Oregon man who brought mom’s severed head to Thriftway is well enough to leave state hospital, doctor says

A Clackamas County man who seven years ago decapitated his mother and drove with her severed head to a grocery store is stable enough to be transferred from the state psychiatric hospital to a secure community-based treatment center, a state doctor said Wednesday.

Joshua Webb, 43, has lived at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem since 2018 when he pleaded guilty except for insanity in the killing of his mother, 59-year-old Tina Webb, and the stabbing of a grocery store employee.

At the time of the crimes, psychologists who evaluated Webb concluded he likely experienced duress from psychotic disorders related to schizophrenia.

The Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board is charged with determining how long Webb remains in state custody.

On Wednesday, the board heard the state hospital’s request that Webb be transferred from the state hospital to Lifeways McNary Place, a 16-bed residential treatment center in Umatilla.

The five-member board is appointed by the governor to four-year terms. It includes psychiatrist Dr. Scott Reichlin, psychologist J. Wilson Kenney, attorney Anne Nichol, Clackamas County parole and probation officer Trisha Elmer and Julie Duke, who represents the public.

They did not reach a decision nor say when they would wrap up deliberations.

The Umatilla facility is locked and staffed around the clock with at least two employees who would dispense the medication used to treat Webb’s psychiatric condition, a social worker told the board.

The meeting was held online, with Webb appearing from a room at the state hospital. He did not address the board. He sat next to Dr. Karl Mobbs, a forensic psychiatrist involved in Webb’s treatment for about 18 months.

Mobbs advocated for Webb’s “conditional release,” telling the board that Webb accepts the need to take medication to treat his psychiatric condition.

Webb avoids conflict with other patients, Mobbs said, and takes part in classes and “therapeutic opportunities” more often than other patients. He said Webb’s progress has resulted in privileges that include working in a greenhouse on the hospital grounds.

“Mr. Webb has been doing well for several years,” Mobbs said.

Webb lives in what is considered the lowest security level at the hospital -- roughly the same restrictions he would encounter at the Umatilla facility, Mobbs and others said.

A woman who identified herself as a daughter of the market employee who survived Webb’s attack opposed his transfer.

Webb injured Mike Wagner, then 65, who helped subdue Webb that day.

“I do believe in the justice system as well as rehabilitation to some extent,” she said. “However, due to the violent and horrific crimes committed on that day, I just don’t believe justice has been served. It’s a terrifying thought to think anyone capable of those actions on that day would be able to be released from any kind of custody.”

Oregon Department of Justice lawyer Elisabeth Waner urged the board to keep Webb at the state hospital, pointing to what she said was his documented lack of empathy and his apparent reluctance to apologize for his crimes.

Mobbs said it’s hard for Webb to talk about the horrifying violence he carried out.

“I have managed to talk to him about it privately and I do see that he has empathy around what’s happened,” Mobbs said, adding that Webb’s empathy is “probably on the lower end of normal.”

Mobbs said Webb was “extremely ill” when he acted violently -- and in the preceding years -- “and so he feels that on the other side of the table that people would understand that it was his illness that caused him to act that way.”

Waner was unmoved.

“My concern is that removing Mr. Webb from the structure and familiarity of the hospital could lead to more harm than good for everyone involved in this case,” she said.

Scott Healy, first assistant Clackamas County district attorney, also opposed the move, calling Webb’s spree of violence extraordinary.

“This particular individual shouldn’t be released on any type of conditional release at this time,” Healy told the board.

According to prosecutors, Webb admitted to police he killed his mother, dismembered her body, killed his dog and later stabbed Wagner, though he never said why.

Webb lived in an outbuilding on his parents’ Colton property at the time of the crime. His sister discovered their mother’s body on May 14, 2017. Their father was away from home at the time.

Surveillance video from the Harvest Market Thriftway in Estacada showed Webb running into the store with his mother’s head and a large knife.

Bystanders managed to detain Webb until police arrived.

In court, evidence showed he had behaved erratically for months. At one point, the judge overseeing the case noted in court that Webb had voluntarily surrendered his guns and destroyed the knives he owned.

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

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