It would be premature to grant a conditional discharge to an Ontario man who terrorized the grandparents of one of two Indiana girls murdered in 2017 by calling them more than 30 times to say the dead girls had been seen in Canada a year after the killings and that their deaths were a hoax, according to the Ontario Review Board (ORB).
The eighth graders — Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14 — were killed near the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Ind., on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were discovered the next day with their throats slit.
Jeffrey Keddy, who called himself “the bridge guy” or “the troll under the bridge” in his many calls to the grandparents between August and September of 2021, left one message saying, “I am never going away, I am never going to stop.”
The murders had garnered a lot of media attention and the grandparents Keddy plagued with his phone calls did dozens of televised interviews after the killings.
The grandparents went to police, who identified Keddy as the caller and arrested him on Sept. 15, 2021, said the recent ORB decision.
Keddy — who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder — was found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder in November 2022 on charges of conveying false information with intent to injure or alarm, repeatedly communicating with intent to harass, and failing to comply with probation.
“Mr. Keddy reported that he began using marijuana in high school, and was smoking three to six joints a day at the time of the index offences,” said the June 5 decision from the independent tribunal that regularly reviews the status of individuals found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.
The 60-year-old was discharged from a Hamilton hospital last June. He’s now living in a small apartment “in a small rural town” about an hour’s drive from Hamilton with a woman he’s been in an “on again/off again” relationship with for three decades, as well as his son, who uses cannabis, and daughter-in-law, said the decision.
Keddy was seeking a conditional discharge, but wasn’t agreeable to a “clause requiring attendance at the hospital upon request,” said the decision.
He’s “noted to have a history of making repeated calls to both law enforcement and family members who had been victimized by violent crimes, and espoused conspiracy based theories,” said the ORB decision.
Keddy has criminal convictions from 1986 until 1994, “consisting primarily of drug offences along with escaping custody and obstructing a peace officer,” said the decision. “The second set were in 2021 and 2022 and were for breaches of recognizance, failure to comply with a release order, and two counts of criminal harassment.”
He was charged twice for harassing neighbours, “leading to no-contact orders,” said the decision. “Following one conviction, he had to sell his house, as he was forbidden to enter the town as a condition of his probation.”
While Keddy “remained adherent to prescribed medications,” over the past year, “he explicitly stated a desire to stop medication once he is absolutely discharged.”
Keddy “has been reluctant to travel 15 minutes to the nearest town to attend programming offered through” the Canadian Mental Health Association, said the decision.
It notes Keddy “spends his day binge watching television and sees no issues with this.”
Keddy’s “risk to the safety of the public is linked to his schizophrenia and particularly to his lack of insight,” said the decision. “Although he has not reported any new delusions related to crimes or paranoia, he continues to hold the same beliefs that led to the index offences (i.e. that he has some unique knowledge regarding historical high-profile crimes).”
He “currently has no professional supports outside of the Forensic Outpatient Program, with no family physician or local community agency involvement,” said the decision. “Other risk factors relevant to Mr. Keddy are his history of substance use and poor response to less restrictive supervision.”
Without ORB oversight “and the support provided by the Forensic Outpatient Program, it is highly likely that Mr. Keddy would discontinue his antipsychotic medication, his psychotic symptoms would intensify, and there would then be a moderately high risk of violent recidivism over time. In the event of decompensation, given Mr. Keddy’s history of psychiatric instability, substance misuse, and lack of insight, the civil Mental Health Act would be insufficient to manage his risk in a timely manner.”
If Keddy “maintains stability and abstinence, and demonstrates meaningful progress in reintegrating back into the community, (his treatment) team would then be in a position in the future to consider the appropriateness of a less restrictive disposition,” said the decision.
Keddy “only agrees to take psychiatric medications because of the ORB,” it said, noting that he “also does not believe that alcohol and cannabis impact his mental state.”
The panel rejected Keddy’s bid for a conditional discharge, noting he’s “yet to engage” in the community where he’s living, or “establish professional supports there.”
It noted Keddy’s “exposed to his son’s cannabis use,” and living in the same town where he made calls terrorizing the Indiana grandparents.
“More time is required to test Mr. Keddy’s ability to maintain stability and abstinence in the community, and to ensure that the housing situation continues to work. There is also a recent concern about tampering with urine samples and/or nonadherence to prescribed medication that warrants further careful monitoring.”
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