A Virginia man found not guilty by reason of insanity in a killing walked out of a state mental hospital on an approved weekend pass and boarded a one-way flight out of the country instead of coming back.
Story Snapshot
- Toshpulodzoda was acquitted by insanity for killing Mohammad Hemmatian and held at Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute.
- He left the facility on an authorized 48-hour pass on July 6 but never returned on July 8 as required.
- Court records say he flew out of Washington Dulles International Airport on a one-way ticket to Tajikistan through Istanbul.
- The hospital placed him on escape status, revoked his pass, and issued a facility warrant.
Authorized Leave Turns Into Disappearance
Court records filed August 5, 2026, say Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute on July 6 under an approved 48-hour pass. Virginia law allows patients in his situation to take short, unaccompanied community visits. The filing states plainly that he “failed to return to NVMHI on July 8, 2026, as required.”
Instead of returning, court documents say he went to Washington Dulles International Airport and boarded a one-way flight bound for Tajikistan, connecting through Istanbul. The paperwork lays out a clear timeline: authorized departure, missed return date, and an outbound international itinerary in the days that followed.
Why He Was in State Custody
The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office told reporters that Toshpulodzoda “was found by clinicians to be insane at the time he killed Mohammad Hemmatian.” Prosecutors said they had opposed his release at earlier annual review hearings, meaning the state had already flagged concerns about letting him move freely before this pass was granted.
The Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute is a state-run inpatient psychiatric facility in Falls Church that treats forensic patients, including people acquitted by reason of insanity. Virginia law places such patients in the temporary custody of the state’s mental health commissioner for evaluation and treatment rather than in a prison setting.
Facility Declares Escape Status
Once Toshpulodzoda missed his return deadline, the hospital placed him on escape status, revoked his pass, and issued a facility warrant, according to the court filing. Under Virginia law, a person who escapes from this kind of custody can be charged with a Class 6 felony, a distinct legal violation separate from the original criminal case that led to his acquittal.
Virginia Code spells out how the process works after an insanity acquittal: a judge orders temporary custody for evaluation, and the state supervises any move toward conditional or unconditional release. Escape from that custody carries its own criminal penalty, separate from whatever charges led to the original insanity finding.
A Recurring Problem in Forensic Care
Unauthorized absences from psychiatric hospitals holding people acquitted by insanity are not new. Research on high-security forensic units found unauthorized leaves happen in a small but real share of cases, with one review counting 59 such incidents over eight years at two facilities, about 0.2% of total approved leaves.
That same body of research found people who abscond from forensic units tend to have more later arrests and legal trouble than those released through normal court review. It also found unauthorized-leave rates vary widely, from under 1% to more than half of cases, depending on how secure the facility is. Less secure units see more incidents.
What Comes Next
The case highlights a tension in how states manage people found not guilty by reason of insanity. Courts and clinicians must balance treatment goals, which often include supervised community visits, against public safety concerns when a patient has a history of violence. Toshpulodzoda’s case now sits with a facility warrant and an unresolved escape-status finding, while state officials work to determine his whereabouts.
For families of victims and for the public, the episode raises hard questions about how much oversight accompanies a 48-hour pass and whether current rules give hospitals enough tools to prevent this kind of outcome before it happens again.
Sources:
foxnews.com, noticias.foxnews.com, ktfsradio.com, ar.virginia.gov, law.lis.virginia.gov
