Toronto Man with Severe Schizophrenia Convicted of Murdering Mother in Park
In a tragic case that highlights the intersection of mental illness and criminal justice, Colin Hatcher has been convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of his mother, Kathleen Boyle Hatcher, in Etobicoke's King's Mill Park. Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru delivered the verdict, rejecting Hatcher's defense of not being criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
A Mother's Fatal Meeting
On the cold morning of February 26, 2021, Kathleen Hatcher, 69, met her son Colin for what would be their final walk together. Despite living in fear of her son's deteriorating mental state and his previous threats against her life, the retired Toronto District School Board employee and devoted grandmother could not abandon her child. "Yeah, I will continue to be very careful," she had told her daughter, demonstrating a mother's unwavering love that would ultimately cost her life.
A witness in the park that morning reported hearing a woman's scream lasting an agonizing minute or two, followed by dead silence. At 10:47 a.m., Kathleen managed to call 911 as her life slipped away, gasping "Help" repeatedly in a heartbreaking recording. First responders found her lifeless body face down in the snow 23 minutes later, too late to save her.
A Brutal Attack and Failed Defenses
The autopsy revealed Kathleen suffered seven separate wounds to her head, face, and neck, along with defensive wounds to her hands from what the judge described as a "frenzied and personal attack." The sharp-edged weapon used in the assault was never identified or recovered from the scene.
While Justice Nakatsuru acknowledged Hatcher was suffering from "very severe" untreated schizophrenia at the time of the killing, he found the defendant knew his actions were morally wrong. The judge rejected both the defense's not criminally responsible argument and the Crown's position that the murder was planned and deliberate.
Years of Mental Health Decline
The trial revealed a heartbreaking history of Kathleen's attempts to get help for her son's declining mental health. Colin, a trained chef who was fired in 2018, began exhibiting paranoid behavior, telling family members he was being followed and his phone was tapped. During a March Break trip to Niagara Falls that year, he told his mother in what the judge described as a "brazen, nonchalant manner" that he had agreed with his deceased grandfather to throw her off the falls after working for ten years.
His delusions extended to believing his family were Mafia members, that his mother threw babies over Niagara Falls, and that his parents were trying to poison his food. Despite these clear warning signs, Colin's treatment was inconsistent at best.
Failed Treatment and Missed Opportunities
Colin was involuntarily committed to St. Joseph's Hospital psychiatric ward for just over two weeks in 2018, where he told his psychiatrist about the murder pact with his grandfather but expressed reluctance to kill his mother because she was "his mother and he felt it hard to carry through with it." He was discharged on anti-psychotic medication, with his psychiatrist warning his parents to take safety precautions.
"I canNOT beLEEVE they let him out," Kathleen confided to a friend after his release.
Over the following years, Colin cycled through different doctors who variously increased, decreased, and eventually eliminated his anti-psychotic medication. A search warrant executed after the murder discovered bottles full of prescription pills, with the judge finding Colin had actually stopped taking his medication as far back as 2019.
Final Warnings Ignored
In January 2021, just weeks before the murder, Kathleen emailed Colin's doctor, Dr. Milan Atanackovic, detailing her concerns about her son's paranoid delusions. The doctor discussed the email with Colin during an appointment and recommended he resume his anti-psychotic medication. On February 12, Colin asked the doctor to delete his mother's email from his file and provide him a copy, which the doctor did.
Two weeks later, Colin arranged to meet his mother in the parking lot by the Old Mill subway station. He later told a forensic psychiatrist that during their walk he suddenly heard a voice commanding him, "Stab her, stab her, stab her." However, Justice Nakatsuru found this self-report of command voices unreliable, noting it came three years after the killing and was unsupported by other evidence.
The Judge's Conclusion
In his ruling, Justice Nakatsuru stated: "Even though I can readily conclude that Mr. Hatcher was mentally ill and unstable at the time of the homicide, I do not find it more likely than not that Mr. Hatcher was incapable of knowing that his actions were morally wrong."
The case raises difficult questions about mental health treatment, family responsibility, and criminal accountability. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June, where Colin Hatcher will learn his fate for the murder that ended his mother's life and left a family shattered by tragedy.
