Police1 Critical Alert
Murder defendant Richard Tuite escaped from custody Monday afternoon at the San Diego County courts complex on Broadway in downtown San Diego, police said.
A major manhunt was launched both inside the complex and outside in the downtown area.
One courthouse employee reportedly sighted Tuite walking eastbound on Broadway.
Tuite was last seen wearing a long-sleeve white shirt, gray pants and brown shoes, said Dave Cohen, San Diego police spokesman.
Jury selection was to begin Monday in the trial of Tuite, 34, for allegedly stabbing 12-year-old Escondido schoolgirl Stephanie Crowe to death six years ago.
Police received a call to assist in the hunt for Tuite at 1:25 p.m., Cohen said. Among the dozens of officers responding were Police Chief Bill Lansdowne and Executive Assistant Chief John Welter, Cohen said.
A mentally ill methamphetamine abuser and petty criminal, Tuite drew attention wandering the streets of North County beating on doors, peering in windows and sometimes entering homes in search of a young woman he had partied with named Tracy Nelson. Police thought he was incapable of pulling off such a killing.
On the night of Jan. 20, 1998, Tuite, then 28, was asking for “Tracy” at a cluster of houses on the rural northeast edge of Escondido where the Crowes lived.
The next morning, Stephanie’s family discovered her body in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor. She had been stabbed nine times through her flower-print comforter.
After six years of investigations, aborted prosecutions, political upheaval and federal lawsuits connected to the case, Tuite (pronounced TOO-it) was scheduled to go on trial for Stephanie’s murder.
Jury selection, a process that could take a week or longer, was to begin Monday. If convicted, Tuite would face a maximum sentence of 27 years to life in prison.
The Hall of Justice was in a virtual lockdown between 1:45 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. No one was allowed inside the building during that time, and no one was allowed out.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who was informed of the escape by her spokeswoman Gail Stewart, via telephone, said her heart goes out to Stephanie Crowe’s family.
“Hopefully, he will be apprehended shortly,” Stewart said.
Stewart noted that the case was being prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s office.
Anyone who believes they may have seen Tuite is asked to contact local authorities at (619) 531-2000 or call 911, SDPD spokesman Cohen said.
It was not immediately known how Tuite escaped custody. Tuite was dressed in the street clothes, and typically, defendants are not shackled or otherwise bound in court in front of juries. Defense attorneys argue that citizens could be prejudiced by the sight of their clients bound duiring trials.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune