Necrophiliac Killer Who Escaped From Hawaii Caught in Stockton

A convicted killer who escaped from a mental hospital near Honolulu and flew to the Bay Area is in custody in San Joaquin County.

Randall Saito's arrest in Stockton ended a manhunt that began on Sunday.

Saito was acquitted of a 1979 murder by reason of insanity. Defense attorneys sought to have him 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.

Honolulu police say Saito left the state hospital in the Honolulu suburb of Kaneohe, chartered a plane to Maui and then flew to San Jose on a commercial airline. Hospital staff reported him missing on Sunday, two hours after he arrived in the Bay Area.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Frank Conroy said several anonymous hotline and investigative tips pointed law enforcement to the city of Stockton.

"Any time that stuff gets put out in the news as heavily as this case has been put out in the news in a short period of time, you get a lot of information that comes in from citizens, from the public, and that's awesome because we can't be everywhere at once. And they see things that we might not see," said Conroy.

Saito was nabbed thanks to a tip from a cab company. San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dave Konecny said deputies caught Saito off guard as he was riding in a taxi and made the arrest on a $500,000 bench warrant.

"It was a terrific job by the cab company giving us the information -- and/or the cabbie," said Konecny. "It's great to get this escapee, as serious as it is, off the streets."

Konecny said Saito will be extradited back to Hawaii.