Posted: Saturday, October 18, 2014, 2:19 PM
The suspected cop-killer who has sparked a wide-ranging manhunt in the Pocono Mountains may have been spotted Friday night near his high school alma mater, authorities said Saturday afternoon.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said a woman walking near Pocono Mountain East High School in Swiftwater spotted a man matching the description of Eric Frein around 9 p.m. The spotting and other tips have led searchers to refocus the area of their manhunt to the townships of Paradise and Pocono.
The man, who was not on campus but in the area, was carrying a rifle but his face was covered in mud, preventing confirmation of his identity. Still, Bivens said, authorities were assigning the sighting a high level of credibility.
Bivens said Frein attended the high school, located in Monroe County, and also worked several summers at nearby Camp Minsi, operated by the Boy Scouts of America.
Questioned by reporters at a news conference, Bivens said no decision has been made whether to close the school.
The high school is located about 20 miles southwest of the state patrol barracks at Blooming Grove, where Cpl. Bryon Dickson, 38, was shot and killed the night of Sept. 12. Another trooper, Alex Douglass, 31, was wounded.
'Our search area remains very fluid and is based on the information we have available to us at any given time,' Bivens said.
In addition to the new sighting, Bivens said another development is the discovery of what is believed to be blood on the back porches of two homes near Cresco, about five miles northeast of the high school. The substance is being tested, he said.
Gov. Corbett, who joined in the press conference, promised no end to the search.
'Nobody's going to stop until we find this individual and he's apprehended,' Corbett said.
'Everybody has one mission, and that mission is to apprehend this individual,' the governor said.
That may become easier as the weather changes and the search drags on, Bivens said.
'I think we've kept a tremendous amount of pressure on him,' he said.
As fall progresses and leaves come off the trees in the densely forested region, Bivens said, aerial searchers have better visibility and other technology may become more effective.
The search has cost several million dollars, Bivens said. A more precise number was not available Saturday, he said, but it was 'well under' $10 million.
Frein, 31, a self-proclaimed 'survivalist,' is accused of shooting and killing Dickson, a married father of two, outside the state police barracks in rural Pike County. Douglass suffered a gunshot wound to his pelvic area in the ambush.
Douglass was released Thursday from Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton to an undisclosed facility in the area.
'He is in good spirits and is doing well,' Bivens said Saturday.
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Posted by Unknown on Saturday, October 18, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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