Alleged Church Gunman Suffered from Lyme Disease, Lawyer Says
The lawyer for an Illinois man accused of gunning down a church pastor says his client’s mental health was suffering because of Lyme disease.
Terry Sedlacek was charged yesterday with killing the Rev. Fred Winters during a Sunday worship service, according to the Belleville News-Democrat. Sedlacek’s lawyer, Ron Slemer of Edwardsville, said his client was bitten by a tick several years ago, according to the story.
“You can see how he’s deteriorated over the years,” Slemer told the News-Democrat. “It’s caused his body to physically deteriorate and also his mental condition.”
Sedlacek’s mother spoke about her son’s battle with the illness in an interview last year with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, according to the newspaper.
Mental illness associated with Lyme disease is very unusual, according to a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Infectious Diseases Society of America said Lyme disease is not known to cause violent behavior, according to CNN.
The network cites one study that found 36 percent of 900 psychiatric subjects had antibodies to the bacterium linked to Lyme disease, compared to 18 percent of 900 subjects without mental problems.
