Suspected Kidnapper Escapes

  

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - August 8, 2006 (WPVI) -- Authorities continued Tuesday to search for an accused kidnapping suspect who escaped from a state psychiatric hospital early the day before.

The state Department of Human Services was investigating how Edgar Rene del Cid-Perez - a Guatemalan landscaper charged with kidnapping his former boss's wife - was able to flee the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital by breaking through a window.

DHS spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy on Tuesday morning said she had no new information on the search for del Cid-Perez, 34, who was discovered missing at about 5 a.m. Monday.

Authorities were looking into a possible delay of up to 90 minutes between the time del Cid-Perez was found to be missing and when police were notified, she said.

In December, del Cid-Perez was charged with kidnapping Karen Maffucci, of Bernardsville, weeks after her husband had fired him from his landscaping business. He was at the hospital for psychological evaluation.

Police dogs tracked the suspect's scent four miles from the hospital to a busy intersection in the city, where the scent was lost, possibly because del Cid-Perez got into a car or onto a bus.

Authorities notified Maffucci on Monday of the escape, but would not say what, if any, protective measures they had taken for her.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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