NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln County District judge has ordered a man who killed six members of a western Nebraska family nearly 40 years ago to remain in a state psychiatric hospital.

Judge Donald Rowlands ruled Wednesday that Erwin Charles Simants will stay in the Lincoln Regional Center, where he’s been since being found not guilty of the killings by reason of insanity in 1979.

Prosecutors say Simants shot and killed Henry and Audrey Kellie, their son David and three of their grandchildren in 1975 at the Kellies’ Sutherland home.

Doctors have testified that Simants is no longer mentally ill and should be moved to a supervised home.

But the judge said Simants is still dangerous and would pose a threat to the public if released.