BUNKER HILL —  Henry Cozad is well known among special education teachers in Coos Bay. In fact, he’s been feared by some.

 The 18-year-old has a history of violence in the classroom, having strangled one of his instructors last year, leaving the man with permanent spinal cord damage. That teacher told officials he feared the boy would someday kill someone, a Coos County Juvenile Department victim impact statement says.

He asked them to place Cozad in a group home, but it never happened.

 On Thursday, police arrested Cozad, charging him with murder in the death of 59-year-old Linda S. Foley in Bunker Hill. The Coos County District Attorney said although he could not prosecute Cozad in the school assault case because of issues with his mental health disabilities, he plans to indict him on murder.

Those disabilities — described as severe autism — still could play a major role in how Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier proceeds. Foley lived with Cozad and his father Fred in a home at 63469 Third Road, where Foley’s body was found and the teen was arrested about seven hours later. 

The court’s dilemma

“There’s a problem with prosecuting people with extreme mental issues because under the law you have to be competent to proceed. ... That basically means you need to be aware of the charges against you and you have to be able to assist in your defense,” Frasier said.

The DA is exploring that issue.

“It’s a tragedy, A. that you have a person who’s been murdered ... (and) it’s an especially sad thing when you have a person with these kinds of disabilities that’s accused of committing the crime.”

He described two steps he must go through in a criminal case involving a mentally ill defendant.

First, the court must find that the person is able to assist in the defense, which could happen with treatment and medication in certain cases.

“Once you get them to that point, then you decide if they are guilty of the offense or not,” he explained.

If the person is deemed guilty but insane, there is a process for commitment to a mental hospital and continued supervision.

“But the first hurdle is aid and assist. ... That’s the big issue right now,” he said.

Frasier said he plans to have Cozad evaluated. If it turns out the teen is unable to defend himself, then there is a variety of possible involuntary civil commitments.

Violent history

Cozad has been enrolled in the South Coast Education Service District’s life skills program since elementary school, but was suspended last February after he attacked instructor Tim Waits. He had been working with Cozad for about six months.

The two were in a house on the Marshfield High School campus used for life skills training when Cozad attacked, Waits said. The boy put Waits in a headlock and shoved him against walls, according to a letter Waits sent to the Coos County Juvenile Department.

The injuries caused Waits’ neck to swell. He stopped breathing and was taken to the hospital.

The North Bend man filed charges against Cozad, but the DA’s office determined it could not prosecute. Waits doesn’t blame Cozad for the incident, but rather his concern was for the safety of others.

“In my personal opinion this student, had he grabbed anyone else, he most likely would have killed them,” he wrote in the April 25, 2008, victim’s impact statement.

When he learned Friday that Cozad had been charged with murder, Waits said he felt guilty he hadn’t done more.

“I was afraid something like this would happen,” he said. “I had a feeling he was going to kill someone.”

Waits said other ESD employees have been hurt by Cozad over the years, though, Tenneal Wetherell, the life skills program director, could not verify that. She said Cozad has had a long-term struggle with social behavior.

After his suspension, he returned to school, under the supervision of two adult specialists, Wetherell said. He most recently was enrolled in the adult transition program, though Cozad hadn’t attended weekly classes in about a month. He was kept away from other students, she said.

 ESD Superintendent George Woodruff said it is a challenge to help students such as Cozad, who is unable to speak.

“When you have someone who is non-verbal, how do you communicate with them? How do we respond to people with such needs?” he asked. “It’s a challenge for the whole community.”

The neighborhood

A day after deputies arrested Cozad at his Bunker Hill home, there was little evidence of the murder or investigation among the trailers, dilapidated houses and abandoned cars lining the steep dirt road. A man at the bottom of the lane called it the end of the world.

Neighbor Lee Goddard said he’d known Foley and seen Cozad before, but had little interaction with the family.

“She’s in a different world than I am. All of them are,” he said.

He often saw Cozad riding the bus to ESD.

Harold Robinson, who lives near the crime scene, said he didn’t know the family well, either, but Cozad sometimes threw rocks at his dogs. One woman, who also lives nearby, weeped and seemed surprised when she learned that Cozad had been charged with murder.

“She raised that boy,” she said of Foley, “from the time he was a little tiny guy.”