Woman gets life sentence in killing
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 57-year-old woman who stabbed Waipahu care-home operator Agapita Alcaraz to death did not say a word today when she was sentenced to life in prison for the September 2001 slaying.
Emily Rauschenburg called 911 and told operators she had just stabbed Alcaraz, who was 64. When police arrived at the care home on Kahualena Street, Rauschenburg told them she was unhappy with the food she was receiving at the care home.
RAUSCHENBURG
Rauschenburg, who has a history of mental illness and drug abuse, was acquitted by reason of insanity when she faced charges of murder and attempted murder related to setting fire to a Makiki boarding house that killed a man in 1984.
She was committed to the state hospital in Kane'ohe and was later granted a conditional release. Despite Rauschenburg's history, no one had told Alcaraz about Rauschenburg's background when she moved into the Waipahu care home in March 2001.
The case prompted legislators last year to pass Act 166, which requires the state Department of Health to disclose to adult residential care-home operators the criminal history of prospective residents if the resident was convicted of violent crimes or acquitted by reason of insanity of a violent crime.
A panel of three mental health experts examined Rauschenburg after the Alcaraz stabbing and concluded that she could control herself and could appreciate the wrongfulness of her acts.
Alcaraz's daughter, son and son-in-law urged Circuit Judge Derrick Chan to sentence Rauschenburg to the maximum term.
"Emily Rauschenburg shattered our lives when she took the life of Agapita Alcaraz," daughter Beverly Del Rosario told the judge. "She should never have the right to live in our society ever again."
