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Escaped mental patient gets 20-year term for fatal stabbing

COURTESY HAWAII COUNTY POLICE

David True Seal, of Mountain View, in a Nov. 2013 police mugshot.

HILO » A man who escaped from a mental hospital and went on to fatally stab a man on the Big Island has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

David True Seal was sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest to manslaughter in the November 2013 death of 32-year-old Rory Thompson Wick. Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Lee said the plea deal calls for Seal to return to the mental hospital after he completes his prison term, The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

Seal was committed to the Hawaii State Hospital on Oahu in 2002 after being acquitted by reason of insanity for the kidnapping and attempted rape of an 8-year-old girl. He escaped from the facility in 2009 and had been living on Wick’s property when the stabbing occurred.

A local resident, Jun Mantupar, told the Tribune-Herald he had called Crime Stoppers about a month before the killing to report Seal had been taking martial arts lessons at a recreation center in Hilo under the name, Serif Swaim.

“As the court is aware, at the time of the incident, the defendant had been on the run for four years after his escape from the Hawaii State Hospital. During that time, he used an alias and lived among us in our own community,” said Deputy Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen.

When asked by Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara whether he wanted to address the court, Seal replied, “No, except there’s no ‘David’ in my name, your Honor.”

Members of Wick’s family said they wished Seal would have said more.

“What would drive someone to kill someone who was actually watching out for him and was concerned about his well-being? Why would that turn?” said Lucia Samuels, the grandmother of Wick’s three young children. “Was it the drugs and alcohol or his mental state? What was it? Because I want to be able to say something to these children someday, as soon as the opportunity arises to explain it better to them.”

9 responses to “Escaped mental patient gets 20-year term for fatal stabbing”

  1. den says:

    why come here of all places and do this crap.

  2. pohaku96744 says:

    How did this mental escapee who escaped from a State faclity on Oahu end up in Hilo? Somebody should be asking this question. If he went through the airport, another state facility, which is policed by the Department of Public Safety- Sheriffs, slip through.

  3. Tita Girl says:

    Why didn’t the police pick him up when Jun Mantupar told them where to look?

    • DeltaDag says:

      Unless Mr. Mantupar can show he actually made the call to Crime Stoppers or collected a reward for the tip, it (1) either didn’t happen or (2) it did happen and the police couldn’t locate David Seal or (3) it did happen and nobody followed up on it. It would have been nice if as a condition of the plea deal, Seal had been required to reveal how he traveled undetected to the Big Island.

  4. Sandyboy says:

    Why is t he going back to the mental hospital instead of jail?!

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