Pazuzu Algarad and Vincent Li

Pazuzu Algarad was a well-known Satanist who was involved in the murder of Joseph Chandler, and committing the murders of Josh Wetzler and Tommy Welch.

Pazuzu was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses, with schizophrenia being the most commonly mentioned. His mother, Cynthia Lawson, was paying for psychiatric help. At this time, Pazuzu’s violent tendencies diminished greatly. Tragically, she could no longer afford to continue his treatment.

Pazuzu’s mental health declined again. Incapable of affording proper treatment, he turned to self-medicating with illegal drugs. He re-named himself after a demon, Pazuzu, and started a cult in his home. The people who followed him were also addicts who were self-medicating various untreated illnesses. These people were unable to access the help they needed and instead turned to self-medication as a group, resulting in a circle of unhealthy coping mechanisms, that spiralled into violence.

He killed himself in prison.

Vincent Li committed the gruesome murder of Tim McLean on a greyhound bus. After the attack, the other passengers watched from outside. Vincent continued to mutilate the body in various ways. The first officer to board the bus after the attack later killed himself.

Vincent had a degree in computer science. Despite this, he struggled to maintain steady employment. The night before he boarded the greyhound bus, he was seated at the bus stop with a sign offering to sell laptops.

After the attack, he was given proper treatment for his previously undiagnosed schizophrenia in a psychiatric ward. He is now free, receiving regular treatment, and has shown no further violent tendencies.

What we see are two different cases of someone who, due to financial hardship, was incapable of receiving treatment for their mental illness. Both have clear evidence of their violence lessening or disappearing when they are given the care they require.

Additionally, we see two people who were villainised after their crimes beyond the attacks themselves. While, objectively, the murders committed were awful, many of the articles about these men focus on things other than the crimes themselves.

Within the first two search results on Google for ‘Pazuzu Algarad’, an article for Medium by Lioness Rue appears called, ‘The Satanist Who Only Pooped in the Corners of His House’.

Other articles include one from All That is Interesting, ‘Meet Pazuzu Algarad, The Satanist Who Buried Bodies Behind His House of Horrors’ which begins with the line, ‘The next time your neighbour does something you don’t like, just consider yourself lucky that you never lived next to Pazuzu Algarad’ and has an entire section labelled as ‘”House of Horrors”’ that is dedicated to the home Pazuzu lived in. The house was demolished after being deemed uninhabitable.

Vincent receives a similar treatment in articles about him. For example, Ranker’s article, ‘11 Grisly Facts About The Man Who Decapitated And Ate A Stranger On The Bus’ by Jen Jeffers. It lists his freedom after being treated as a “grisly fact”. The article beneath the heading continues to say, ‘if someday he were to forget to take his medication, mislead his doctors, or even slip away to another area, there's no telling what could happen’. This is after acknowledging that he has made massive steps toward management of his illness. Titles such as Daily Mail's ‘Canadian man who beheaded and cannibalized a Greyhound bus passenger, 22, is FREED after just nine years’ and All That’s Interesting's article titled, ‘Vince Li Beheaded And Ate His Victim – And He’s A Totally Free Man’ continue this pattern. The phrasing highlights what many people see as an injustice in this case: that Vincent Li was not imprisoned for life. This sort of framing purposefully excludes information and poses an opinion of the fact before allowing readers to judge for themselves. While Vincent is free and living under a new name, it is after years of careful observation by medical professionals who believe he is no longer a danger to himself or others. These articles never address the fact that Vincent’s ability to live a normal life from here onwards proves that the flaw is with a system that forced him to go untreated for so long.

We see routinely that articles about these events refuse to address the factors that lead these two men to commit murder. Both had untreated illnesses that drove them toward violence, and both men proved to be non-violent when cared for. However, neither of them could access this help due to financial strain and inaccessibility. This was then exacerbated by other factors, such as Vincent’s income insecurity, and Pazuzu’s self-medication. We are looking at stories of two unwell men who were unable to afford treatment, became violent as a direct result, and then were villainised into infamy for it. These attacks are not portrayed for what they were: avoidable. If Pazuzu had been able to continue his treatment, and if Vincent had been able to access it, the likelihood of these deaths occurring would have significantly decreased. Again, Vincent Li is currently a free man living a normal life with the help of his doctors, and Pazuzu Algarad was able to control his violent urges while receiving treatment. As long as mental health care is treated as a luxury, people who need it most will be incapable of accessing it, and violence will ensue.

If ever there was a time to consider the realities of mental illness and the necessity of free, accessible mental health resources, perhaps this post-covid era is the time to do it. The social isolation and economic strain we are all suffering under right now is likely more dangerous than governments-- who hold the power to provide these services-- would like to admit. They would prefer to pin health care on the individual, making it unaffordable, which Pazuzu and Vincent Li prove is a dangerous decision.