Orem reels from slaying

"She's just innately giving," said Cathy Matheson, principal at Greenwood. "She teaches special ed, and these kids have special needs and she ... knows how to connect with them."

The school is gathering financial contributions for the Kirsch family. Those interested can contact Matheson at 801-756-8534, Ext. 4.

The family had recently welcomed their son back into their home, knowing of his violent history and psychiatric problems, according to Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards. Michael Kirsch had been dealing with schizophrenia for several years, according to court documents.

In 2004, Michael Kirsch was charged with aggravated assault after he slapped a woman, then fought with a man who defended her. He stabbed the man in the left arm at least twice, according to court documents.

His defense attorney, Tom Means, filed a petition inquiring into competency and diminished mental capacity, and in July 2004, Michael Kirsch was declared mentally unable to proceed with his case.

"The court concludes that the defendant is not currently competent to stand trial in that he is suffering from a mental disorder resulting in his inability to have a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings against him," Judge Steven Hansen wrote in a 2004 ruling.

Michael Kirsch spent months in the Utah State Hospital being restored to competency. By April 2005, he pleaded guilty and mentally ill to a third-degree felony of aggravated assault.

He was sent again to the state hospital where he was stabilized enough to be sent to prison, Means said. He was released from prison in March 2007 and is still on parole.

Means, head of the Utah County Public Defenders Association, said a large percentage of the individuals their office defends deal with mental health issues.

"The criminal justice system has become the default system for all of society's ills," Means said. "So we're catching up on the way we deal with mentally ill people. Ideally they (would) never reach this (criminal justice) system because their conditions and their behaviors become apparent to those who have the ability to take care of them before they ever get to the criminal justice system."

Friends said they saw the family doing all they could to take care of Michael Kirsch and that they were always working with him in the garden.

"They worked together as a family all the time," Robbins said. "They were just trying to make a new life here."

The family had lived in the home less than a year, having purchased it from Robbins, who lives behind them.

Brent and Kathy Evans, who moved into the neighborhood a few months after the Kirsches, live on a nearby corner and took over a sympathy card Sunday afternoon.

"They were good people," Brent Evans said.

During the Sunday sacrament meeting, it was announced that there had been a tragedy in the ward, Evans said. The ward is paying for the home to be cleaned while Elaine Kirsch spends time with extended family, Robbins said.

"He was very outgoing," Brent Evans said of Christopher Kirsch, who taught gospel doctrine with his wife.

"And a really good teacher," Kathy Evans added.

"He was very, very intelligent," Brent Evans said. "We're going to miss him. It's a tragedy."

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E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com