LEESBURG, Va. — A man accused of breaking down the doors of an upscale home in Leesburg last November and murdering the man inside believed he was God on a mission to kill the Devil, his attorney said in court Thursday.
At a preliminary hearing, Judge Matthew P. Snow ruled there is probable cause for prosecutors to seek a grand jury indictment of 22-year-old Melvin Wasike of Fairfax. Robert Fadely, 46, was killed and his fiancee, Laura Munoz, was wounded in a pre-dawn stabbing attack at the couple's home on Newton Place in the Barclay Woods subdivision outside Leesburg on Nov. 14.
Wasike had never met or interacted with Fadely, according to testimony in court. Yet Wasike traveled from his home in Fairfax to the neighborhood because he was hearing voices and believed his father's girlfriend lived nearby, according to Waskike's defense attorney Robert Whitestone.
Whitestone said his client was schizophrenic and believed he was on a mission to stop the source of the voices he was hearing. Prosecutors, however, played home security camera video of Wasike from the day before the attack coming to the house repeatedly trying to get in.
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A Loudoun County Sheriff's deputy called to investigate testified he pulled Wasike over and warned him to leave. Fadley declined to press charges as long as Wasike never came back, the deputy said.
But early the next morning the same security cameras caught Waskike kicking down the door, according to video shown in court. Wasike appeared to drop a large knife and then pick it up as he kicked at the door.
Fadely and Munoz were stabbed with what detectives described as a butcher knife. Munoz was injured during an attempt to fight off Wasike, according to testimony. She survived the attack and was among family and supporters in court Thursday to witness the hearing.
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Body camera video played in court showed medics treating Munoz as Fadely's body lay on the floor outside the couple's upstairs bedroom where the attack occurred.
“My client thought he was God and was stabbing the Devil and saving the world,” lawyer Robert Whitestone said.
Whitestone said he’s planning an insanity defense.