Murder Suspect Is Recaptured After Escape From San Diego Courthouse

A mentally ill ex-convict charged with murdering a 12-year-old girl in her bed six years ago escaped from the courthouse Monday and was on the loose for more than three hours before being caught several miles away, officials said.

Richard Tuite, 34, charged in the killing of Stephanie Crowe, had slipped out of his handcuffs while eating a sandwich during the lunch break, officials said.

“My gut reaction is there is no excuse for this,” said a stone- faced Sheriff Bill Kolender, whose deputies were assigned to guard Tuite. “I cannot over-emphasize how embarrassed we are.... You have my word: We will fix it.”

A security tape showed Tuite, wearing civilian clothes, leaving the downtown courthouse at 12:50 p.m., walking past deputies stationed near metal detectors.

None of the deputies apparently noticed Tuite, whose picture has been displayed prominently in local newspapers and on television stations for several years, including Monday as jury selection was set to begin.

“He has left the building,” Kolender said.

More than 100 officers fanned out across downtown San Diego and nearby Balboa Park in search of Tuite, who lived as a transient for several years in between prison sentences for burglary and drugs. He is a diagnosed schizophrenic.

Tuite was spotted getting off a bus in the Clairemont neighborhood. When police arrived, he appeared to be trying to make a telephone call. He surrendered without incident.

Kolender said Tuite escaped after deputies had agreed to shift his handcuffs from one wrist to the other to make it easier for him to eat. The deputies may have left Tuite alone momentarily.

Tuite is charged with fatally stabbing Stephanie Crowe while she slept in the family home on Jan. 21, 1998. The case gained nationwide notoriety when Stephanie’s teenage brother and two of his friends were initially charged.

But those charges were dropped in 1999, after tiny specks of Stephanie’s blood were found on clothing that had been seized from Tuite in the days after the killing.

Tuite was charged in 2002 just as he was leaving prison after violating his parole on an unrelated crime.

Tuite has pleaded innocent. His attorneys plan to argue that the evidence gathered against the three teenagers -- including an alleged murder weapon and incriminating statements -- raise reasonable doubt.