HONOLULU (AP) - The Latest on a dangerous Hawaii man who escaped from the state psychiatric hospital (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
Police say a dangerous man who escaped from Hawaii’s psychiatric hospital is believed to be in Northern California.
Honolulu police say Randall Saito is considered extremely dangerous. He was acquitted of a 1979 murder by reason of insanity and committed to the hospital.
Police say he left the hospital Sunday, took a taxi to a chartered plane to Maui and then boarded another plane to San Jose, California.
Police say he arrived in San Jose two hours before hospital staff reported his disappearance.
Hawaii State Hospital Administrator William May said Tuesday that officials are fully cooperating with law enforcement and appropriate steps would be taken if Saito had help from someone inside the facility.
He says the hospital will conduct an internal review once Saito is returned to custody and a criminal investigation is complete.
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4:15 p.m.
Officials say a man acquitted of murder by reason of insanity was reported to police hours after he left the state psychiatric hospital and failed to return.
It’s not clear under what circumstances Randall Saito was away from the facility in a Honolulu suburb.
Police in Hawaii say Saito took a flight to California on Sunday after flying to Maui from Honolulu.
Hawaii State Hospital Administrator William May said Tuesday that officials are fully cooperating with law enforcement and appropriate steps would be taken if Saito had help from someone inside the facility.
He says the hospital will conduct an internal review once Saito is returned to custody and a criminal investigation is complete.
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3:10 p.m.
Police in Hawaii say an escaped psychiatric hospital patient who had been tried for murder took a flight to California on Sunday after flying to Maui from Honolulu.
San Jose airport spokesman Jon Vaden said the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service have reviewed security footage from San Jose International Airport in connection with the manhunt for Randall Saito.
Vaden said police have not advised him of any threats at the airport.
He could not confirm that Saito had flown into San Jose International and referred further questions to the Honolulu Police Department, which did not immediately return calls and an email seeking information about his current whereabouts, despite concerns about public safety.
Police say Saito escaped the state psychiatric facility on Oahu, where he had been detained since 1981 after being found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
Saito was committed to the hospital in 1981 - two years after a woman was killed at a Honolulu shopping mall.
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12:36 p.m.
Maui police say a Hawaii man once accused of murder who escaped from the state’s psychiatric hospital has caught a flight off Maui.
The Maui Police Department on Tuesday didn’t say where Randall Saito went. Saito was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity for the 1979 killing of a woman at a shopping mall. He has been committed to the hospital since 1981.
Honolulu police say Saito left the Hawaii State Hospital outside Honolulu at 9 a.m. Sunday and failed to return. Maui police say he flew to Maui shortly afterward.
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.”
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9 a.m.
Hawaii authorities are searching for a man who escaped from the state’s psychiatric hospital outside Honolulu and flew to Maui.
Honolulu police say Randall Saito left the Hawaii State Hospital at 9 a.m. Sunday and failed to return.
Maui County police say Saito flew to Maui shortly after he left the hospital, but they don’t know where he is now.
Saito was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity for the 1979 killing of a woman at a shopping mall.
The 59-year-old is 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and 220 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.
Saito was committed to the hospital in 1981.
Defense attorneys sought to have him released in 2000. But prosecutors objected, saying Saito fit the criteria of a classic serial killer.
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