MURDER SUSPECT HOSPITALIZED

JACKSON, Mo. -- A poor appetite and other signals led the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department to send a 16-year-old charged with murder back to a state mental hospital, Sheriff John Jordan said.

"He was not eating, and we decided we weren't going to take any chances," Jordan said.

Joshua Wolf was sent back to the Fulton State Hospital at the end of last week following a court appearance, Jordan said.

Wolf has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his grandmother, 56-year-old Carol Lindley, last May.

Wolf had been returned to the Cape Girardeau County jail on Sept. 7 following a two-month examination at the Guhleman Forensic Center at Fulton State Hospital. The mental examination had been requested by prosecutor Morley Swingle after Wolf was certified to stand trial as an adult in June.

The examinations were to determine whether Wolf is mentally fit to assist in his own defense and whether he understood the nature of his actions at the time of the crime, Swingle has said.

Wolf had been placed on suicide watch last week when he was returned to the county jail as a precautionary measure used with all prisoners transferred from mental hospitals, Jordan said.

Transferring Wolf back to Fulton State Hospital was in the best interest of all concerned, Jordan said.

"They are more equipped to deal with these sort of things than we are," he said.