David Seal, an alleged child molester who escaped four years ago from Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe, was arrested Tuesday on Hawaii island for allegedly killing his Puna neighbor and high school friend.
He allegedly stabbed Rory Wick, a 1999 graduate of Hana High School on Maui. He and Seal, two years Wick’s senior, hung out together and were good friends, said Ha‘aheo Kalani, Wick’s classmate.
Seal was committed to the Kaneohe facility in 2002 after his acquittal by reason of insanity for the kidnapping and sexual assault of an 8-year-old Maui girl.
Hawaii County police said Seal is in custody at the Hilo police cellblock on suspicion of second-degree murder for the stabbing of the 32-year-old man in the Eden Roc subdivision of Puna. No charges have been filed.
Wick was pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m. Tuesday at Hilo Medical Center.
Police are investigating possible aliases Seal used. He appeared to have had no interactions with police and "basically was off the radar," said Lt. Greg Esteban. He and Wick lived in separate dwellings on the same Puna property owned by Wick’s relative.
Honolulu CrimeStoppers said Seal, 34, has been at large since he scaled a 14-foot wire mesh fence at the Kaneohe mental hospital on Dec. 3, 2009. Seal had previously tried to escape twice.
Mark Fridovich, Hawaii State Hospital administrator at the time of the 2009 escape, called the stabbing a tragedy and regrets not being able to get Seal back.
After the escape, hospital officials provided police information about Seal, including where he might be found on Oahu.
"We’re not perfect," he said. "Even a single instance can be tragic."
Seal was a patient in a rehabilitation unit, the lowest of three levels of security, in the hospital’s Guensberg building, the "least modern" in security features, said Fridovich, now Adult Mental Health Division administrator.
The state has made a number of improvements at the hospital after Seal’s escape, resulting in the number of escapes falling to one this year and 2012 from a 10-year high of nine in 2005. Seal was one of eight escapees in 2009.
The hospital has made environmental changes, including routine fencing checks and repairs; procedural changes, "having the staff think through who’s where, who’s doing what and communicating that"; and has improved security cameras, monitoring and other security features, Fridovich said.
Except for Seal, all other escapees have been returned to the hospital through family, police, staff and others, mostly after a few hours, he said.
Hawaii County police responded to a report of a stabbing victim at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday on Pilo Street. They arrived to find an unresponsive man with multiple stab wounds.
They arrested Seal at the scene but did not initially have his identity.
"It took us a while to determine who he was," said Capt. Robert Wagner. "He did not give us his real name."
Police determined his identity with fingerprints run through a database, which is when they learned he was an escapee, Wagner said.
"We don’t know what name he was living under," he said. "We don’t know if people around him knew his background."
Kalani said he was surprised to learn Wick was the man stabbed, "Rory being such a quiet guy that everybody liked."
He added, "He didn’t have enemies. He was laid-back, mellow, quiet, a real nice guy."
Kalani said Seal was a familiar face in school and wrestled for Hana High for a while, but he didn’t know him. He said he suspected Wick had been harboring Seal.
Seal was declared insane after the alleged sexual assault and kidnapping of an 8-year-old girl on Maui on Halloween night in 2001. Seal allegedly grabbed the girl near a park, but was spotted by another man in a secluded area taking the girl’s clothes off.
Seal was caught in the ocean naked and hanging onto a buoy outside the entrance to the Lahaina harbor.
He was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping in 2001 and was acquitted by reason of insanity.
Seal’s mug shot and case file are still listed on the CrimeStoppers website. He was being sought for second-degree escape.
