Public safety officials are trying to piece together how murder suspect Teddy Munet escaped from corrections officers behind the Circuit Court building in Kakaako on Wednesday morning.
More than 11 hours later, Munet, 29, was arrested without incident by Honolulu police on Waimanu Street — about eight blocks away — after a tip was called into 911.
More than 50 state sheriffs and Honolulu police officers fanned the island through the day in search of Munet, charged with murder in the death of his friend William "Billy" Fallau. Fallau’s body was found by hikers at Kawainui State Park Reserve on July 19. He had been shot in the back of the neck.
Munet was captured about 7:20 p.m. outside a condominium complex at 1133 Waimanu St.
The arrest shocked the condo residents.
"I saw him on the ground (when police arrested him)," said Del Brown, 37, who recalled thinking, "I wonder if this is not the murder suspect."
Elizabeth Maki, who also lives at the building, said she stayed away from home until she thought it was safe.
"I drove in the middle lane, and didn’t want to stop at any stoplights," she said, for fear of encountering the fugitive.
After being informed of his arrest, she remarked, "And it’s right in front of my condo? Oh, my God!"
State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai said Munet, who was being held at Oahu Community Correctional Center pending his murder trial, was in one of four vans of inmates that arrived at the back loading dock of the courthouse about 8 a.m.
"It was a pretty heavy load this morning," Sakai said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "As they were unloading the vans, one of the inmates bolted and ran and escaped."
Sakai said two corrections officers are assigned to each van. Munet was one of eight prisoners in his van, he said.
Munet ran up the driveway ramp and onto Reed Lane heading in the Diamond Head direction, Sakai said. One of the corrections officers gave chase, but Munet had a head start and the officer could not catch up, he said.
Sakai said Munet should have been in leg shackles but was not.
"I’m not sure (why) and this is something we’re investigating," he said. "This is of concern to us."
Munet was wearing handcuffs and a belly chain at the time of the escape, Sakai said.
Shortly after Munet escaped, he apparently tried to carjack a parent dropping off a student at nearby Voyager Public Charter School, Principal Mary Beth Barr said.
"He attempted to take her out of her car, so she called police and the school office," Barr said. "That spurred us to go into lockdown."
Barr said the school is an L-shaped building with its entrance facing Halekauwila Street and its side facing Reed Lane, where the attempted carjacking was reported. She credited teachers and the presence of an HPD officer on campus for keeping the school’s 286 students in kindergarten through eighth grade calm throughout the day.
"Our teachers kept everyone contained and happy so that our kids weren’t scared," Barr said. "It turned out to be an OK day after all."
More than 20 schools and preschools from Kakaako to Manoa went into lockdown after the escape.
At KCAA Muriel Preschool, center director Cora Gibo said lunch was served to students in their classrooms. "We notified parents and assured them we are in lockdown and we’re in a safe situation," Gibo said.
By 1:30 p.m., most locked-down campuses allowed students to leave when school ended.
About 25 Honolulu Police Department plainclothes and uniformed patrol officers joined about 40 sheriff’s deputies in combing the downtown area, then other parts of Oahu.
Maj. Richard Robinson, head of HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division, confirmed the attempted hijacking at Reed Lane as well as a reported sighting of Munet at Kakaako Waterfront Park. By 5 p.m., HPD reported it had received several dozen reports from people who believed they had spotted the heavily tattooed man, last seen wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt and black shorts.
Munet had been held in OCCC in lieu of $1 million bail. He was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possessing drug paraphernalia and three firearms counts.
Munet’s attorney, Edward Harada of the state public defender’s office, said Wednesday’s hearing was on a routine motion asking for police records related to the case.
Harada said Munet has pleaded not guilty and intends to take the case to trial, which is set for April 1.
That has not changed despite the escape, Harada told The Associated Press.
OCCC inmates being taken to court proceedings are in the custody of OCCC corrections officers until they enter the building, at which point they are the responsibility of state sheriffs, Sakai said. In this case, Munet was in the custody of corrections officers, he said.
"When people really want to escape, they find a way to do it. That’s all I can say," Sakai said. "It’s really unfortunate. We don’t like it. We’re going to do everything we can, we’re going to review our procedures … to prevent something like this from happening again."
Two of the four vans made it into an enclosed section of the loading dock while the other two, apparently including the one Munet was in, were outside, Sakai said.
Ideally, he said, vans should be inside the enclosure when inmates are taken out of the van, he said.
Sakai said another concern Public Safety and the state Judiciary will review is finding a better way to notify court employees and neighboring businesses about an escape in a more timely manner.
"It’s going to be difficult, but we’re going to find a way to do that," he said.
No corrections officers or sheriffs have been put on leave as a result of the incident, which is still under review, Sakai said.
State Sheriff Shawn Tsuha said that, ideally, there would be more corrections officers overseeing the transfers.
An escape carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment.
The escape was the second from the court building in less than four months. About noon Oct. 31, a prisoner apparently climbed into the third-floor ceiling above a secure room, crawled about 40 feet, dropped down into a utility room and walked out a nearby exit. The escapee was captured by sheriffs the following morning in the parking lot of the Pali Safeway-Longs complex.
Melissa Fallau, the sister of murder victim Billy Fallau, said Wednesday she was "completely baffled and disappointed" that Munet was allowed to escape.
"We’re just in shock how someone accused of murder was not put in leg shackles and how eight guards couldn’t stop him," she said.
No one from the prosecutor’s office or HPD informed her family that the man accused of murdering her brother had escaped, she said.
Fallau told the Star-Advertiser in July that Munet was staying at their family home in Kaneohe after Billy Fallau brought him home one day about six months before the murder. Munet was still living there five days after her brother’s death when police raided the house and arrested him, Melissa Fallau said.
She said Wednesday that she has since moved away from her childhood home.
"I couldn’t handle being in that house after everything happened," she said. "I grew up in that house, but our hearts aren’t in it anymore, so we’re selling it."
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Star-Advertiser reporters Leila Fujimori, Nanea Kalani, Craig Gima and Radley Kanda contributed to this report, as did The Associated Press.
