Text size:

Marshall's past volatile behavior

Last fall Florida social worker asked police for help with a client now charged in Glen Cove killing

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | Newsday Staff Correspondent

August 25, 2006

Evan Marshall at the courthouse in Mineola on August 22, 2006. He is charged with killing and dismembering his neighbor Denice Fox. (Photo by Howard Schnapp)

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Evan Marshall was out of control last fall and his "volatile behavior" prompted a social worker at a rehabilitation center here to call the authorities, according to a police report.

The report said that on Sept. 23 of last year Marshall's therapist, Edward Weber, called police to ask for assistance in sending Marshall to a local hospital in accordance with Florida's mental illness law. At the time, Marshall, 31, of Glen Cove, was receiving unspecified treatment at Boca Raton-based Renaissance Institute, which treats chemically dependent patients with psychological, behavioral and psychiatric problems.

"Staff at the Renaissance were not comfortable transporting due to his volatile behavior," according to the report that had sections about his specific treatment blacked out.

Boca Raton police went to the institute's center in Del Ray Beach and took Marshall to a hospital under Florida's Baker Act, police said, which allows court-ordered outpatient treatment for people with severe mental illness who have a history of noncompliance or serious violence.

The report offered another glimpse into Marshall's behavior before his arrest on a murder charge in the Aug. 17 decapitation and dismembering death of his neighbor, Denice Fox, 57, of Glen Cove. Newsday reported yesterday that he became enraged in 2003 after a car accident in Scottsale, Ariz. The owner of the car he struck, Kathleen Gaydos, said she feared for her safety after Marshall began screaming and punching a road sign.

Fox's remains were found in garbage pails in the basement of his mother's house at 3 Willada Lane in Glen Cove and in his car.

A woman who answered the phone at the Renaissance Institute would not comment yesterday. Weber couldn't be reached.

Described as moody and volatile by people who have encountered him, Marshall has been in at least four rehabilitation centers in recent years, according to records and police sources. In addition to Florida, he also spent time in centers in New York and Arizona, police said.

"It's not uncommon for someone with mental illness to go from program to program," said N.G. Berrill, a forensic psychologist and director of the New York-based Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science.

Real estate records show that Marshall's grandmother, Alice Schmidt, 91, lives in nearby Boynton Beach. The car in which Nassau County police recovered Fox's remains was registered to Schmidt's address. She declined to speak with a reporter yesterday. "I just can't talk about it. I can't. I'm sorry," she said.

Boca Raton Police Sgt. Jeff Kelly said that when police responded to the institute officers were able to take Marshall to the South County Medical Center in Delray Beach without any problems. Kelly said he couldn't comment on Marshall's treatment, citing privacy laws.