He stabbed a 22-year-old man to death, beheaded, mutilated and ate parts of his body. He placed body parts in plastic bags, and put the victim's ear, nose and tongue in his pocket.

It was a grotesque and completely random attack last July on a Greyhound bus in Canada that sent passengers fleeing in terror.

His punishment for killing Tim McLean: to be treated in a mental institution, without a criminal record.

That decision was handed out to Chinese immigrant Vince Li today after a judge ruled he was not criminally responsible due to mental illness. Every year, a mental health review board will reassess him to determine if he is fit for release.

The decision to send a murderer to a mental facility instead of prison is not an uncommon one, even in Kern County.

In fact, on Friday, 24-year-old Bryan Eckroth will appear in court for a mental competency hearing. He admitted to killing 72-year-old Rosita Newman in April last year in her Boron apartment.

He choked and stabbed Newman, and tried to chop off her head with an ax. Eckroth said he picked Newman because she was an easy target to kill.

Here are some recent local cases:

• Christopher Jones, 14, was found incompetent this past summer to be tried for his alleged role in the death of Ezequiel Jimenez Perez. Prosecutors said he was mentally retarded. Four other 13, 14 and 15-year-olds were found guilty in the murder of the 81-year-old. They pummeled Perez with their fists, a stick and a bucket, stole his cans and then returned to beat him some more.

• Charles Cory Shults murdered his grandmother, 74-year-old Alta Marie Dodd, Jan. 26, 2008. It was reported that when Shults was 9 years old, he was befriended in Delano and later abducted, held for several days by a child molester, and molested. Shults admitted to the killing, which took place after an argument with Dodd.

• Alejandro Ramirez Mercado, of McFarland, was accused of stabbing Jose F. Tafoya to death in August 2003. He became angry when several guests arrived at his home for a party — guests invited by Mercado's brother. He was sent to a mental hospital.

• Roberta Rita Castro was convicted of killing her 2-month-old niece in 1997 by bashing her head against a floor. In 2004, she was released from jail into a mental hospital after a judge dismissed murder charges. Doctors said she had the mental capacity of a 6- to 7-year-old.

— Jorge Barrientos, Breaking News Reporter