Oregon man who beheaded mother approved for ‘conditional release’ from state hospital

A state board this week tentatively approved the transfer of a Clackamas County man who beheaded his mother from the Oregon State Hospital to a residential treatment facility in Umatilla later this year.

The state hospital team treating Joshua Webb, 43, this week recommended the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board approve Webb’s discharge from the hospital and eventual placement at Lifeways McNary Place, a 16-bed facility.

Webb was sent to live at the state hospital in 2018 after he pleaded guilty except for insanity in the killing of his mother, Tina Webb, 59, the year before.

He had decapitated his mother and ran into the Harvest Market Thriftway in Estacada with her severed head. Webb also stabbed a grocery store employee, Mike Wagner, 65, who survived.

Alison Bort, executive director of the review board, confirmed Friday that three members heard the request and concluded that Webb is “suitable for conditional release.”

Their final decision, however, depends on a review of Webb’s progress during at least four “transition visits” to McNary Place, Bort said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The board will meet again on Oct. 9 to review the case before Webb’s transfer, Bort said.

The case was shocking in its violence: Webb killed his mother on Mother’s Day in May 2017 on the family’s rural property in Colton, while his father wasn’t home. He then drove to the Thriftway covered in blood. He ran through the store holding his mother’s head in one hand and a knife in the other.

Bystanders, including the employee who was stabbed, subdued him, taping his hands and feet until police arrived.

At the time of the crimes, psychologists hired by the defense and prosecutors evaluated Webb, concluding he likely experienced duress from psychotic disorders related to schizophrenia.

The board’s decision came in response to a request from the hospital. Dr. Karl Mobbs, a forensic psychiatrist involved in Webb’s treatment, told the board that Webb has been stable for several years, avoids confrontation with other patients and understands the need to medicate his psychiatric condition.

Under state rules, the hospital is required to request a conditional release hearing if they believe the person under the board’s jurisdiction can be “controlled with proper care, medication, supervision and treatment.”

Webb did not speak during the hearing; neither did any of his family members.

A daughter of Wagner, the grocery worker who was attacked, told the board she opposed Webb’s transfer from the state hospital.

The Oregon Department of Justice also opposed the move and so did the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Webb.

The governor-appointed review board is made up of five members; three presided over Webb’s hearing, which took place Wednesday and lasted a little more than an hour.

The members who made the decision regarding Webb’s release from the hospital were Dr. Scott Reichlin, a psychiatrist; J. Wilson Kenney, a psychologist; and lawyer Anne Nichol.

-- Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184; ncrombie@oregonian.

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