Three years after stabbing a man in an unprovoked attack, Kenton Astin was still considered by state officials to be a "moderate" risk of committing violence. That was in 2004.

The following year, Astin was moved out of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo and into a Boulder halfway house. And in late 2006, the director of the state mental hospital concluded that Astin was no longer dangerous.

Tuesday, Astin was in good condition at Boulder Community Hospital, recovering from a series of self-inflicted knife wounds after he allegedly stabbed a freshman in a brazen ambush that sent shock waves across the University of Colorado's Boulder campus Monday.

Astin reportedly suffers from schizophrenia, but his background, pieced together from incomplete court records, is murky.

It wasn't clear Tuesday, for example, what state hospital doctors saw to make them comfortable about moving the man back into the community. And it might never be - mental health records are not generally made available to the public.

Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services, said there was nothing unusual about Astin's move from the state hospital into the Boulder community.

"That is the goal - to have people, through treatment and medication, stabilized to the point where they can go back out in the community," McDonough said.

Born Jerry Buckley, the man later used the name Sin Marti - "for spiritual reasons," according to a Boulder County sheriff's report - and then legally changed his name to Kenton Drew Astin in 1999.

On March 31, 2001, according to court records, Astin walked into the Salvation Army store in Longmont, pulled a knife from a green bag and stabbed Dylan Trembley. The two men scuffled, and Trembley was able to take the knife and ram it into Astin's cheek. At some point, according to police reports, Astin "grabbed a Bible from his bag and was yelling something about God sending him."

When police officers arrived, Astin told them his name was Dylan Klebold.

"He said his message was not heard at Columbine," the police report said.

A police officer asked him what he meant.

"He said people didn't hear his message that people should respect each other," the report said.

Astin told the police officers other things that day. That he was schizophrenic. That he took drugs for the condition. Astin was charged with attempted murder, assault and menacing. In September 2001, Astin was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to the state mental hospital.

A 2004 risk assessment found Astin "to be a moderate risk to violently re-offend."

The next year, in October 2005, he was moved to a halfway house in Boulder.

According to court records, on Nov. 21, 2006, two officials at the state hospital, Superintendent Steve Schoenmakers and Dr. Albert Singleton, wrote that Astin "no longer suffers from an abnormal mental condition which would be likely to cause him to be dangerous."

An updated assessment was done Feb. 26, and "he was deemed to have moved from a moderate risk to re-offend to a low risk to engage in violent recidivism."

On April 6, a judge granted Astin a "conditional release" - giving him more freedom while still requiring that he take medication and see a therapist regularly.

Then came Monday's stabbing.

Astin's father, Don, told 9News Tuesday he has not had much contact with his son since 2001. He said the family has tried over the years to get him help.

"He's had problems for quite awhile," Astin's father said.

He said he noticed Astin's mental problems around the time he reached high school. Before that, he said Astin was a smart kid who grew up in Colorado and Montana. He also told 9News that Astin was never violent until the incident in Longmont six years ago.

"There's no silver bullet cure you could give somebody like that to have them get over that," he told 9News. "There's no cure."

vaughank@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5019

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