KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Police have confessions from a double murderer being held for killings in Kalamazoo and Constantine.
Documents released under the freedom of information act to various news agencies reveal that Zachary Patten has admitted in interviews after his arrest to unprovoked and lethal assaults that took the lives of Graciela Portillo-Esparza and Shane Richardson, neither of whom were armed or posing any threat when he gunned them down on July 20th.
He told detectives he was under extreme stress because of child custody battles, and threats exchanged with Richardson who had married his ex-wife, and Oscar Portillo-Esparza, who had dated the woman he was currently seeing.
Portillo-Esparza was the man he claimed to detectives he was gunning for when his sister, Graciela stepped in the way and was fatally wounded in the chest at the American Estates Mobile Home Park.
He then admitted he drove to Constantine to confront Richardson, literally battering his way through the front door of the home.
Once inside he told detectives he shot Richardson once, then fled to South Bend, where he crashed his car, and would eventually surrender to police.
Patten is currently undergoing a psychiatric exam to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
