Dangerous Hawaii psychiatric patient arrested in California
HONOLULU— A man acquitted of a 1979 murder by reason of insanity who escaped from a Hawaii psychiatric hospital over the weekend was arrested in California on Wednesday.
Randall Saito left the Hawaii State Hospital on Sunday, took a taxi to a chartered plane bound for the island of Maui and then boarded another plane to San Jose, Calif., Honolulu police said.
Saito was captured in the city of Stockton on Wednesday morning as the result of a tip from an alert taxi driver, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’ s Department said.
The department posted a photograph on social media showing Saito surrounded by three deputies at a gas station.
Hospital staff called 911 to report his disappearance shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday — two hours after he landed in San Jose, Honolulu police said.
Honolulu police received a tip that Saito was on his way to a brother’s home in Stockton and forwarded that information to authorities in California, Honolulu police Sgt. Chris Kim said.
It wasn’t immediately known how he was able to charter a plane.
The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service reviewed security footage from San Jose International Airport in connection with the manhunt Tuesday, said Jon Vaden, a spokesman for the airport.
Late Tuesdaynight, the Hawaii Attorney General’s office charged Saito with felony escape and issued a $500,000 bench warrant for his arrest.
Saito was committed to the hospital in 1981, two years after he was acquitted in the killing of Sandra Yamashiro.
The victim was shot and repeatedly stabbed before her body was found in her car at amall.
“He is a very dangerous individual,” said Wayne Tashima, a Honolulu prosecutor who argued in 2015 against Saito receiving passes to leave the hospital grounds without an escort.
It was not immediately clear under what circumstances Saito left the facility in Kaneohe, a Ho- nolulu suburb.
Hawaii State Hospital Administrator William May said officials are fully cooperating with lawenforcement and appropriate steps would be taken if Saito had help from someone inside the facility.
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.