After reviewing the Virginia State Police investigation into the stabbing of state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the commonwealth's attorney for Bath County decided not to pursue criminal prosecution.
Austin "Gus'' Deeds, 24, attacked his father with a knife Nov. 19 at their rural homestead in Bath County and then killed himself. The younger Deeds had been released the previous day from an emergency custody order at Rockbridge Area Community Services because a psychiatric bed could not be found for him.
But an Office of the Inspector General report release Thursday says investigators couldn’t verify a claim by the community service board evaluator who handled Gus Deeds' case, the Associated Press reported. The evaluator said he contacted 10 facilities, but investigators said phone records and interviews only show seven facilities were contacted. Two of the three that say they weren't contacted had open beds.
State police investigated the stabbing, the suicide and the actions of those who work at Rockbridge Area Community Services, which treats mental illnes and substance abuse, and turned their findings over to Commonwealth's Attorney John C. Singleton.
"I find no criminal involvement in this matter, and, accordingly, decline to initiate a criminal prosecution," Singleton wrote to Virginia State Police Capt. Timothy Lyon Wednesday.
That decision concludes the state police investigation.
