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Killer of Studio Guards Sent to Mental Hospital

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Nathan Nicholas Trupp, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity last month in the 1988 killings of two Universal Studios guards, was assigned Monday to a state hospital for the criminally insane in San Bernadino County.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clarence A. Stromwall ordered Trupp, 43, of Albuquerque, N.M., committed to Patton State Hospital. Under a plea agreement on May 25, Trupp admitted killing Armando Torres, 18, of Los Angeles and Jeren Beeks, 27, of La Crescenta for a court judgment of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The two unarmed security guards were shot to death Dec. 1, 1988, after turning Trupp away from the amusement park gate. Prosecutors said Trupp was stalking actor Michael Landon because he believed Landon to be a Nazi. Trupp allegedly killed three people in an Albuquerque bagel shop three days before the Universal City shooting.

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The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office allowed the plea agreement after three court-appointed psychiatrists concluded that Trupp was insane at the time of the shooting. Though Trupp can periodically petition for a hearing on whether his sanity has been restored, prosecutors say it is unlikely he will ever be released.

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