LAS VEGAS -- A Las Vegas judge postponed arraignment to allow for a psychological evaluation for a 68-year-old man jailed in the weekend hammer slayings of two people at a group home.
David Hamilton Settle told Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Cynthia Cruz on Thursday that he understands he faces two murder charges in the Sunday slayings of 82-year-old group home resident Henry George Namett and 59-year-old caregiver Elenita Ablao.
Settle wasn't asked to enter a plea.
Deputy Public Defender Scott Coffee sought time for the mental health exam. Cruz then set a Jan. 17 date for Settle's return to court.
Sitting on his bed wearing only a diaper, Settle told police Sunday that he killed Namett and Ablao with a hammer at the house on W. Washington Avenue then went out to buy wine, cigars and a cup of coffee, according to the police arrest report.
He told police that his head was sore where he had hit it trying to kill himself. He also told police he hit Namett 20 times in the head with the hammer he had taken from a drawer in the kitchen.
Settle then called out to Ablao and asked her to help him, the report said. When she entered his room, he hit her in the head several times until she fell to the ground and then he hit her another 20 times until she was dead, he told police.
Another man was in the room at the time of the killing, but he was sleeping with a blanket over his head so Settle left him alone, the report said.
Settle could give the police no explanation why he killed Ablao and Namett and told police he liked the man and woman.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
David Hamilton Settle told Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Cynthia Cruz on Thursday that he understands he faces two murder charges.
