A patient at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center is facing murder charges after a fellow veteran was found strangled to death in a bathroom at the hospital’s inpatient psychiatric unit, according to court documents.
Christopher Schweikart, 33, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder following the March 16 discovery of the body. The patient was later determined to have been strangled, according to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The victim, who has not been named, was described in court documents as being found with a Bible and handwritten inscription that said “God, I have lived a good life, take me home,” a responding officer with the VA’s Office of Inspector General said in an affidavit.
Read Next: USS Mason Sailor Who Went Overboard in Red Sea Declared Lost by Navy
But according to the officer, Special Agent Sara Medina with the VA inspector general’s office, after investigators found a pen and a different Bible in Schweikart’s possession that contained a note with similar handwriting, they decided to interview Schweikart. He allegedly confessed, saying the victim had startled him when he walked into the bathroom and he strangled him.
“I can’t lie,” Schweikart said, according to court documents.
According to the affidavit, Schweikart told a nurse that he “killed the guy” and put his hands around the victim’s neck. “He wanted to die,” Schweikart allegedly said.
Schweikart also told a nurse that he had…
