Descent into tragedy

Oakland Tribune, Oct 21, 2007 by Jeanine Benca

Peter Mantas can't stop shivering.

He has been in a cold sweat since 3 a.m., when, in a flurry of lights and sirens, four squad cars showed up at his San Ramon duplex to inform him there was "a problem" with his family. Now it is just after 7 a.m., and the estranged father is being told to follow officers into the room at the Danville police station where his 16- year-old son, Andrew Mantas, sits in shackles.

Since Peter last laid eyes on Andrew a year and a half ago, something has gone terribly wrong with the boy.

He is snapping his head around and can't focus on his father's questions. He won't stop asking for cigarettes. "What was that?" he repeats every so often to no one in particular.

That was Nov. 6 -- almost a year ago.

All Peter knew was what police had told him -- that his ex-wife, Dimitra, the mother of Andrew and his two daughters, was dead.

Earlier that morning, Danville police had discovered 43-year-old Dimitra Mantas bludgeoned to death in her Danville townhouse. Less than three hours later, police arrested Andrew in Blackhawk, where a security guard had spotted the teenager driving a stolen golf cart around the gated community. He had blood on his shoes and a steak knife in his pants pocket, according to police reports.

The next day, Nov. 7, Andrew was charged with murdering his mother. Dimitra Mantas, a former special-education classroom aide and church volunteer, has been described by those who knew her as "soft-spoken," "exceedingly kind," "motherly" and "a wonderful role model of a loving Christian."

Nearly 12 months later, looming questions remain about Andrew and his apparent psychological descent before his mother's killing, why she was killed that night and whether her death could have been prevented.

Authorities, meanwhile, are struggling to decide the fate of the murder suspect, now 17, whose questionable sanity has left him in a sort of legal limbo -- a common scenario for violent crime suspects believed to be suffering from mental illness.

Andrew, who is in custody at Contra Costa County Juvenile Hall, has not yet entered a plea, and lawyers are trying to determine whether the teenager, who refuses to stay on his prescribed anti- psychotic drugs, is competent to stand trial.

A hearing is set for Dec. 14 to determine whether juvenile hall officials should be allowed to forcibly administer medication to Andrew.

Sources close to Andrew describe him as a tortured soul.

Andrew's attorney, Daniel Horowitz, says his client is harassed by voices and hallucinations he believes are real. Court records show the one-time Monte Vista High School student has tried more than once to commit suicide since his arrest.

The high-profile case has resurrected concerns, prevalent since the 1999 Columbine shootings, about the need to identify at-risk adolescents before they commit violent crimes. The case also underscores the scarcity of treatment options for psychologically disturbed juveniles after such crimes have occurred.

"There aren't a lot of options out there," said Kathi McLaughlin, co-chairwoman of the Contra Costa Mental Health Commission and chairwoman of the commission's children's committee.

Since his arrest, Andrew has been confined to the juvenile hall in Martinez, where mental health advocates say he is not receiving proper medical treatment.

McLaughlin said a shortage of available mental health facilities, strict admissions criteria and concerns about hospital liability make it difficult to place a minor with a violent criminal history into a more specialized mental facility. In Contra Costa County, the only hospital with a psychiatric ward licensed to treat juveniles is John Muir Medical Center in Concord.

"It's not just a case of can they take that person, but will they?" McLaughlin said. "These facilities have to think about the rest of their patients too, and what's best for them."

A troubled history

Many of those who knew Andrew before the killing say they were shocked by his arrest.

Though he had a history of serious behavioral problems -- including documented substance abuse, expulsions from two schools in two years and several run-ins with the police -- the teen had no history of violence.

"I didn't believe that Andrew would have had the ability to do anything like that, ever," Peter Mantas said. "Even with that harsh persona he would put on, he had this warm heart."

Peter, who at the time of Dimitra's death was barred from seeing his family by a restraining order based on Dimitra's assertions that he was abusive, says Contra Costa County's family courts are at least partly to blame for what happened to his ex-wife. According to Peter, the courts ignored warning signs about Andrew's behavior, failing to order the boy committed to a treatment program despite evidence that he was in need of an intervention.

Court records show Peter had been trying to persuade Dimitra and the court to order Andrew to attend a special out-of-state wilderness camp for troubled teens -- a move he said he believes might have helped save Dimitra's life.