AUSTIN, Texas — A man acquitted by reason of insanity of stabbing his father to death in 2013 who escaped the North Texas State Hospital last month has now been taken into custody in Austin.
According to the Vernon Police Department, Alex Ervin was taken into custody by the Austin Police Department around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday evening.
APD said Ervin was charged with an out-of-county felony.
Ervin has been in a state health institution since 2014. He reportedly escaped from care on June 26. Surveillance footage showed Ervin scaling an 8-foot security fence after he escaped his room.
He was acquitted in the stabbing death in 2013, which he committed while claiming that his father, Ray Ervin, was an impostor. He also claimed to have been a trained member of the CIA on a mission to kill him.
Based on testimony from his brother, it is believed that Ervin attacked their dad with a pipe wrench and a folding knife.
A Travis County jury previously found Ervin, who has autism, not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
His mother, Leslie Ervin, told KVUE last month she wants answers about how he escaped.
"I need to know what happened, first of all, because it sounds like gross incompetence to me that anyone could leave that facility. Number two, I want to make sure that this does not happen again in the future," Leslie Ervin said.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the hospital Alexander Ervin escaped from, told KVUE it can't comment on this case due to state law and HIPAA.
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