KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
HPD Specialized Services Division members returned yesterday after searching a trail in Hauula for three prison escapees. The escapees had not been found as of last night.
Police comb Hauula Despite the rain that is hampering the search for three dangerous prison escapees, police officials this morning gathered SWAT team members, detectives, crime reduction unit officers and the department's helicopter to continue searching the hills above Hauula where the three may have set up camp.
for 3 prison escapees
Police search the area where
The 3 fugitives
a hunter says he saw three or
four men at a campsiteStar-Bulletin staff
"It's wet, it's muddy, it's miserable," homicide Lt. Bill Kato said this morning. Kato is overseeing a 100-member task force formed specifically to track down the escapees.
Kato said the rain made the search difficult yesterday, and he remains concerned for the officers' safety in the slippery forest.
Meanwhile other members of the department's 100-man task force assigned to track down the escapees continue to follow up leads and tips in other parts of Oahu.
Police began focusing their search on the Hauula Loop Trail yesterday after a pig hunter reported encountering three or four men on the trail. The hunter thought the men may have been the escapees from Halawa Correctional Facility.
Albert Batalona, 27, Warren Elicker, 25 and David Scribner, 20, escaped between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. Friday. They were discovered missing at a routine headcount.
The three broke out of two adjoining cells and hijacked a car at a nearby shopping mall, police said. The car was found abandoned at Hauula Kai Shopping Center at about 8 a.m.
Police warned the public that all three are dangerous and should not be approached.
Batalona was sentenced to life without parole for his part in the armed robbery of the Kahala American Savings Bank in 1999. Elicker, who has seven felony convictions, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for an armed robbery in November 2001. Scribner, with 13 felony convictions, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbery and escape in October.
"He thought he recognized two of them," Kato said, noting that the hunter thought he saw Batalona and Elicker.
The hunter came upon a campsite about 8 a.m. yesterday and was confronted by three to four men at the site, Kato said.
"They caught him by surprise, and he didn't get a really good look at them and they were trying to conceal themselves behind bushes," Kato said.
The men asked the hiker why he was there and whether he was with law enforcement, Kato said. The hiker told them he was up there hunting pigs.
"He felt uncomfortable, and he answered their questions and he left," Kato said. He came down the mountain and called 911 about 8:30 a.m.
"He just got a bad feeling about them being up there. They didn't look like they really belonged up there, and he's never seen a campsite up there."
Police estimate the campsite was off the Hauula Loop Trail, about 1 to 1 1/2 miles in from the trail head. Kato said police did not locate the campsite in yesterday's search and found no evidence of the escapees along the trail.
Heavy rain hampered the search yesterday.
"It slowed us down in getting up there," Kato said.
About 25-30 members of the Honolulu Police Department's Specialized Services Division and Crime Reduction Unit participated in the search, which was discontinued at sundown.
"It would be too dangerous for us to attempt anything in the dark," Kato said, "and I think it would be kind of risky for them (the escapees) to get out in the dark."
BACK TO TOP |
The 3 fugitives
COURTESY HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT
David Scribner
Sentenced to 10 years for robbery and escape in October 2002. Has seven felony convictions for escape, promoting dangerous drugs and robbery.>> Age: 20
>> Height: 5 feet, 7 inches
>> Weight: 170 pounds
>> Of note: Tattoo of Asian character on right shoulder.
COURTESY HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT
Albert R. Batalona
Sentenced to life without parole for the armed robbery of the American Savings Bank in Kahala in July 1999.>> Age: 27
>> Height: 5 feet, 9 inches
>> Weight: 195 pounds
>> Of note: Multiple tattoos including bird on right forearm, man's face on right upper arm, spider web on right elbow, and woman on left forearm.
COURTESY HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT
Warren Elicker
Sentenced to 20 years in prison for armed robbery in November 2001. Has 13 felony convictions for armed robbery, kidnapping, burglary and auto theft.>> Age: 25
>> Height: 5 feet, 8 inches
>> Weight: 175 pounds
>> Of note: Multiple tattoos including Old English letters on neck, Rockafella Boy on upper left arm, nature scenes and letters K and B on right upper arm, Hawaiian Islands map on chest, and KALIHI written on left calf.
