Saito said he escaped to prove his ability to ‘act appropriately’

Escaped murderer Randall Saito said in television interviews Thursday that the Hawaii State Hospital wouldn’t give him a chance — that every time he applied for release, officials made him “sound like a bad guy.”

Saito, 59, escaped Sunday from the psychiatric hospital nearly four decades after he shot and stabbed a woman in an Ala Moana Shopping Center parking lot. He was captured Wednesday in California, where in interviews conducted behind bars he said he left the facility to prove he could act responsibly on his own.

“I decided I needed to escape and prove that I’m on my own,” Saito said from jail in Stockton. “That I can be out here and act appropriately. Even though I escaped to do it,” Saito told San Francisco television station KGO-TV.

Saito said he used a fake ID to get through Transportation Security Administration checks at the Maui airport. He said the ID had his photo and used another person’s name.

He wouldn’t say who helped him get the identification.

When he walked out of the state hospital in Kaneohe Sunday, he got a taxi to Lagoon Drive and took a charter plane to Maui, where he caught another flight to San Jose. Saito told KGO he flew to San Jose because it was the cheapest ticket.

Saito was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity for the 1979 killing of Sandra Yamashiro. He said he fabricated mental illness — he was diagnosed with sexual sadism and necrophilia — to get into the hospital. But he said he regretted doing so. He also said he regretted killing Yamashiro.

“I regret the murder. Let’s just make that clear. I do have remorse about it. I am absolutely contrite. No one else can be more contrite than I. Because no one is more responsible. What do they want me to do? I can’t turn back time,” Saito said.

He said he was a substance abuser for three years before the killing.

“I was in bad shape. I was paranoid,” he said.

Saito is one of 17 people who have escaped from the 202-bed hospital in the past eight years. Most happened when a patient broke “curfew” and didn’t return after being allowed to leave for a period of time.

Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Hawaii State Department of Health, told the Associated Press last year the majority of those who escape are returned within a few days. However, in 2009 one person escaped and was missing for nearly three years before being arrested.

Saito didn’t have privileges to leave hospital grounds without an escort, and repeated attempts to win such passes were rejected by the court.

He was allowed to roam hospital grounds unattended. It took the hospital at least eight hours to notify law enforcement that Saito was missing.

He was captured in Stockton after authorities got a tip from a taxi company there.

Joe Martin, general manager of Yellow Cab and Valley Transport Services Inc., told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that Saito first called Yellow Cab Tuesday morning and a female driver picked him up at the California Inn to take him to and from a Walmart.

According to a hotel front desk employee, Saito stayed at the hotel for two nights and used the name “Michael” when he checked in.

Martin said he had heard in news reports Tuesday night that an escapee from Hawaii might be in Northern California.

Just after 8:50 a.m. (PST) Wednesday, Saito again called the cab company — requesting the same driver for another ride to Walmart, Martin said. But the female driver refused the request and Martin instead sent a male driver to pick up Saito at about 9:15 to 9:30 a.m. (PST).

Martin said he called the female driver to find out why she declined to pick up the passenger, and he said she informed him she had learned through media reports the man was Saito and that he had a violent past.

Martin said at that point, the male driver already had Saito in his cab. Martin said he sent the driver a photo of the escapee but the driver didn’t believe it was Saito.

When the driver drove Saito back to his hotel, Martin heard the driver request over the radio for a fare quote to Reno, Nev.

Worried about his safety, he recalled telling the driver: “I need you to tell me where you’re at.” When the driver didn’t answer via radio and cell phone, Martin said, “I got this sick feeling in my stomach. I just had to call the sheriffs.”

“I was in fear of the safety of my driver. That’s why I called,” he added.

Deputy sheriffs apprehended Saito at a gas station where the cab driver was getting gas. The station is located across from the hotel where Saito was staying.

When asked whether he suspected the taxi was planning to head to Reno, Martin said, “I’m pretty sure that was going to happen. I think they were getting ready to go.”

Star-Advertiser staff writer Rosemarie Bernardo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.