18 Years After Release From Fairfield Hills—

1991 Murder Suspect Rearrested

. By Dave Collins

Associated Press

HARTFORD — A Connecticut man found incompetent to stand trial for murder and sent to a state mental hospital in 1992 has been rearrested after authorities discovered that he apparently was a free man for the past 18 years.

Authorities launched a search for 76-year-old Pedro Custodio recently after state court officials going through old files came across his case and learned it hadn’t been closed, Waterbury State’s Attorney John Connelly said Tuesday.

A judge issued a warrant for his arrest, and Waterbury police found him at his city home on Monday. He was detained overnight and was to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Connelly said it was not clear why Custodio was released from the Fairfield Hills mental hospital in Newtown in 1992, after having been found incompetent to stand trial earlier that year in the shooting death of Waterbury neighbor. But he said court officials should have been notified.

“He’s charged with murder. The court should have been informed of his status,” Connelly said.

When Custodio was found incompetent and sent to the state’s Fairfield Hills, authorities believed that hospital officials would have him committed and that Custodio would remain there for a long time, Connelly said. It’s not clear if the civil commitment ever took place. Fairfield Hills closed in 1995.

Officials at the agency that runs the state’s mental hospitals, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, can’t comment on patients, spokesman Steve DiLella said Tuesday.

The Republican-American newspaper of Waterbury was first to report that authorities were seeking to rearrest Custodio after learning he had been free since 1992.

The newspaper reported that state prosecutor Eva Longeski said in court Monday that officials believe Custodio spent the last 18 years in Waterbury living a quiet life. Court records show Custodio has no criminal convictions.

Messages were left with Longeski on Tuesday.

She said Monday that it was with “horror” that she learned that Custodio had been released years ago, the newspaper reported.

It’s not clear if Custodio has a lawyer. There was no phone listing for his home.