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A Georgia man, who inflicted severe self-harm while incarcerated, has been deemed mentally fit to stand trial. Robert Keller, 32, faces multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder, and armed robbery, related to the 2024 death of 43-year-old Bruce Dupree.
Following his arrest, Keller reportedly gouged out his own eyes and bit off part of his tongue. This alarming behavior prompted authorities to conduct a competency evaluation to determine his mental condition, according to court documents accessed by Law & Crime.
Keller’s defense team argued that he was insane at the time of Dupree’s murder. However, psychologists Dr. Jeremy Gay and Dr. Daniel Fass refuted this claim. They stated in court documents that Keller’s acts of self-mutilation occurred after the alleged crime, not during it.
Dr. Gay further asserted that Keller was not experiencing delusions or an inability to distinguish right from wrong during the crime.
Dr. Fass also reported that Keller demonstrated intellectual capabilities above average compared to others he has assessed, and did not exhibit symptoms of severe, chronic mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. As reported by WJCL, Dr. Fass speculated that Keller’s self-harm might have stemmed from feelings of guilt or shame.
In addition, Fass noted in the court documents that Keller displayed “intellectual functioning” that was better than most of those he evaluates and didn’t show any symptoms of “severe, persistent medical” illnesses like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. He added, per WJCL, that he believed Keller had injured himself out of a sense of guilt or shame.
During a competency hearing held Jan. 27, two officers working at the jail also testified that Keller had told them he wanted to go to a medical prison, according to the records. He allegedly told them that he was not mentally ill and only told others he heard voices to “cover his ass.”
What Are the Allegations Against Robert Keller?
Keller was arrested after the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office received reports Oct. 14, 2024 of a person laying on the side of the Interstate 16 near Mile Marker 113, according to an earlier statement from the department. Emergency personnel rendered medical aid, however, Dupree, who suffered “multiple injuries on his torso, head, hands/arms and neck,” succumbed to his injuries.
Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Todd Hutchens said during a press conference held at the time, per the Statesboro Herald, that Keller was located after a clerk at Pojo’s truck stop noticed a person paid with blood-soaked cash. The customer—later identified by investigators as Keller—also had blood on his hands.
Deputies responded and located Dupree’s Kia abandoned on the side of the road not far from the convenience store.
By then Keller had fled the scene, but he was tracked to the Patriot Inn after the clerk there called 911 reporting a strange man matching the same description the Pojo’s employee gave wandering the grounds. According to Hutchens, deputies saw “Mr. Keller run from the Patriot Inn out to the highway,” where he was apprehended.
At the time, Hutchens said although they believed the crime was “not random,” authorities were unsure of the connection between the two men.
Oxygen reached out to Hutchens for additional comment, but did not receive an immediate reply.
Keller was accused in an indictment, obtained by WJCL, of stabbing Dupree, before stealing his car and phone. He’s now facing charges of malice murder, multiple felony murder counts, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle and possesion of a knife during the commission of a felony.
