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Man who killed 3 in Onalaska back in custody

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A man who killed three people at a western Wisconsin church in 1985 is headed back to a mental health center.

A La Crosse County judge Tuesday signed an order that sends Bryan Stanley back to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison for treatment and an evaluation.

Court documents say the 56-year-old Stanley had thoughts that caused him “discomfort and anxiety,” but wasn’t more specific. He was arrested at a mental health center in La Crosse. A judge will decide within 30 days whether Stanley should spend the rest of his life at Mendota.

He was found to be mentally ill when he killed custodian William Hammes, the Rev. John Rossiter and lay minister Ferdinand Roth at St. Patrick’s Church in Onalaska. The La Crosse Tribune says he was released from Mendota in 2009.

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