Mental status focus of hearing
Alleged North Fork murderer Mary O’Keefe will undergo two psychologist evaluations to determine whether she is mentally capable of standing trial, a Madera County judge ordered late last week.
O’Keefe, 64, is accused of killing former North Fork Rancheria council member Bonnie Hale at Hale’s home on Dec. 17. Hale, 76, was a respected member of the North Fork community, and described as a woman whose smile would be greatly missed.
“We all share heavy, hurting hearts at this news of Mrs. Hale’s untimely passing, and ask all to respect the privacy of the Hale family, tribe, and tribal citizens as we begin the process of gathering facts and grieving this terrible, tragic event,” said Charles Altekruse, the North Fork Rancheria’s director of public affairs.
A hearing is scheduled Jan. 12 in the Sierra Division of Madera County Superior Court to determine O’Keefe’s mental capacities, and whether she has the ability to aid in her defense.
Further details were not released, and the investigation into Hale’s death is ongoing.
It is the fourth murder in Eastern Madera County in the past four months, with arrests made in three of the cases so far.
Around midnight Nov. 15, George Taylor-Windsor, 26, was sitting in the back seat of a Ford truck as he and at least two other people were traveling south on Highway 41 after leaving the Pines Resort.
At a Nov. 29 preliminary hearing, a witness said for unknown reasons, Taylor-Windsor started attacking other people in the truck with a knife which caused the driver, Reid Kallenberg, to lose control just south of Bass Lake Road near River Falls Road. Upon arrival, deputies with the Madera County Sheriff’s Office found Jessica Nelson, 23 of Foresthill, dead in the truck from multiple stab wounds. Kallenberg was hospitalized with several stab wounds.
Taylor-Windsor’s trial is scheduled to begin 9 a.m. Feb. 6 at the Sierra Division of Madera County Superior Court in Bass Lake.
On Oct. 22, Craig Anthony Fetty, 28, and Tiffany Dambrino, 20, were arrested for allegedly murdering Dennis Dolan, 68, at his home in Ahwahnee. The two, both from Ahwahnee, await a preliminary hearing.
On Aug. 6, Jason Jerome Henderson, 45, was stabbed to death during an altercation in the lower parking lot of the Silver Creek Shopping Center in Oakhurst. No arrests have been made.
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