Ziemlak has a 2-year hearing on his mental condition soon

By Terry Murry on Friday, January 26th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

SALEM – The man who fled while on an unsupervised visit to Walmart and Safeway in Pendleton in 2020 will have a hearing to determine if he needs to stay at the Oregon State Hospital. Thaddeus Ziemlak also escaped while on an outing in 2022 in Lane County, but was quickly returned to custody.

With the Pendleton escape, Ziemlak was missing for less than a month. While state law enforcement was searching for him, he was tracked down by Pendleton Police at a motel in California and taken into custody.

Ziemlak was judged guilty except for insanity in the shooting death of his mother in 2004. Joyce Ziemlak, 46, suffered two gunshot wounds from a .22-caliber rifle and was transported from her home in Eugene in critical condition. She died several hours later. Before she was shot, she called police to report that her son was armed with a rifle and threatening to kill her.

The remote hearing by the Psychiatric Security Review Board will be on Feb. 14. Hearings on this matter are scheduled every two years.

The issue being considered is “to determine whether Mr. Ziemlak is still affected by a qualifying mental disorder and presents a substantial danger to others, and whether Mr. Ziemlak should be continued in commitment, is a proper candidate for conditional release, or should be discharged from the board jurisdiction.”