A Pierce County Superior Court judge has ruled that the woman accused of fatally stabbing 40-year-old Molly Marie Bell inside a Milton townhome last December was legally insane at the time of the killing, sending her to state psychiatric custody instead of prison. Judge Stanley Rumbaugh concluded on September 3 that Mi Lanique Jenkins was unable to tell right from wrong because of a mental disease or defect, and found her a substantial danger to others.
The ruling closes out, at least for now, a case that began on December 22, 2025, when Milton police were dispatched to a townhome in the 1200 block of 24th Avenue Court, according to The News Tribune. Officers arrived at about 1:50 p.m. and found Jenkins outside covered in blood; she refused to speak with investigators, according to KING 5. Officers rendered emergency aid to Bell inside the residence, but fire department personnel declared her dead at the scene.
How the Encounter Unfolded Inside the Townhome
According to the News Tribune's reporting, Jenkins had arrived outside her former roommate's townhome shortly before 1 p.m. and deceived Bell by falsely claiming the roommate had authorized her entry, telling Bell she had permission to come in and use the restroom. The former roommate said she allowed Jenkins inside out of pity, and had earlier called Bell to ask her to give Jenkins a ride to her uncle's place. Bell arrived at the townhome at about 1:40 p.m.
While the former roommate was upstairs, Jenkins went to the bathroom, and the roommate later told police she heard a knife drawer open. The roommate then saw Jenkins charging at Bell. Jenkins retrieved a knife from the kitchen after Bell fought her, and also grabbed a cord in an attempt to strangle Bell, per the same account. The former roommate ran out a back door and sought help from neighbors as the attack occurred. Bell died from multiple sharp-force injuries. Milton police arrested Jenkins without incident, and the case was investigated with help from the Metro Cities Crime Response Unit.
From Second-Degree Charge to Insanity Finding
Jenkins was originally booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, before prosecutors upgraded the charge to premeditated first-degree murder with a deadly weapon based on evidence gathered by detectives, Hoodline previously reported on the Milton case. Following the stabbing, Milton Police Chief Tony Hernandez noted that officers are rarely called to emergency incidents at the townhome complex near Surprise Lake, saying the small city rarely experiences violent homicides, according to KING 5.
Jenkins was questioned about her competency to stand trial in December 2024 and was declared competent in January 2025. She was later evaluated by two licensed psychologists, who both diagnosed her with schizophrenia; one evaluation, dated July 30, 2026, also diagnosed her with cannabis-use disorder. Jenkins was ultimately determined legally insane at the time of the offense and asked to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which the court accepted.
Delusions Described in Forensic Evaluation
Per the forensic evaluation cited by the News Tribune, Jenkins believed people were following her and trying to hurt her, and described being controlled by figures she called Bob, her uncle, his associates, and Drake. She reported being able to communicate telepathically with the entities she believed controlled her. According to the evaluation, Jenkins said that on July 13, 2026, she was commanded by Bob to kill her former roommate, but the entities instead told her to kill Bell, saying — as Jenkins put it — that Bell was more deserving of it. The former roommate had also reported receiving text messages from various numbers calling her a snake, according to detectives. The evaluation found that Jenkins was reported able to perceive the nature and quality of the killing but unable to tell right from wrong, and that she became increasingly paranoid in late 2025.
What an Insanity Acquittal Means Under Washington Law
Under Washington's Chapter 10.77 RCW, a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict shifts a defendant from criminal punishment into involuntary civil-forensic commitment rather than prison. Under Revised Code of Washington § 10.77.110 and § 10.77.025, a defendant acquitted by reason of insanity and deemed a substantial danger to others can be committed to state psychiatric custody for up to the maximum statutory penalty for the underlying charge — for first-degree murder, that is life imprisonment. Jenkins could remain in a state mental hospital for life under that standard.
She is expected to be committed to Western State Hospital in Lakewood, which operates as the primary adult inpatient psychiatric facility for western Washington with 745 beds and is currently constructing a dedicated 350-bed forensic psychiatric facility on campus for individuals entering care through the criminal justice system, according to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Before any conditional release, community access, or discharge, the state's independent Public Safety Review Panel — a governor-appointed body that includes a psychiatrist, psychologist, prosecutor, defense attorney, law enforcement representative, and consumer advocate — must conduct an independent risk assessment and submit written recommendations to the DSHS Secretary and the court under RCW 10.77.270, per the department.
Under Washington Supreme Court precedent set in State v. Platt, an insanity acquittee bears the legal burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she is a fit subject for conditional release, with the court ruling that public safety interests justify placing that burden on the acquittee rather than the state.
A Rare Legal Outcome
Insanity acquittals like Jenkins' are statistically uncommon. A Washington Senate committee report published in January 2025 found that DSHS processed only 33 service referrals related to criminal insanity in a single year, representing less than 1% of all forensic mental health referrals in the state, with more than 99% of referrals instead involving standard competency-to-stand-trial assessments. National research indexed by the National Library of Medicine has similarly found that the insanity defense is raised in roughly 1% of felony cases nationwide, and only about 25% of defendants who raise it are successfully acquitted, with more than 90% of successful insanity acquittals resulting from stipulations between prosecutors and defense counsel rather than contested trials.
The case has also surfaced in broader reporting on violent crime trends in the region. In a report published this month, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office noted that officers across the county have responded to a string of severe stabbing incidents, including in rural Elbe as well as suburban townhomes, reflecting ongoing regional concerns about weapon violence — context Hoodline included in its recent Elbe stabbing coverage.
