Hinckley Wants Release to Custody of Child Slayer

WASHINGTON —  John W. Hinckley Jr., held in a mental hospital for shooting President Reagan, wants to be released ultimately to the custody of a woman who killed her sleeping 10-year-old daughter with a shotgun, court documents showed today.

Federal prosecutors opposing Hinckley’s request to make an unsupervised Easter visit to his family revealed new details about his romance with Leslie DeVeau in court papers filed Tuesday.

Hinckley, who was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in 1982, recently told psychiatrist Glenn Miller that DeVeau is “the biggest influence in my life.”

Miller wrote that Hinckley’s “ultimate wish is to leave the hospital, and he is hopeful the court would see fit to place him in her custody.” Hinckley was acquitted by reason of insanity of attempted murder charges stemming from the March 30, 1981, shooting of Reagan.

Hinckley and DeVeau, a one-time Washington socialite, met at St. Elizabeths after she was acquitted of murder, by reason of insanity, in the 1982 shotgun slaying of her daughter.

DeVeau, whose history of mental illness included several suicide attempts, shot herself in the arm after shooting her sleeping daughter, according to the prosecutor’s memo. The arm was amputated as a result of the shotgun wound.

Published reports in 1985 said the couple were engaged to be married. DeVeau has since been released from St. Elizabeths and now works as a secretary there.