Christopher Leahy, the 31-year-old man charged with first-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old University of Washington student Juniper Blessing, has been found unfit to stand trial by a judge.
The court ordered Monday afternoon that Leahy was not fit to enter into a plea, delaying the potential of a trial until September.
The ruling comes after Leahy was sent to Western State Hospital for evaluation earlier this month. On Monday, the court said that the report they got from the hospital showed that Leahy was “not mentally competent” to plead guilty or not guilty, according to court documents.
Leahy did not appear in person for his arraignment, but his audio was fed into the courtroom.
Blessing’s death garnered nationwide attention, with court records detailing the over 40 stab wounds to her neck, head, and arms that killed her.
According to charging documents, the suspect did not appear to know Blessing.
A few minutes before Blessing was stabbed, Leahy began following another student, who was walking toward her apartment at Nordheim Court, court docs allege.
According to charging documents, the suspect did not appear to know Juniper.
The student he was following told police that the person continued to follow her down a set of stairs to the ground level of Building 7, court docs said. The student used her card to get access into the laundry room of Building 7, where Juniper would eventually be found.
The student told police that the man followed her into the laundry room and said he was waiting for his laundry to be done before leaving the laundry room, court documents said.
Leahy is not a student at the University of Washington, nor is he a resident of Seattle, according to court documents.
While he was in the laundry room, he appeared to be looking for cameras, court docs said.
“[He] comes back into the laundry room and stares directly into the camera mounted to the right of the door. He appears to follow the path of the power cord with his eyes and head from the camera around the wall above the doorway,” court documents say.
According to court documents, the power cord connected to the laundry room camera was “disconnected when examined by detectives.” Documents did not say whether investigators believe the suspect turned it off himself.
The camera captured Leahy and the other woman he was allegedly following earlier, around 9:45 p.m., in the laundry room. The camera also shows Juniper doing laundry, but the video stops at 10:01 p.m.
Court documents say he eventually went back into the laundry room where Juniper was stabbed.
Investigators did not specify in court documents if Leahy allegedly thought Juniper was the previous woman he followed, or if the stabbing was unrelated.
His next hearing to determine competency status is scheduled for Sept. 24.