Search continues for Tongan escapee

Nuku’alofa: A murder suspect in Tonga continues to evade Police on the high seas, after he escaped from a Police station in Vava’u on Thursday. Dean Jay Fletcher, 54, a United States citizen, faces a charge of murder following the death of his wife while their yacht, Sea Oak, was anchored in Vava’u. But Mr Fletcher escaped from a local Police station in the early hours of Thursday morning and sailed away on his yacht.

Police officers managed to track him down about 16 kilometres Northwest of Vava’u, but the pursuit was called off when Mr Fletcher fired flares at their boat. Source: RNZI