Fugitive Eric Frein removed the hard drive from his own computer before the Sept. 12 ambush on a Pennsylvania State Police barracks, but another computer he had access to revealed he had researched police manhunts as far back as two years ago, authorities said Friday. Police also said Frein — who is accused of killing one trooper and critically wounding another — had access to pipe bomb materials and may have booby-trapped the woods that hundreds of investigators are searching. He also bought materials that could be used to build a bunker, but search teams have not found it.
State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said he is confident that Frein, 31, is still lurking in the forest near Barrett and Price townships. He said tracking dogs startled Frein out of his hiding spot some days ago, but because night was falling, he got away. Police spent 12 hours searching the 4,600-acre grounds of the abandoned Buck Hill Inn, a Pocono Mountains resort that was once the setting for a television show called "Fear," because Frein had an interest in the crumbling hulk.
A canvass of empty homes and outbuildings in the search area turned up signs of tampering at some locations, but authorities have not yet determined whether the damage was caused by Frein. They say soiled diapers and cigarette packs found in the woods are linked to the military re-enactment buff, but there has not been a sighting of him in three days.
