Wisconsin Man Who Stabbed 4 Family Members 'To Save Them From COVID-19' Committed For Life

A Wisconsin man who stabbed four family members, two of them fatally, "to save them from COVID-19" has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in a mental health institution.

Adam Roth, 36, who was obsessively concerned about the pandemic, has been found not guilty by the reason of mental disease or defect for violently attacking his family members and killing two.

The violent attack happened on March 10. Roth first stabbed his wife Dominique Roth while they were eating in the kitchen. When his mother-in-law Gilane Popanda and Popanda's two other daughters tried to stop him, Roth "turned on everybody," said the criminal complaint as per Journal Sentinel.

Dominique Roth, 34, her sister Deidre Popanda, 26, and a family dog died in the attack. Desiree Popanda, 36, and Gilane Popanda, 62, also suffered significant injuries in the attack.

Roth told an investigator who interviewed him in the hospital the day after the attack that he had only tried to protect them from the coronavirus.

"It [coronavirus] was coming and I had to save them," he said.

Roth was charged in March in Waukesha County Circuit Court with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. He was also charged with reckless endangerment and mistreatment of an animal.

Roth pleaded guilty but not guilty by reason of mental disease on the first four counts on Nov. 13.

The court had earlier ordered a mental health evaluation on Roth. According to two doctors, he experienced a "precipitous decline of psychiatric stability" in the months leading up to the incident.

Waukesha County Deputy District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz asked for a lifetime commitment for Roth. "I don't know that in my 28 years here in the DA's office I've seen a more horrific crime than this," Szczupakiewiczc said in court as per ABC News.

"There is clear and convincing evidence that if Mr. Roth would be conditionally released, he would pose a significant risk. And that's not a risk, at this point, I think anyone would hope the court would take," he added.

Roth's attorney, Cameron Weitzner, did not challenge the sentencing of lifetime commitment in institutional care. "This case is about an individual who is suffering from mental illness and was suffering in a way that I don't think any of us can understand," Weitzner said.