Suspect in slaying goes to hospital n 3 years after first ordered

A Lafourche Parish jail inmate found not competent to stand trial for second-degree murder has been transferred to the Feliciana Forensic Facility, three years after a district judge first ordered the move.

Bryan Vanacor Jr., 24, of Des Allemands, was charged in the November 2003 shooting death of his father, Bryan Vanacor Sr. District Judge Bruce Simpson ordered Vanacor moved to the Feliciana facility April 14, 2004.

Since then, Vanacor, diagnosed as a disorganized schizophrenic, has been ruled incompetent on several occasions, including on April 26 in Simpson’s court.

Eddie Rodrigue, warden of the Lafourche Parish Jail, said Vanacor was moved to the facility in Jackson last week. Bob Johannessen, a spokesman for Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals, declined to confirm whether Vanacor is at the state facility, citing patient confidentiality requirements.

The facility houses 234 patients, most of whom come from Orleans Parish, Johannessen said. As of early last week, Vanacor was among 161 on a waiting list to get into the facility.

An additional 300 patients are housed in other parts of the state. Many stay at the Southeast Hospital in Mandeville, Johannessen said.

The facilities serve people who are declared incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of insanity.