Report on Gus Deeds suicide withheld pending criminal probe
A report about the events leading up to the death of Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds' son is being kept from the public pending the results of a criminal investigation.
Deeds' son, Gus, attacked his father with a knife and then killed himself on Nov. 19, 2013. Gus, 24, had been released from a temporary mental health hold at the Bath Community Hospital on Nov. 18 after the hospital was reportedly unable to find a bed for him. In the wake of the incident, however, several regional hospitals came forward to say that they had beds that night and were not contacted by Bath.
VIDEO: Creigh Deeds talks to "60 Minutes" about his son and the system that "failed" him
The state's Office of the Inspector General (IG) launched an investigation into the case, and although that investigation was completed the week of March 10, it is being withheld from the public at the request of the Virginia State Police. According to statements from the state police and the IG's office, the state police asked that the report not be released until the ongoing criminal investigation into the matter is finished and the state's lead prosecutor has a chance to review its findings.
On March 1, the IG's lead investigator on the case resigned, stating in his letter to Virginia governor Richard McAuliffe that the report was undergoing revisions by "individuals with no background in behavioral health or developmental services" that "diminish" the report's usefulness.
"If I were responsible for publishing this report," wrote G. Douglas Bevelacqua, then the director of the Behavior Health and Developmental Services Division, "it would have been issued weeks ago and it would have contained conclusions that were removed because they were considered speculative or too emotional."
One of those conclusions considered "too emotional," wrote Bevelacqua, was Sen. Deeds' statement that "the system failed that day."
Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said that the criminal investigation concerned the stabbing and suicide that occurred at the Deeds home, but would not comment specifically on who might be the subject of the criminal investigation, or when it might be expected to conclude.