Neighbor charged in knife attack

NEWTON-- Daniel J. Westbrook, 20, told his family he was going for a walk Thursday night. His parents had just ordered Chinese takeout, and he wanted to wait outside until the food arrived, police said.

Instead, authorities say, Westbrook -- who, according to his parents and medical officials, has a long history of depression and other mental illnesses -- allegedly entered a nearby home through an unlocked kitchen door and, without saying a word, walked over and cut his neighbor's throat as she was sitting down for dinner with her family. Westbrook then attacked the woman's husband, cutting his throat as the couple's teenage daughter watched in horror, police said.

When police knocked on the Westbrooks' door minutes later, Daniel Westbrook was missing. His parents told officials he had been prescribed Zoloft and Zeprexia for his depression, but had stopped taking the medicine six months ago, according to a police report. The family said Westbrook had never been violent toward anyone before, but that he usually kept to himself and had become very despondent in the past few months, the police report stated.

As Claudia Chung, 46, and her husband, Jin, 47, recovered from lacerations around their neck and face at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday, Westbrook was in Newton District Court pleading not guilty to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and home invasion. Officials ordered that Westbrook be held and sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for a 20-day psychiatric evaluation.

A doctor appointed by the court to mentally evaluate Westbrook said yesterday the young man was so mentally ill he did not realize where he was or that he was being accused of attacking his next-door neighbors.

''He has had some very severe and significant mental issues for some time," Dr. Frederick Kelso said during the arraignment. ''He plainly told me at one point, 'I don't know why I am here.' "

Jin Chung told police he and his family were sitting down to dinner when Westbrook entered their Cheney Street home at 7:46 p.m., according to the police report. Chung said he got between his wife and Westbrook, who was wielding a knife in his right hand, and tried to block Westbrook with a kitchen chair. Chung used the chair as a shield to force his neighbor out the door after the stabbing attack, according to the police report.

Michelle Figueroa said she was home with two of her children when she heard pounding coming from the unit attached to her duplex home where the Chungs have lived for at least eight years. She said the family was very friendly, always greeting her.

''I don't know if it was them trying to get my attention or a struggle," she said. ''I thought, maybe they are just hanging pictures, but it sounded a little frantic."

Westbrook's parents told police they had not noticed anything out of the ordinary that night about their son, the police report stated.

Police and a K-9 dog searched for Westbrook for nearly seven hours. When police finally spotted him walking near his street yesterday at about 2:30 a.m., his clothing was soaked, and he appeared to be hostile, according to the police report.

An officer called out to Westbrook, who replied, ''Who are you?" the report stated.

When asked where he had spent the evening, Westbrook told the officer, ''I was at my friend's house in Boston and walked home," according to the police report.

Westbrook became ''very hostile" at the police station, refusing to be fingerprinted and cursing repeatedly at the officers, police said in their report. He later told the officers that he was walking home because he liked to walk, the police report said.

The attack in the Newton neighborhood where Westbrook grew up stunned residents, many of whom said the area is considered so peaceful that most people leave their homes or cars unlocked.

One resident, Georgia Waugh, said the Westbrooks were ''wonderful people" to their three teenage daughters and older son. Daniel Westbrook was reserved, she said, especially after he got in trouble this summer for ripping out a neighbor's bushes.

''It's very quiet here, but this has made us very nervous," she said.

Figueroa said she and other neighbors became frantic when they learned Westbrook was missing.