Vail Daily file photo
EAGLE — Williams Amaya bathed his bullets in holy water, then fatally shot his aunt and uncle in their El Jebel home in July 2014 because, he said, they were possessed by Lucifer and he had been told kill Lucifer.
Amaya no longer believes his victims were Lucifer’s children and he’s remorseful for killing them, his state mental hospital psychiatrists testified Wednesday during a videoconference hearing from the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.
Amaya wants to travel off the hospital grounds while supervised. It’s all part of his rehabilitation, said Dr. Marika Bower, one of his psychiatrists. Right now, he has access to the entire 300-acre campus, said Dr. Jon Eggert, another of Amaya’s psychiatrists.
Eggert said public safety is their primary concern and that Amaya is a “low to moderate” risk for violent behavior.
If Amaya’s request is granted, he would be able to travel in the Pueblo area with a supervising hospital staff member. It would be good for his rehabilitation program, Bower said.
District Court Judge Paul Dunkelman said he would issue a written ruling.
Psychiatrist claims PTSD
A jury found that Amaya was not sane when he murdered his uncle, Eliseo Lopez, 42, then his aunt, Mayra Lorena Lopez, 40, in the living room of their El Jebel home. Amaya was living with them at the time. He was sent to the state mental hospital for treatment and possible rehabilitation. How long he’ll be there is indeterminate.
Bower said Amaya suffers from PTSD, stemming from physical and emotional abuse as a child, as well as being forced to move from El Salvador to the United States with his parents.
“It wasn’t until I was in maximum security that I realized my aunt and uncle were not Lucifer. I feel remorse about this … I was sick at the time,” Bower said Amaya told her for one of her reports read during Wednesday’s hearing.
The shootings
On the day of the shootings, Amaya drove from El Jebel to a sporting goods store in Grand Junction where he purchased the murder weapon, a .380 caliber handgun. On the way home, he stopped to eat in an Italian restaurant chain and in a church to bathe the bullets in holy water.
After he returned to his aunt’s and uncle’s home, an argument broke out about the family dog. Amaya murdered his aunt and uncle, then stormed around the house looking for the Lopez’ two sons. The boys escaped and called 911.
Police tracked Amaya’s cell phone and surrounded him holed up at his employer’s business.
According to testimony during his sanity hearings, Amaya sometimes insisted that Bill and Hillary Clinton were his parents, that Chelsea Clinton is his sister, that his grandfather is John Wayne, that Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are either his sisters or romantic interests, and that he’s a spy butcher employed by the federal; government.
Annabelle Florez, Amaya’s psychiatric nurse practitioner, testified Wednesday Amaya’s request for stronger medication a “positive thing.” It cut down on his auditory hallucinations, “the voices,” Flores said.
Amaya is no longer suffering from psychotic delusions, his therapists said during Wednesday’s hearing. He no longer reports that he is the son of Lucifer and that his family members are famous celebrities.
“He is very adamant that he does not want those symptoms back,” Bower said.
