Escaped psych patient from Hawaii captured in California

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A man who escaped from a psychiatric hospital near Honolulu Sunday and flew to San Jose has been taken into custody. Randall Saito is being held at the Stockton main jail.

San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies took Saito into custody around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after investigators received a tip from an alert taxi driver. Saito was arrested in the area of Highway 99 and Waterloo Road in Stockton.

Honolulu police said after Saito escaped from the hospital, he took a taxi from Kaneohe to Honolulu, then chartered a plane to Maui. From there, he boarded a plane to San Jose and arrived around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

MORE: Escaped patient who flew to CA has 'criteria of classic serial killer,' prosecutors say

A spokesperson at the San Jose airport told ABC7's sister station KGO that on Tuesday afternoon, "SJC's Security Officer assisted law enforcement officers from the FBI and US Marshal's Office in their request to review airport security footage. They reviewed all available footage relevant to their investigation."

Saito was committed to Hawaii State Hospital in 1981 after being acquitted by reason of insanity of the murder of Sandra Yamashiro. She had been shot and stabbed multiple times. Her body was found in her car at a Honolulu shopping mall.

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.