Generic police lights. (FOX 9)
ST. PETER, Minn. (FOX 9) - A patient at a state-run mental health facility in St. Peters, Minn., was charged for allegedly killing his roommate with a guitar and then attacking a hospital employee on New Year’s Day.
Nicollet County prosecutors charged 43-year-old David Otey on Wednesday with two counts of second-degree murder and one count each of first-degree assault causing great bodily harm, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, and fourth-degree assault while at a secure treatment facility.
At the time of the attack, Otey was a patient at Minnesota Security Hospital (MHS), court records say. MHS, run by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), is a secure facility that treats people who have been civilly committed by the courts as dangerous and mentally ill, according to the state Department of Administration.
Otey was committed after a Crow Wing County judge found him not guilty by reason of mental illness on charges of premeditated first-degree murder and second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing his sister to death in 2018 while she was working at a senior living center, according to court records.
The 43-year-old is now accused of killing his roommate at MHS on New Year’s Day. A hospital employee told investigators that Otey informed staff around 12:30 a.m. that someone should check on his roommate because he had "hit him over the head with a guitar," charges read.
At the facility, officers observed a black electric guitar on Otey’s side of the room with what appeared to be blood and pieces of wood on the victim’s bed. A nurse also told authorities when she found the victim, he was covered with a sheet and requested medical help after seeing the victim’s head trauma, charges said.
The victim was transported for medical treatment but died from his injuries around 2:30 a.m., court records said. The medical examiner’s report listed the victim’s cause of death as blunt force trauma and was ruled a homicide.
Prior to police arrival, several staff members went to check the room after Otey claimed to attack his roommate but was interrupted when he allegedly assaulted an employee at the desk.
The hospital employee told investigators she had stayed behind with Otey, and he jumped over the desk. The woman said she ran backward to try and get away from him, but he started choking her. The staff came back to stop the assault, charges explained, and they locked themselves in an office to get away from Otey until authorities arrived and arrested him.
Otey remains in custody at the Nicollet County Jail and a judge set his bail at $500,000 with conditions or $1 million without conditions.
FOX 9 reached out to the Department of Human Services for comment.