Calgary man found not criminally responsible for stabbing to death five students he thought were werewolves and vampires

A Canadian man has been found not criminally responsible for stabbing to death five university students in a 2014 stabbing rampage at a Calgary house party.

A judge delivered the verdict in the first-degree murder trial of Matthew de Grood. Justice Eric Macklin of Court of Queen’s Bench said he accepted findings from psychiatric experts who said de Grood was suffering from a mental disorder that rendered him incapable of appreciating or knowing that his actions were wrong.

The 24-year-old son of a police officer admitted he killed five people at a Calgary house party on April 15, 2014. But both the defence and the prosecution agree he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time.

The finding means de Grood will be kept in a secure psychiatric facility pending assessment by the Alberta Review Board.

During the trial, the judge heard that de Grood became withdrawn about a month before the attack and started posting about the end of the world, religion, vampires and Darth Vader on Facebook. De Grood reported hearing voices telling him to kill before he grabbed a knife from a kitchen in the northwest Calgary home and stabbed the victims to death.

Kaitlin Perras, 23; Lawrence Hong, 27; Josh Hunter, 23; Zackariah Rathwell, 21; and Jordan Segura, 22, were killed. About 20 people were at the party celebrating the last days of classes at the University of Calgary the time. It was the worst mass slaying in Calgary’s history.