PORT ANGELES — Insulin was the weapon in an alleged attempted murder, police say.
Robbie Wayne Davis, 39, is expected to be charged Tuesday in Clallam County Superior Court after he was arrested Thursday for investigation of the attempted murder of his step-uncle, Richard Haynes, who has Down syndrome.
Davis, who lives with Haynes and other family members on North Baker Street in Port Angeles, remained in the county jail Saturday on $25,000 bail.
Davis has denied the allegations, police said.
Police said Davis injected insulin into Haynes, 57, who is not a diabetic, while Haynes was hospitalized June 15 in Olympic Medical Center.
About an hour after Davis left at 9:18 p.m., a nurse found Haynes to be dangerously hypoglycemic, with a blood-sugar level of about 40 milligrams per deciliter, said Officer David Arand in the certification of probable-cause statement filed with the court.
Haynes was treated with medication and is recovering, the report said.
A normal blood glucose level in a person without diabetes would be in the range of 70 to 140 mg/dL, according to the Virginia Mason Medical Center website.
Hypoglycemia can be fatal, doctors told investigators.
Police were told that Haynes had eaten a large meal that night, including several Popsicles.
“That supports that there would have been no reason for Haynes’ blood sugar to be low, given that Haynes is not a diabetic,” Arand said in the report.
A nurse found three marks near Haynes’ left elbow “that appeared consistent with needle marks,” the police report said.
Doctors were divided on whether the marks were made by a needle.
“The puncture marks remain unexplained,” Arand said.
Two other episodes
It wasn’t the first time that Haynes — who has the intellect of a 3-year-old, according to medical personnel — had suffered extreme hypoglycemia, police said.
On April 4, county sheriff’s deputies investigated a report of Haynes being admitted to OMC for conditions related to hypoglycemia.
Haynes’ doctor said a test March 22 showed abnormally low blood sugar “and was confirmatory of injected insulin.”
Sheriff’s Office investigators “suspected that a member of Haynes’ family had administered insulin to him,” Arand’s report said.
A detective “developed probable cause to believe that somebody in the household had administered insulin to Haynes; however, there was insufficient evidence to develop probable cause to show that any one person was responsible for injecting Haynes with insulin,” the report said.
On Dec. 12, Haynes was admitted to OMC with an unexplained blood sugar level of 28 mg/dL.
A doctor told police that this “most certainly caused at least some degree of permanent brain damage,” the report said, adding that the investigation into that incident is pending.
Haynes’ brother also lives in the Baker Street house and is an insulin-dependent diabetic, the police report said, adding that “insulin and related supplies are in the home.”
OMC video surveillance footage shows that Davis had been the only visitor to Haynes’ hospital room June 15 between 8:43 p.m. and 9:18 p.m., police said.
Haynes’ sister-in-law, Haynes’ primary caregiver, told police he had been in relatively good health and had not had any medical “hiccups,” until Davis moved into the home between one and two years ago.
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PDN reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
