Swancara to undergo mental health evaluation

The Pend Oreille County man charged with stabbing and killing his own mother appeared in court Thursday.

Police believe 24-year-old Matthew Swancara was responsible for the death of his mother, 57-year-old Sally Swancara.

She was found stabbed to death in her Elk-area home early last month.

Swancara was found hitchhiking in Kalispell, Montana when he was arrested.

On Thursday he appeared in Pend Oreille Superior Court but did not enter a plea

“There’s a question of whether or not he, well, whether or not he is sane or not, we don’t know, we don’t have the full report yet we are not in a position to have him do an arraignment which would be a plea of guilty or not guilty before we know what his competency level is,” defense attorney Robin McCroskey said.

Swancara will be evaluated at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake and it will likely take more than a month before the results of the evaluation are released.