EDMONDS — An Edmonds man charged with killing his wife while claiming he was possessed by demons in 2022 has been acquitted of second-degree murder on insanity grounds.
In a July 30 ruling, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Cindy Larsen found John Shipley, 75, strangled his wife Susan, 66, to death, but was criminally insane at the time.
Larsen ordered John Shipley released to treatment at a facility in Tacoma, where he will remain indefinitely. The judge would have to approve any changes to his living situation.
He had been in custody at the Snohomish County Jail for two years before his July 31 release. If convicted as charged, he faced between 10¼ years and 18⅓ years in prison, under state sentencing guidelines. He had no criminal history.
John Shipley had been dealing with mental health issues for months before his wife’s death. In February 2022, he was found standing naked on an Edmonds street in a catatonic state, according to court documents.
On July 29, 2022, he woke up and told Susan Shipley it was judgment day. At that point, he didn’t know what that meant, he later told police.
“I had no idea that would be my judgment, that I had to murder my wife,” he reportedly told police. “I mean how, that is just horrific and beyond imagination.”
After he mentioned judgment day again later, Susan Shipley told him to stop listening to voices, according to the charges filed in Superior Court. She was going to call 911.
That’s when the struggle began. John Shipley tried to wrestle Susan Shipley to the ground with a knife in his hand. They ended up on the living room floor, the suspect reportedly told police. He estimated he pressed the knife to her throat for 30 to 45 minutes.
When he knew she was dead, he called 911, just before 5 p.m. She died of asphyxiation due to strangulation, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office determined.
John Shipley told a dispatcher he’d just killed his wife. He said he was waiting for police to come kill him and send him to hell, the charges say. Through the rest of the call, he said “please kill me” several times in a soft voice.
The defendant added that he was “sub-human” and possessed by demons, according to court records.
He called his actions “the most horrific thing a man — not a man, huh? — can do,” court documents say. In jail, John Shipley later told a deputy he wanted to contact his kids, but “what child of mine would want to talk to me, I took their mother away.”
To be acquitted “by reason of insanity,” state law says a judge must find “the mind of the actor was affected to such an extent that” either:
• “He or she was unable to perceive the nature and quality of the act with which he or she is charged; or
• He or she was unable to tell right from wrong with reference to the particular act charged.”
In John Shipley’s case, state psychologists in February found the defendant could perceive the nature of his actions, but was unable to tell right from wrong when he killed his wife.
Deputy prosecutor David Minaai didn’t object to Judge Larsen acquitting John Shipley.
“The State has no contradicting expert opinion,” he wrote in an email this week, “therefore the State did not have a legal basis to object to the Court’s ruling.”
John Shipley’s public defender Laura Martin called the outcome “just, but it highlights significant problems with our medical and mental health systems.”
“Our mental health system is grossly inadequate, leading to long wait times to see specialized mental health professionals and insufficient hospital bed space for critically ill patients,” she wrote in an email Friday. “This case underscores the urgent need for reforms and improved resources to better address mental health crises before they escalate to catastrophic outcomes.”
An obituary for Susan Shipley, noted that “to know Susan was to love her.”
“She passionately pursued Jesus, saw the best in people, loved with her whole heart,” the obituary read, “and led a beautiful life.”
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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