Man who broke into a Windom Park home and killed a man acquitted due to mental illness

A man arrested in 2022 for breaking into a home and stabbing a man, killing him, has been found not guilty due to mental illness.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will instead file a civil commitment petition for Franklin Terrol White, 34, to have him admitted for hospitalization and treatment.

Back on Aug. 12, 2022, White broke into the Windom Park home of a former female high school acquaintance, court records say.

The break-in, according to court records, occured after the acquaintance had filed a temporary protection order against him and after White had reportedly broken into her parents’ Ohio home.

The woman’s husband went downstairs to investigate the noise and found Franklin downstairs.

Franklin reportedly attacked the man, stabbing and killing him, before leaving the house in his vehicle as officers arrived. He was later arrested in Wisconsin by the Wisconsin State Patrol.

In the years after his arrest, court records state Franklin had been psychologically evaluated multiple times, and while records state he recognized what he did was legally wrong, he morally could not recognize the wrongfulness of his actions.

White reportedly had been suffering from auditory hallucinations, hearing commands from what he referred to as the “hive mind,” which allegedly directed him to “save” the woman by killing her husband.

Failing to do so reportedly meant consequences, including being left out of the inclusion of the “home world.”

White also reportedly believed he had to carry out missions from the “hive mind” to obtain power, end child abuse and stop the voices in his head.

These delusions, and similar beliefs, were documented throughout White’s personal journals and text messages, court records state, “well before the alleged offense,” according to one of White’s doctors.

The same doctor stated these symptoms merited a diagnosis of schizophrenia and an unspecified anxiety disorder.