Survivalist wanted in deadly trooper ambush caught; prosecutors to seek death penalty

LORDS VALLEY, Pa. – A survivalist accused of ambushing two state troopers, killing one and seriously wounding the other, made his first court appearance Friday after he was captured by U.S. marshals near an abandoned airplane hangar, ending a seven-week manhunt that had rattled the nerves of area residents.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Eric Frein, who meekly gave himself up when surrounded Thursday, authorities said. Hundreds of local, state and federal law officers had taken part in the search.

Before onlookers jeered him as he left the courthouse, Frein, 31, listened to charges that he killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and critically wounded Trooper Alex Douglass in a sniper attack outside their state police barracks Sept. 12. U.S. marshals who took him into custody said he suffered a visible gash on the bridge of his nose and scrape over his left eye while they had him down on the pavement.

He did not have a lawyer and was not asked to enter a plea to first-degree murder and other charges, including possession of two pipe bombs discovered during the search. He remained jailed without bail. A preliminary hearing was set for Nov. 12.

Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin, who said he would seek the death penalty, told reporters that Frein’s capture brought a measure of comfort to the region after an “unimaginable loss of unspeakable proportions.”

Troopers questioned Frein, but authorities would not disclose what he told them or discuss a possible motive. Authorities have said Frein had expressed anti-law enforcement views online and to people who knew him.

Until his capture, Frein had some people beginning to wonder if law enforcement was up to the task, given the rugged terrain and the evident skill with which he eluded dogs, thermal-imaging cameras and teams of heavily armed officers.

Sporadic sightings of the fugitive kept entire communities on edge: A woman claimed to have seen him outside a high school. A local cop spotted a mysterious man in green, prompting an intensive search that came up empty. There were other sightings in which Frein supposedly made himself visible to law enforcement, then vanished.

In fact, with Frein behind bars, plans for trick-or-treating in Barrett Township were back on, and hunting and trapping were given the go-ahead to resume.

A team of federal marshals stumbled across Frein during a sweep about 30 miles from the barracks where he allegedly opened fire, authorities said. He had no gun on him, but had weapons stashed in the hangar, state police said.

The marshals who captured Frein said he had a “defeated” look on his face when they took him into custody. After the marshals turned him over to state police, Frein was placed in Dickson’s handcuffs and driven in Dickson’s squad car to the Blooming Grove barracks.

Authorities said they were trying to reconstruct his time on the run. They believe Frein broke into cabins and other places for food and shelter, and he evidently found time to shave — he had a neatly trimmed goatee when he was caught.

State police Lt. Col George Bivens put the cost of the manhunt at about $10 million.

With the search over, officials began calculating the economic toll to motels, restaurants, shops and other businesses that lost money as tourists avoided the search area and locals stayed home.

County officials asked business owners to fill out a “snapshot of their losses” — a possible prelude to a disaster declaration and state and federal aid.