Timothy Delehanty, inset, allegedly admitted to stabbing a man 60 times in a murder that happened nearly 20 years ago in Elsmere, Kentucky. He confessed while at the hospital, cops say. (Scene photo: WXIX/YouTube; Mug shot: Kenton County Jail)
Authorities in northern Kentucky solved a nearly 20-year-old murder when a patient at a hospital allegedly admitted to killing a man.
Jail records show 36-year-old Timothy Lee Delehanty is being held in the Kenton County Jail without bond on a murder charge. Cincinnati, Ohio, Fox affiliate WXIX reported Delehanty confessed to killing 61-year-old Paul Clayton back in 2006. Delahanty was a patient at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington over the weekend when he tried to leave with an IV in his arm, the station reported. When staff prevented him from leaving he asked to speak to a police officer.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, citing an arrest affidavit, reported that he told police he “wanted to talk about it.” He then allegedly told investigators with the Elsmere Police Department he stabbed Clayton up to 60 times and then took off in the victim’s vehicle.
Cops believe Clayton was killed sometime between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, 2006, when his co-workers showed up at his mobile home because they couldn’t get in touch with him. They found him inside the home on the floor, covered in blood. His 1996 Ford Thunderbird was missing.
Police at the time identified Delehanty, then 19, as a person of interest after a witness reported seeing him in the car, which was later recovered in Covington. Prosecutors charged him with receiving stolen property but never with Clayton’s murder until now.
The arrest has left Clayton’s family stunned and confused.
“Seventeen years and you just turn around and say, by the way, hey, I did this,” Clayton’s daughter Jennifer Parker said in an interview with WXIX.
The seemingly random confession also surprised prosecutors.
“This is a first in my career,” Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders told the TV station, adding that investigators are still trying to pinpoint a motive. “This is the first time we’ve had a suspect just show up and want to talk about a case.”
Delehanty faces up to life in prison if convicted.
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