Letters From 95-Year-Old Murder Suspect Okey Payne Show Trail Of Paranoia

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (CBS4) - Accused 95-year-old murderer Okey Payne had a recent history of paranoia, according to letters reviewed by CBS4's Dillon Thomas. The letters, composed on a typewriter, were sent to some of Payne's friends in 2020 and highlighted his belief that the staff at Legacy Assisted Living in Lafayette was taking advantage of him.

Lafayette police said Payne shot and killed Legacy staff member Ricardo Medina-Rojas in the head on Wednesday, after confronting him about money that was believed to be missing from his own wallet.

Payne's friend, John, told CBS4 the letters clearly showed the elderly man's downward mental spiral throughout the past 15 months. According to John, and confirmed by police records, Payne's wife recently left him after 55 years of marriage. Payne moved into Legacy and soon after raised suspicions that the staff was after him.

"As soon as I heard there was an incident (at Legacy) I was immediately concerned it was him," John, who wished not to share his last name, said. "I honestly just couldn't believe that he snapped the way he did. To be honest, I almost threw up."

John described Payne as a Christian man who regularly attended mass and said his rosary daily. He said he never thought Payne was capable of murder.

John said Payne was likely starting to become mentally fatigued from the drastic change in his marital status mixed with isolations imposed by Legacy staff due to COVID-19.

"It seemed to me he was just starting to lose trust. That started to develop in to, 'A lot of people are out to get me,'" John said.

In multiple-page letters sent to John, Payne typed that he believed the staff at Legacy were regularly spying on him. Payne regularly referred to Legacy as "a den of thieves" who tapped his phone and traced his every move.

However, Payne seemed to be regularly concerned with his financial security and others trying to steal from him. John said he was shocked to learn his friend allegedly committed murder but was not surprised to hear Payne was irritated over potential theft of money.

"(Those concerns are) not new," John said. "He was certain that somebody was coming into his apartment and taking things."

In police reports obtained by CBS4 Payne told police he believed the staff at Legacy was also drugging him at times. He told police he kept money in his wallet and noticed it was regularly going missing.

Payne wrote John saying he believed management at Legacy was trying to "dump" him.

Payne allegedly waited in the lobby of the facility Wednesday morning until Medina-Rojas arrived for work. When Medina-Rojas walked in Payne allegedly confronted the worker and asked where his money was. When Medina-Rojas disregarded him, Payne said he shot the worker once in the head. He later allegedly told police that he should have waited for other employees to shoot as well.

John said he did not know Payne ever planned on taking physical action against those he believed were scheming against him. John tried to work with Payne at times to review his financial concerns. Some theories were squashed after John found money believed to be taken. Other "significant amounts of money" were missing from John's records. However, John said that simply could have been due to lack of proper tracing and bookkeeping.

John didn't believe Payne was the type of guy who would take such drastic actions without genuinely believing what he did.
"I feel like, in his mind, he believed what he was doing was right," John said. "Where he might think somebody was doing something wasn't really truly reality."

John said it is still possible that Okey Payne was correct, and that someone on the Legacy staff was stealing from him. However, John said he believed the stresses of life as of late were starting to wear on a man who was watching his normal life collapse around him.

John did share the issues raised in the letters with a Boulder County organization that assists older adults with different needs months ago. He said he knew the organization did reach out to help Payne at one point.

"Okey was a good person when I knew him. Something happened where he went down this road and felt that this was the only way he could resolve the situation in his head. That is really, really sad," John said.

John said the actions his friend allegedly made were inexcusable and disheartening, and he expressed his condolences and prayers to the family of Medina-Rojas.

Payne faces charges of first-degree murder and felony menacing after Lafayette police said he pointed the firearm at other staff the day of the shooting.