Posted on 11/15/2017 10:48:53 PM PST by nickcarraway
A man who escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Hawaii, flew to Maui and then hopped on a plane to San Jose was captured by sheriff's deputies in Stockton Wednesday morning thanks to a tip from an alert cab driver, according to sheriff's officials.
The arrest puts an end to a days-long search for Randall Saito, who was found not guilty of a 1979 murder by reason of insanity and has been described as fitting the profile of a serial killer.
Saito walked out of Hawaii State Hospital on Sunday, climbed into a waiting taxi, and boarded a charter flight before the state Health Department even had a chance to alert authorities about his absence.
Saito was arrested in Stockton around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday by San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies, according to the sheriff's office. Saito was detained by three deputies outside of a gas station. The sheriff's department noted that a tip from an alert taxi driver led to the arrest.
Honolulu police said the 59-year-old Saito flew to Maui, and from there boarded a plane to San Jose. He arrived at Mineta San Jose International Airport around 7:30 p.m. local time Sunday.
It wasn't immediately known how he was able to charter a plane. Police wouldn't provide details about his flight to California.
It took hospital personnel eight hours to notify local law enforcement once they realized Saito was missing.
Late Tuesday night, the Hawaii Attorney General's office charged Saito with felony escape and issued a $500,000 bench warrant for his arrest.
in 1981 after being acquitted by reason of insanity of the murder of 29-year-old Sandra Yamashiro. The woman, selected at random, was shot in the face with a pellet gun and repeatedly stabbed. Her body was found in her car at a Honolulu shopping mall.
Defense attorneys sought to have Saito released in 2000. But Jeff Albert, a deputy city prosecutor, objected, saying Saito “fills all the criteria of a classic serial killer.”
In 1993, a court denied Saito’s request for conditional release, saying he continued to suffer from sexual sadism and necrophilia.
The state Department of Health operates the hospital, which houses over 300 patients in Kaneohe. The department said it’s investigating the escape.
Somebody has helped him.
...continuing to suffer
Missing 8! EIGHT! HOURS! before LEO called. I’m on the Big Island, but I know how the union works in this BlueState controlled by the unions. We shall see how they spin this...
A. He should not be sent back to that same hospital that took a full EIGHT HOURS before they contacted authorities.
B. This is the kind of sick person who some theorize is used to commit murders, some random targets, some VERY SPECIFIC TARGETS.
C. Remember that autistic young man from England who drove across the country hoping to find Donald Trump at a rally in Las Vegas. Michael Steven Sandford from Surrey, England.
Where did he get such ideas from?
How did he get the money to be flying around?
Mugging a couple of passersby probably isn’t going to do it, not with buying a last minute ticket.
I guess someone had to make sure their butt was covered first for whatever screw up allowed this guy to WALK out.
Bttt
I lived there in Stockton for about a year when I was 18. The fact that a psychopathic killer would escape HI and make a beeline for Stockton makes perfect sense to me, having known just what kind of weird crime vortex it was all those years ago.
California=Sanctuary State?
This, quite possibly, could be a Capt Obvious moment. Was the taxi specifically waiting for him? Then, he got on a charter flight? Riiiiiighttttt.
I’m curious how he made it past TSA, and what did he use for ID?
It makes you wonder if the same people who got him on a charter flight also paid off the guards to let him walk and not report it until the next shift
Questions that make you go hmmmm.
“Violent Psychopath” is merely an “alternative lifestyle” - who are we to judge?
Another democrat released from the asylum to kill and injure citizens.
How did this guy manage to board not one, but two commercial aircraft? Do raving lunatics automatically get a pass from the TSA? How did he manage to buy tickets?
I think charter flights are not subject to TSA pat-downs &c.
Which makes this a very interesting set of circumstances. That very convenient difference in security measures, the extra cost of the charter even as compared to a walk-up one-way right-now commercial fare, and its apparent immediate availability, are three strikes against this guy just happening to find this flight randomly.
I wonder what new crime he — and certainly somebody else — were planning. This would be a great Hawaii 5-0 episode.
TSA...
Thousands Standing Around.
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