A Mobile County man who police say killed his mother with a sword was found not guilty by reason of insanity, the Mobile District Attorney’s Office confirmed Monday.

Damien Winslow Washam, 25, was arrested in January 2022 after police found the body of 61-year-old Helen Nettles Washam inside their home in the Eight Mile community of Mobile County.

Damien Washam was also charged with attempted murder and assault in attacks on his brother and uncle, the latter of whom is bedridden with cerebral palsy.

Damien Washam fled the scene that night in a dark green 2000 Honda Accord and refused to stop, traveling toward Highway 158. Spike strips were deployed by Saraland police, ending the pursuit.

The vehicle was stopped on Highway 158 near mile marker 6, where Washam fled on foot until a MCSO deputy used a stun gun to detain him. Washam was transported to a hospital for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say the Samurai-style sword that allegedly killed Washam’s mother and wounded his family members was in the front seat of the car. An autopsy would show Helen Washam had 19 lacerations to her head and, in court, prosecutors said Damien Washam had “almost decapitated his mother.”

In the weeks leading up to the killing of his mother, Damien Washam engaged in disturbing behavior, according to his father, Hubert Washam, who said his son was obsessed with TikTok conspiracy theory videos which supported the claim that NBA players are “synthetic robots” and babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic are “ancient souls.”

“He had started listening to some crazy group of people, like a cult or something,” Hubert Washam told Oxygen. “Evidently, he had sent links to his sisters and were telling them about it, talking about the sun, and getting energy from the sun. It was just something he got into four weeks, six weeks ago. I don’t understand it.”

Hubert Washam also said his son purchased items prior to the slaying including a knife, brass knuckles, a statue of an Egyptian god and a poster of the Egyptian god of the underworld, Osiris.

“When I opened it up I just was hurt because maybe it seemed like there was something disturbing going on with him that we didn’t pick up on,” Hubert Washam told Oxygen. “He ordered something he definitely has absolutely no use for. I can’t understand why he would order it unless he was planning to kill us all.”

Damien Washam initially pleaded not guilty to the murder, but in November 2022 he changed his plea to guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and his public defender requested a mental evaluation be performed.

After a review of the forensic evaluations and concurrence of the parties involved, Mobile County Circuit Judge Jill Parrish Phillips found Damien Washam not guilty by reason of insanity and “in need of treatment to stabilize his illness,” according to court records.

Phillips ordered him committed to the Alabama Department of Mental Health “until such time as a petition for release is filed.”