EUGENE, Ore. – An Oregon State Hospital psychiatric patient who escaped during an approved outing is back in custody.
Court records show that in 2004, Thaddeus Ziemlak was found guilty of murder except for insanity, so he was put into the state’s psychiatric program for treatment.
On April 14, 2022, Ziemlak was in Eugene during an approved outing when he escaped custody.
Afterward, Oregon State Police alerted all western states.
On the morning of Friday, April 15, a passerby saw Ziemlak on Highway 126 near Veneta, Oregon. That person told OSP and Ziemlak was in custody less than an hour later.
Ziemlak was taken to the Lane County Jail and is being transferred to Oregon State Hospital’s Salem campus.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.