murder. After his Kingston escape, McCullough was declared a dangerous offender and sentenced in October 1994 to detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period. He was living at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security prison, while under investigation for “sexual misconduct,” but returned this past April to the Regional Treatment Centre at the Bath Institution, and testified at his recent ORB hearing.
“He stated that he has lung cancer, heart problems, and finds walking difficult. When asked if he thought he posed a risk to the safety of the public he stated, ‘If I see a person as a danger to me, then I’m a risk… it doesn’t matter who you are.’ He added that he would not be the aggressor, denied having raped anyone — stating he would never touch a woman — and did not know why he was in custody,” said a May 26 decision from the independent tribunal that regularly reviews the status of individuals found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.
The board heard that McCullough was paroled in Canada in May 1978 after a U.S. crime spree, but “absconded” 15 months later.
“While unlawfully at large and on his way to the west coast he picked up a male and a female who were hitchhiking,” said the decision.
“During that trip he stabbed the male several times. He and the female victim were able to stitch the male’s wounds and Mr. McCullough tied the male victim to a tree when they stopped in British Columbia.”
The man was able to free himself and police arrested McCullough a short time later.
While he was a patient at the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital, McCullough “stashed provisions outside the hospital,” then on June 6, 1992, kidnapped his teen “victim and kept her for many hours, including overnight, and forced her to walk from Kingston to the greater Napanee area in Ontario. During the abduction he sexually assaulted her, a fact he now denies,” said the decision.
McCullough “has an extensive criminal record,” said the decision. “In 1963 he was convicted of two counts each of robbery and break and enter. Following those offences, he purchased a car and fled to Texas but was deported back to Canada and sentenced to 12 years.”
Mcullough “was paroled in October 1969 and a month later absconded to the United States, where he was convicted of armed robbery in Nevada. He served 18 months in a mental health facility in that state before starting a term of five years to life in Carson City prison, Nevada. He was paroled in 1976 and returned to Canada.”
McCullough, who was born and raised in Quebec, “reported that illicit drug use began in his 20s. He has spent the majority of his youth and adult years in some form of custodial setting. He has no family support and has not communicated with his family in over 40 years.”
His April 2025 psychological risk assessment “describes Mr. McCullough as a moderate risk for general, violent, and sexual offence re-offending,” said the decision.
“The assessment notes that he suffers from serious mental health issues, although he is not receiving regular mental health service intervention or medication. He is described as ‘highly institutionalized.’”
According to the Parole Board of Canada, “various professionals have assessed McCullough as having a complex personality construct that is rooted in psychopathy and narcissism” and “McCullough’s antisocial values are deeply entrenched into the construct of his personality, which renders change difficult.”
In the last two years, McCullough exposed himself to staff, for which he was fined $25, and was “involved in nine security incidents,” said the decision.
On Oct.19, 2024, “during medication delivery, Mr. McCullough continuously attempted to grab at the nurse.”
He’s been “accused of sexually assaulting an inmate and being sexually inappropriate with another inmate,” said the decision. “A report was received on March 2, 2023, that he had threatened to kill another inmate on his range, but he denied making the threat. He put another inmate in a headlock on June 1, 2023, and minor use of force was used to remove his arm from around the inmate’s neck.”
His caretakers had to physically handle McCullough to get him back into his cell on Dec. 27, 2023, “when he refused direction to do so,” said the decision.
“Information was received on February 24, 2024, that Mr. McCullough was telling other inmates that he was receiving oral sex from another inmate at the Regional Treatment Centre at the Bath Institution.”
McCullough “has recently been diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder — in remission for over 10 years — and has been assessed as having some developing cognitive impairment,” said the decision.
While McCullough uses a wheelchair and attended the ORB hearing in one, “he is still able to ambulate and engage in sexual activity and physical altercations,” it said.
His parole officer testified McCullough “would need a great deal of support if living in the community, which halfway houses could not provide. She noted that Mr. McCullough has no plan to live in the community and no community support.”
His parole officer “considered Mr. McCullough a significant threat to re-offend,” said the decision.
Lawyers for the hospital and the province “maintained that Mr. McCullough continued to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that detention at the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care – Provincial Forensics Program (Ontario’s most secure forensic facility) was appropriate if he were released from federal custody,” said the decision.
McCullough’s lawyer “questioned whether significant threat to public safety had been established to the legal standard of a balance of probabilities. He noted his client has not had a criminal conviction since 1994, suffers from significant health issues, and is only partially ambulatory.”
The ORB ordered that McCullough “be detained at the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care – Provincial Forensic Programs Division, should his incarceration in a federal penitentiary cease,” said the decision.
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