A few years ago, Charles Platcher seemed successful to many people around Island Lake. At 22, he owned a carpet cleaning business behind his mother’s restaurant, Muncione’s, in the village straddling Lake and McHenry Counties.
But on Thursday a McHenry County judge agreed that Platcher–who in 1999 said he heard voices telling him to hurt people–should be evaluated to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial for the fatal stabbing of his mother last month in her Oakwood Hills home.
Platcher, 28, is charged with killing Patricia Platcher, 55, and attacking her companion and business partner, Jim Maze, 55, on Jan. 24 in the home the three shared.
He then drove to Crystal Lake, rammed a car, pulled out a knife and stabbed and slashed himself, police said.
Since his arrest Platcher has been accused of trying to escape his hospital room and ripping stitches from his wounds Tuesday, action which sent him from the jail back to the hospital. Platcher’s bail is $2 million, but prosecutors said they will ask a judge to increase it Friday.
McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren tried to get Platcher transferred to a special maximum-security medical facility in Cook County Jail on Thursday.
Platcher needs to be “placed in a setting capable of dealing with that type of prisoner and this kind of behavior,” Nygren said.
But Cook County officials declined to take him.
There have been many signs that Platcher was a man in trouble, with violent outbursts that often landed him in jail. Court-appointed doctors and therapists found his behavior disturbing and dangerous.
After one August 1999 arrest, according to Lake County court records, Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital physician Kevin Horcher reported that Platcher “hears voices telling him to hurt people.” Hospital psychiatrist Richard Wagner’s diagnosis: drug-induced psychosis marked by “inability to control violent impulses.” In January 2000 another therapist, David L. Gates, wrote, “Mr. Platcher appears to have significant mental health problems.”
Through it all, Patricia Platcher remained supportive of her son, posting bail when he got in trouble and recently allowing him to move in with her.
On the other hand, one ex-girlfriend, took out an order of protection against Platcher. Her family is horrified that a man they long considered dangerous was not under stringent supervision all along.
“The system failed,” said the woman’s aunt. “His mother should not have died. He should have been incarcerated or under medical treatment.”
Law enforcement officials said they tried to help Platcher. Jail time was followed by requirements to attend treatment for domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health problems, such as anger management. But his attendance was spotty.
“When you are dealing with someone who doesn’t want to go, it’s difficult,” said Randie Bruno, a Lake County assistant state’s attorney. “All we can do is insist that he go and punish him if he didn’t go, which we did.”
According to court records, when he was about 14, Platcher started smoking marijuana. By 15 he was snorting cocaine. By the time he was 17, Platcher’s mother demanded he attend Alcoholics Anonymous.
After his nine-month marriage and carpet cleaning business unraveled during the late 1990s, Platcher’s reckless behavior intensified.
In 1999 came charges that Platcher was stalking the ex-girlfriend, who said she dated him for a month. She told police Platcher called and stopped by her home for months after they broke up.
“He hides in bushes and behind other things watching my home,” she said in a police statement. “I can’t sleep at night.”
On July 22 Platcher went to the family’s home four times, demanding that family members tell him where she was, according to court records. An officer ticketed Platcher for disorderly conduct and told him to stay away. The next day, the woman filed for a protection order against him.
On Aug. 18 Platcher was charged with three counts of battery and criminal trespass after he returned to his ex-girlfriend’s home and fought with family members and police.
This time, officers took Platcher to the hospital. Wagner wrote in a report that Platcher admitted using drugs, including LSD.
“Yesterday, this patient was searching his mother’s home for his guns, stating he was going to Canada,” Wagner wrote. “Patient remains clearly psychotic today, hallucinating and detached from reality.”
On Aug. 25 Platcher was involuntarily committed to the Elgin Mental Health Center. A month later he was transferred to jail in lieu of $40,000 bail. There, he completed a 90-day sentence and was released on probation with orders to attend domestic violence evaluations, substance abuse evaluations and have random drug and alcohol testing.
Bruno said indefinitely confining Platcher was not an option, because no doctor had judged him mentally unfit apart from heavy drug use.
Still, Platcher often did not complete therapy or was uncooperative. One report said he “was in denial of chemical dependency issues and was controlling.”
In the months that followed, Platcher had other arrests, including a pending battery charge for allegedly walking into a Crystal Lake store and punching a clerk.
