MONTPELIER Vt. (WCAX) – Mental health counselors may have been powerless to intervene to stop a double murder in Montpelier last week.
Matthew Gomes, 29, is accused of beating his parents to death after obvious signs — and numerous phone calls — that indicated he was in crisis. But Vermont’s laws may have prevented care providers from acting.
Gomes called 911 multiple times Friday morning leading up to the alleged killing of his parents, Jerry and Mary Gomes. Call logs show Gomes first called 911 at 2:19 a.m. and reported a sexual assault but didn’t say where. He refused services. He called more than an hour later — at 3:48 a.m. — and hung up. Washington County Mental Health was paged at 3:57 a.m. and a screener spoke with Gomes before he hung up on them. Neither police nor mental health workers made contact with Gomes until he called 911 at 11:27 a.m., saying he was going crazy and had hurt someone.
It was then that police responded and found the bodies of his parents.
Washington County Mental Health is not able to comment on specific cases but they say that they can only step in if someone voluntarily asks for help.
In situations where the person may be a danger to themselves or others, it’s a high bar to clear for involuntary treatment and to deprive someone of their liberty. State law requires the go-ahead from a judge or other health care providers before anyone can be taken to the hospital for an emergency examination. The determination of whether to visit someone at their home also relies on their willingness to accept help.
Vermont has some of the strictest involuntary commitment laws in the country and there has been a robust debate at the Statehouse in the past year about whether to create a forensic facility.
