An apparent ruse involving a walker led to an intense manhunt lasting over three hours for a mentally ill and suicidal fugitive who fled from the parking lot of a Pocatello hospital on Thursday morning.

Pocatello police officers eventually captured Michael Krayenvenger, a 47-year-old State Hospital South psychiatric patient, about 2 miles away from Portneuf Medical Center. He was apprehended without incident after officers found him hiding in a shed in the yard of a home near Idaho State University.

In response to the tension-filled ordeal, which involved police knocking door to door and flying drones in their attempt to capture Krayenvenger, a spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Niki Forbing-Orr, spoke to the Journal on Friday about how the incident occurred and what her agency has done in the aftermath to reduce such threats to public safety.

Forbing-Orr spoke about the incident because State Hospital South, a psychiatric hospital in Blackfoot, is an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare facility.

Considering State Hospital South houses mentally ill people, Forbing-Orr said it would be difficult to guarantee something similar to Thursday’s incident won’t happen in the future based on the often spontaneous behavior some mental health patients have been known to exhibit.

“We are in the business of treating people with mental illness,” Forbing-Orr said. “That is our main priority and we are trying to do that as safely as possible for the patients and for the community.”

She continued, “We always take incidents like this seriously, but people often act in ways that are surprising. That being said, we will do our best to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future.”

The incident on Thursday began to unfold around 10:45 a.m. after Krayenvenger underwent a treatment procedure at PMC. Prior to being transported from State Hospital South to PMC, Krayenvenger had appeared weak and lethargic, said Forbing-Orr, prompting State Hospital South staff to provide him with a walker to aid in his transport. But Krayenvenger’s frail and sickly demeanor was part of his ruse.

Forbing-Orr said it’s typical State Hospital South procedure to utilize two security staff members when transporting a State Hospital South patient from one location to another.

As Krayenvenger approached the transport vehicle following his treatment at PMC, Forbing-Orr said he picked the walker up and handed it to one of the security staff members before bolting through PMC’s parking lot and heading in the direction of ISU’s Holt Arena.

“The two security staff gave him some verbal commands to stop and (Krayenvenger) ignored them,” Forbing-Orr said. “They then called 911 and started pursuing him.”

The subsequent police manhunt for Krayenvenger resulted in five nearby Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 schools being placed on reverse evacuation, an emergency response procedure that prohibited anyone from leaving those schools until he was captured.

The search for Krayenvenger involved Pocatello police, Idaho State Police and officers with ISU Public Safety. Pocatello police, ISU and School District 25 issued multiple emergency alerts via text, phone and email warning the public of Krayenvenger’s violent tendencies and providing a description of Krayenvenger’s clothing and physical appearance.

Pocatello police also revealed during the search that Krayenvenger is terminally ill with cancer and possibly suicidal.

The five School District 25 schools remained on reverse evacuation until 2:10 p.m. when police found Krayenvenger hiding in the shed of a home at the intersection of East Lewis Street and South 20th Avenue, a couple of blocks from ISU.

After his capture, Krayenvenger was transported back to State Hospital South where he remains in custody.

Krayenvenger is a patient at State Hospital South in relation to a court-ordered process to restore his mental health competency so that he can understand the legal process associated with several criminal charges he’s facing for incidents that occurred prior to his Thursday actions. He will not be charged with additional crimes for his Thursday escape attempt.

Krayenvenger currently faces felony theft-related criminal charges in three Idaho counties — Bannock, Custer and Power. In a Power County case charging him with felony burglary, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Judge Paul Laggis ordered Krayenvenger to undergo competency restoration at State Hospital South.

Unlike a correctional facility such as a jail or prison, where some are ordered to undergo competency evaluations, State Hospital South’s primary goal is to provide mental health treatment while also providing the most security measures possible in such a setting. A correctional facility operates with a focus more on the latter, maintaining the highest level of security while also ensuring those incarcerated can undergo competency treatment.

But because State Hospital South is a psychiatric hospital there are limitations in the level of security measures that staff can impose, Forbing-Orr said.

“State Hospital South is a hospital, not a correctional facility,” Forbing-Orr said. “The staff are not armed and there are limitations on the use of restraints.... There are several things (the patients) can do with supervision.”

She continued, “They can go outside and go for a walk and do other things that they wouldn’t be able to do at a correctional facility or jail. People have this idea that when they’re committed to (State Hospital South) they are under lock and key and that just isn’t true.”

However, in response to Thursday’s incident, Forbing-Orr said that Krayenvenger is no longer allowed to leave the unit at State Hospital South he has been assigned to, and all of his future medical treatments will occur at the psychiatric hospital.

Forbing-Orr said there will be a Department of Health and Welfare review of Thursday’s incident to ensure all State Hospital South procedures were followed correctly and to identify any areas the psychiatric hospital’s staff may be able to improve upon.