The teenager charged with stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death was released from jail in the spring because there was no room in mental health services, court documents show.

Robbie W. Bishop, 19, was declared incompetent to stand trial on burglary, theft and malicious mischief charges and was to undergo treatment at East State Hospital.

But nearly four months after the charges were filed, the hospital still didn't have room for him, leading Spokane County Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno to approve a motion by his defense attorney, Kari Reardon, to dismiss all charges.

Bishop was to undergo a mental health evaluation before being released, according to a document filed April 9.

Bishop returned to jail late Saturday, charged with second-degree murder for the brutal slaying of Robin M. Anderson, 33, that night.

Police say Anderson was stabbed more than 20 times with three knives, one of which protruded from her back when officers found her in the living room of a home where she and Bishop were staying at 901 W. Bowman in Spokane Valley.

The home belongs to Bishop's cousin, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Bishop's cousin called 911 after Bishop called her and said "he had stabbed Robin and she had stabbed him in the back," according to court documents. Bishop was treated for stab wounds on hand after police arrested Bishop a couple blocks from the home. He's being held on $1 million bond after appearing before Judge Sam Cozza via video Monday.

Bishop's mother, Lisa Draper, said she visited Bishop in jail and said he continued to ask if Anderson was really dead and "if he could see his son," Draper said.

Police first responded to reports of violence between the couple in December 2008, when Anderson called police and said Bishop had punched her several times, according to court papers.

When officers arrived, she told them Bishop had broken into the Meals on Wheels office at Pratt Elementary School a week earlier, leading to his arrest. Charges were filed in January, and Bishop underwent mental evaluations that determined he couldn't understand the charges against him, according to court documents.

But the program he needed at Eastern was full, court documents show, leading to his release in April. Officials at Eastern State Hospital did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Bishop has been diagnosed with mild mental retardation and lives on disability payments, Draper said. He met Anderson, who was also unemployed, at Riverfront Park on the Fourth of July in 2008, she said. They'd lived together since then, including a three-month stay at Draper's home on 3rd Avenue. They moved out because Draper couldn't take the bickering, she said.

"It was fighting over money, fighting over what they're going to buy to fighting over what they were going to wear," Draper said.

Anderson's pregnancy was an additional stress on their relationship, Draper said. Bishop and Anderson were fighting over custody of the child when "she attacked him first so he retaliated and unfortunately didn't stop," Draper said.

"The multiple stab wounds, location of those wounds, and the manner in which the victim died was very violent and appears consistent with an attack greater than self defense," according to a probable cause affidavit prepared by Spokane County Sheriff's Detective Lyle Johnston.

Bishop's arraignment is set for Sept. 3.