Kenyada Vorise-Jackson, upper left, appeared via Zoom from the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo on Friday for a hearing on her status as a defendant incompetent to stand trial for killing her sister in 2011.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — Kenyada Vorise-Jackson, who as a teenager stabbed her sister to death and subsequently was ruled not guilty by reason of insanity, will remain in a Toledo psychiatric hospital for the foreseeable future following her recent evaluation by an independent mental health expert.
Vorise-Jackson in November executed her legal right to a second opinion surrounding her mental status during a hearing held in November in the Allen County Common Pleas courtroom of Judge Jeffrey Reed. That evaluation was conducted by Dr. Carla Dreyer of the Forensic Psychiatry Center for Western Ohio in Dayton.
Dreyer, in a report dated Dec. 7, said she agreed with an earlier recommendation that Vorise-Jackson continue to be housed and subject to continued treatment at the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo. Reed said Dreyer, in her report, did disagree with an earlier recommendation that Vorise-Jackson be granted Level 4 movement privileges.
Appearing on a Zoom hook-up from the Toledo hospital, the Lima woman told Reed she has been “complying with my treatment.” A case worker from the hospital suggested to the judge that any reduction in Vorise-Jackson’s level of movement would be detrimental to her ongoing treatment.
The slaying for which Vorise-Jackson is charged took place on May 31, 2011, at the family residence on Burch Avenue in Lima. Police responded to a call for assistance and found the teen’s sister dead and her mother wounded. The sister had been stabbed 47 times and was dismembered.
Vorise-Jackson, now 31, was charged with aggravated murder and other charges. The incident happened just days before the teenager was to graduate from high school. She is reported to have had a history of mental illness and had stopped taking her medicine to treat bipolar and atypical psychotic episodes.
Vorise-Jackson subsequently was ruled by Reed to be not guilty by reason of insanity and was ordered to the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo.
Reed is required to review her status every two years and said he would consider a review outside that time frame should circumstances dictate.
