Deadly Similarities

On opposite sides of the country this week, two different families felt the same harrowing impact of untreated mental illness.

In Celina, TX, 21-year-old Preston Boan struck his grandparents repeatedly with a wooden dowel until they were lying bloody on the floor.

In Raleigh, NC, 37-year-old John Patrick Violette is charged with decapitating his 4-year-old daughter.

Both men were diagnosed with severe mental illness- one with bipolar disorder, one with schizophrenia. Both had been in and out of hospitals and had a history of going off their prescribed medications. As one of Boan's family members noted:

“You'll find ... that he has had problems for quite a while. I think that we, as a family, have tried to do everything in the world that we can to help him and support him and get treatment for him."