By Ryan Oliver

Special to The Herald

LOS ANGELES In the year before 27-year-old Keven Lee Graff was charged with capital murder in the brutal stabbing of two elderly neighbors, his family tried repeatedly to get him off the streets and into a mental institution because of his erratic behavior.

Graff, a former U.S. Marine based at Camp Pendleton, has confounded those who watched his transformation from an average small-town high school boy into a drug addict and transient.

“He was diagnosed as a manic-depressive, and about a year ago, he had a complete nervous breakdown,” Graff’s half-brother, Jacob Graff, said in a phone interview from his home in Boardman.

“Everyone in the family was trying to help him. We tried getting him institutionalized, but everyone was telling us the authorities wouldn’t do anything about it unless he was a threat to himself or others.”

Keven Graff was charged Wednesday with two counts of murder with special circumstances in the grisly slayings Sunday of 91-year-old former screenwriter Robert Lees, who was decapitated, and Dr. Morley Engelson, 69, who was stabbed.

Graff’s arraignment was postponed Wednesday to June 29. He is being held without bail at Twin Towers Jail.

Former neighbors said Graff had a solid upbringing, living with his father, Steve, despite his parents’ divorce at a young age.

“He was one of the best kids growing up here,” said Dan Huxoll, who still lives in Graff’s hometown of Irrigon. “He was clean-cut and stayed out of trouble.”

Jacob Graff, 21, said Keven joined the Marines shortly after high school to get out of rural Oregon. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton but was released on a medical discharge for an injured ankle.

Keven Graff lived with various friend and acquaintances, but his family lost track of him and last summer reported him missing. He eventually was located by a patrol officer in Merced, and offered no explanation for where he had been.

Keven was living with Jacob in Fullerton last July, when he called 911 to complain that someone was threatening his girlfriend. Officers took him in for a psychiatric evaluation, but was released after a few days.

“He was argumentative, making unclear statements, nervous and talking rapidly. There were other people there with him saying he had been acting bizarrely,” Fullerton police spokesman Steve Matson said. “We just felt at the time he was looked at by a professional.”

About six months ago, Jacob said, the family got Keven admitted to the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Long Beach for observation, but he was released after 10 days.

Keven continued to wander through Orange County and beyond. On April 17, in Las Vegas, he was arrested on suspicion of lewd behavior after exposing himself to a woman, officials said. He later pleaded guilty for disorderly conduct.

Los Angeles police Capt. Al Michelena said detectives have strong physical evidence against Graff, including fingerprints at the scene, but still have not determined a motive for the slayings. They suspect, however, that methamphetamine use was a factor.

“He is a narcotics abuser, and we have some ideas, but hopefully we come up with something,” he said. “Like anybody else, this guy really didn’t start out the way he ended.”

Jacob Graff said his family feels great sorrow over the deaths of Lees and Engelson and sympathizes with their families. The family also remains frustrated by its inability to get help for Keven.

“I think the Marines changed him,” Jacob Graff said. “He was never the same after he got out. We tried to get him committed, but the mental health people, the police no one would listen.”

“I think the people who get to know Keven and get involved in this case are going to have a lot of remorse for him,” he said.

methamphetamine use was a factor.

“He is a narcotics abuser, and we have some ideas, but hopefully we come up with something,” he said. “Like anybody else, this guy really didn’t start out the way he ended.”

Jacob Graff said his family feels great sorrow over the deaths of Lees and Engelson and sympathizes with their families. The family also remains frustrated by its inability to get help for Keven.

– This article first appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News.