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Jury selection was to begin in trial

SIGNONSANDIEGO

1:50 p.m. February 2, 2004

Murder defendant Richard Tuite escaped from custody Monday at the San Diego County courts complex on Broadway in downtown San Diego, a police watch commander said.

Police have launched a major manhunt in the downtown area.

Tuite, 34, was due to stand trial this year for allegedly stabbing 12-year-old North County schoolgirl Stephanie Crowe to death six years ago.

Tuite was last seen wearing long-sleeve white shirt, gray pants and brown shoes when last seen.

A mentally ill methamphetamine abuser and petty criminal, Tuite drew attention wandering the streets of North County beating on doors, peering in windows and sometimes entering homes in search of a young woman he had partied with named Tracy Nelson. Police thought he was incapable of pulling off such a killing.

On the night of Jan. 20, 1998, Tuite, then 28, was asking for "Tracy" at a cluster of houses on the rural northeast edge of Escondido where the Crowes lived.

The next morning, Stephanie's family discovered her body in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor. She had been stabbed nine times through her flower-print comforter.

After six years of investigations, aborted prosecutions, political upheaval and federal lawsuits connected to the case, Tuite (pronounced TOO-it) was scheduled to go on trial for Stephanie's murder.

Jury selection, a process that could take a week or longer, was to begin Monday. If convicted, Tuite would face a maximum sentence of 27 years to life in prison.