MIDDLETOWN — A man authorities say stabbed his mother with a fireplace poker and mutilated her body with a hunting knife has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for up to 60 years.
A three-judge panel on Thursday committed Robert Rankin, of Deep River, to the maximum-security Whiting Forensic Institute where he will receive treatment, saying he was a danger to himself and others.
The panel in June found Rankin not guilty by reason of insanity in the December 2013 slaying of his mother, 45-year-old Margaret Rohner.
Doctors testified that Rankin is schizophrenic and has experienced severe psychosis.
The Hartford Courant reports that Rankin said Thursday that he misses his mother and thinks about her all the time.
Rankin’s attorney said he supports the judges’ recommendation “100 percent.”
