A 37-year-old […] from a West Bank settlement, previously charged with murdering his mother and committed to a psychiatric hospital pending trial, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing a fellow patient in his 60s.

A postmortem examination at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine determined that the victim had been beaten to death. On Thursday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court extended the suspect’s detention by eight days.

The suspect, who has been held in custody pending trial, was recently transferred to Jerusalem’s Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center for evaluation. Police say [that] he allegedly assaulted the fellow patient in a corridor and was later captured on security cameras attempting to climb the facility’s fences in an effort to escape.

According to the indictment for his mother’s murder, the suspect suffocated her with a pillow and then tried to stage the scene to cover up the crime. Police initially believed [that] her death was from natural causes, but the suspect later confessed.

“The defendant held a folding knife and climbed on top of [his mother], who tried to reach for another knife to defend herself. After deliberation, the defendant decided to suffocate her using a pillow,” the indictment states.

“To complete the act, he pressed his foot on her neck and continued choking her for approximately four more minutes until she died.”