Prison escapee captured
on Maui

Police and deputies wrestle the convict
out of a Kahului attic

WAILUKU » After a struggle at a Kahului home, deputy sheriffs and Maui police caught a prison escapee yesterday who had been convicted of manslaughter and robbery.

Dwayne K. Varner was found in the attic of the home and refused to come out, so authorities used pepper spray and force to capture him at about 11 a.m., said Lt. Patrick Sniffen, commander of the Maui sheriff's unit.

Varner is scheduled to appear in Wailuku District Court at 1:30 p.m. today.

Sniffen said no shots were fired, but deputy sheriffs and police officers struggled to get him out of the attic.

"He was considered armed and dangerous," Sniffen said.

Sniffen said there were no serious injuries, but a couple of the deputies came in contact with the pepper spray.

A woman was arrested on suspicion of hindering prosecution and was later released pending an investigation.

Varner escaped from Maui Community Correctional Center about 9 p.m. Wednesday by cutting through a fence, said state Department of Public Safety spokesman Michael Gaede.

Gaede said an investigation into the escape was continuing. He said the fence-cutting tool has not been found, but "we're still looking."

Sniffen said Varner was participating in a work-furlough program, and they do not know why he chose to escape.

Varner was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter in the Feb. 17, 1994, beating death of Edwin R. Hanna Jr. at Big Beach in South Maui and a Dec. 6, 1993, robbery in Kihei.

Hanna, 50, of Kihei was attacked after he came to the aid of a Maui man who was trying to prevent a gang of youths from breaking into vehicles.