Defendant and Hovick smoked a cigarette outside of defendant's trailer until the police arrived shortly thereafter. The police found Kingery dead inside the trailer. There were bruises and lacerations about his face, neck and the base of his skull, and a ligature mark around his neck, indicating strangulation. The several crushing skull fractures he had suffered were ruled to be the cause of his death. A barbeque fork had been pounded into his chest and there were several sharp objects sticking out of his genitals.
Defendant has a long history of mental illness and substance abuse.
In 1978 the defendant was hospitalized and diagnosed as being ambulatory schizophrenic. In 1980, under court order, defendant went to the Iowa Security Mental Hospital where he was diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorder and antisocial personality disorder. He was again hospitalized in July of 1996 at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames and was diagnosed at that time as suffering from bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Since then he has been hospitalized at least twice at Mary Greeley, most recently in July of 1999. Defendant has been further hospitalized in Oakdale, Clarinda, and Broadlawns.