A Middletown man who stabbed a woman more than 20 times in 2021 as a high school teenager was committed to a psychiatric facility after a panel found he was not guilty of murder as a result of mental illness or defect.
A three-judge panel on Tuesday committed Eugenio Vela III, 21, to the Psychiatric Security Review Board for up to 30 years after finding he “lacked substantial capacity” to “evaluate the wrongfulness of his conduct or control his behavior ” in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in Middletown on May 20, 2021, according to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice.
Vela was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect after prosecutors proved “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he committed murder, criminal justice officials said. He will be held in the maximum security section of Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown.
According to court records, Vela was issued several orders of protection on behalf of the victim at the time of the murder, which police said was considered domestic violence. On the day of the stabbing, the woman picked up Vela — who was 18 at the time and attending Middletown High School — from the Wesley Inn where he was staying after being kicked out of his home, the files said.
Vela entered the woman’s vehicle around 2 p.m., before a physical altercation occurred on East Road, where a witness reported seeing Vela “crying” at the woman through the driver’s window, according to court records. Authorities said Vela stabbed the woman more than 20 times before she drove to the Westfield fire station, a few blocks away, where firefighters and paramedics treated her and requested LifeStar.
The woman was taken to Middlesex Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
According to authorities, Vela was found on Ridgewood Road. He told police the woman “was stunned” and hit him, so he “did what he had to do” with a small knife that officers recovered near the scene on East Road, according to court records.
Vela was also taken to a local hospital, where he told investigators he believed the victim was going to stab him with a kitchen knife. He was unable to describe the knife and admitted he had not seen her with it, according to court records.
Vela also told investigators that he intended to kill the woman and that he tried to remove her from the vehicle after he stopped to “finish the job,” according to court records. He reportedly said that he considered killing the woman and taking her body directly to the police station.
Vela was twice issued an order of protection prohibiting him from contacting the victim, court records showed.
Prosecutors believe he violated orders at least twice before the killing, including during an incident about a month earlier when the woman woke up to find Vela standing over her and screaming, according to court records. He also allegedly threatened to kill her during the incident.
Vela was arrested in connection with this violation and later released on a promise to appear. At the time of the murder, he had an arrest warrant issued for another alleged protection order violation stemming from an incident in early May 2021.
