Alleged Terrorist, Cop Killer Eric Frein Cornered And Trapped After Seven Weeks
Word on the street for the elusive terrorist and survivalist, Eric Matthew Frein, is that he sighed and seemed depressed that the hunt was over. Frein was captured on the evening of October 30. Officers moved in to capture the man who allegedly ambushed, shot, and killed Bryon K. Dickson II, a 38-year-old officer of the Pennsylvania State Police. Dickson leaves behind a wife and two sons.
The Inquisitr reports that Eric Frein is also charged with the attempted murder of state trooper Alex Douglass of Pike County, Pennsylvania, who was critically injured. The assault took place on September 12. The entire community in the Pike County region was on a virtual lockdown until Frein was captured.
The New York Daily News reports that U.S. Marshals guessed 31-year-old Frein would be found in a run-down airplane hangar on Pennsylvania’s abandoned Birchwood Resort in the Pocono Mountains. Scott Malkowski, a task force commander with the U.S. Marshals Service, spotted a man who fit the description of Eric Frein around 7 p.m. on Thursday and wasted no time telling two other operators by his side to fan out for the capture.
At the time that the sniper shot the officers with a.308-caliber rifle, Frein was living with his parents in Canadensis, Pennsylvania. He was last seen September 12 outside a friend’s apartment near East Stroudsburg University with a Mohawk haircut. Police found the hair in a trash can four days later in a police search.
Three days following the shooting, authorities were alerted to a 2001 Jeep Cherokee found partially submerged in a pond about two miles from the crime scene. The Jeep belonged to Frein’s parents. Conclusive evidence found in the vehicle included Eric Frein’s Social Security card, information about foreign embassies, camouflage paint, and bullet casings matched to the shooting. The court issued a warrant for Eric Frein’s arrest the next day.
AOL reports that, after eluding a manhunt that grew from 200 to 1000 officers during a seven week stretch in the northeastern woods of Pennsylvania, officials “had a hunch” that they were about to throw the ropes around their man and take him down. The cost of the manhunt was about $10 million.
Police believed they saw Eric Frein several times but the survivalist outdoorsman always gave them the slip and appeared to be playing a game with them. That game is now up.
If Eric Frein was looking for 15 minutes of fame, he got it. Hitting the “FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List,” he has nine major charges against him, including murder in the first degree, homicide of a law enforcement officer, and attempted murder in the first degree. Throw in possession of weapons of mass destruction and he — is — done.
Frein has been arraigned in court on murder charges and is being held without bail. The accused cop-killer entered no plea in the case and will have his first preliminary hearing November 12. Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin will be seeking the death penalty.
[Image via Getty]
