Santa Barbara police arrested a man last week at a local homeless shelter who was wanted for murder that occurred in Hawaii in January.
Robert Ryan Roediger-Geauque, 31, was arrested at Casa Esperanza, 816 Cacique St., at 5:45 p.m. last Thursday by local police after they received a warrant for the man’s arrest from the Honolulu Police Department, said Lt. Paul McCaffrey of the Santa Barbara Police Department.
Roediger-Geauque was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Scott MacMillan, 37, who died on Jan. 13 of multiple stab wounds in Kailua, a beachside town outside of Honolulu, said Michelle Yu, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department.
He is being held awaiting extradition, and Yu said his bail has been set at $5 million.
The victim of the crime was believed to be homeless and was transported to a local hospital but was pronounced dead after he arrived, Yu said.
McCaffrey said the SBPD was contacted by Honolulu police, who said Roediger-Geauque might be in the Santa Barbara area.
“They notified us that they were investigating a homicide and that he was a person of interest,” McCaffrey said, adding that the agency called SBPD later that day to say that they had a warrant for the man’s arrest.
McCaffrey said Santa Barbara police “had a few different leads” and were able to track him to Casa Esperanza.
“We actually found him in the lobby area watching television,” McCaffrey said, adding that Roediger-Geauque was arrested without incident and taken into custody.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
