An “extremely dangerous” psychiatric patient and alleged killer who escaped in Hawaii has been captured in California, The Associated Press said today.
Randall Saito, who was committed to the Hawaii State Hospital on Oahu in 1981 after being acquitted of first-degree murder by reason of insanity, left the hospital outside Honolulu Sunday morning and never returned, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
Police have determined that, shortly after escaping, Saito took a taxi from Kaneohe to Honolulu, where he chartered a plane to Maui. He boarded another plane from there, police said.
Saito arrived in San Jose, California, on Sunday night, police said.
ABC station KGO-TV in San Francisco reported today that the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office has arrested Saito and he’s headed to a jail in Stockton.
Saito was considered “extremely dangerous and should not be approached,” the Honolulu Police Department warned.
Security officers at San Jose International Airport, as well as the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, reviewed surveillance footage from the airport, airport spokesman Jon Vaden told ABC News.
The Hawaii State Department of Health, which runs the Hawaii State Hospital, said earlier it was “cooperating with law enforcement officials to provide them with the information they need in order to conduct their search for the missing patient.”
“The incident is under investigation and details about a patient’s status are restricted by state and federal privacy laws specific to individuals receiving mental health and substance abuse treatment,” the department said earlier in a statement. “The Hawaii Department of Health recognizes the public’s need and right to know more information, but we ask for their patience as this is an ongoing criminal investigation.
“The Hawaii State Hospital is a 202-bed facility and is the only state psychiatric hospital to provide inpatient psychiatric services for court-ordered individuals within a safe and therapeutic environment,” the department added.
ABC News’ Matt Foster, Kate Hodgson, Michael Kreisel and Rex Sakamoto contributed to this report.
