Suspected Cop-Killer Frein Held Without Bail; D.A. To Seek Death Penalty

HAWLEY, PA – Eric Frein, the captured suspected cop-killer who for six weeks was the target of a Poconos manhunt involving more than 1,000 law enforcement officers, on Friday was ordered held without bail on murder charges.

Frein, his hair slicked back and sporting a goatee and bruises on the cheeks, nose, and eyes, answered politely as Pike County District Judge Shannon Muir asked if he understood the charges against him and the purpose of the arraignment in the packed, one-room 19th Century courthouse.

To taunts of “you’re a coward,” and “rot in hell,” from a crowd of about 150, after the proceeding he was led out by state police from the front steps and marched to the rear of the building. He was taken to the Pike County Correctional Facility.

During the arraignment, with Frein’s hands bound in the handcuffs that once belonged to slain State Police Cpl. Bryon Dickson, a state trooper turned the pages of the complaint, which Frein appeared to read intensely.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141031_Suspected_cop-killer_Frein_taken_into_custody.html#bAKjqlRmGyKDhfM2.99

Manhunt Impacts State Police’s Future

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Monroe County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HARRISBURG, PA — As the intensive manhunt for suspected cop killer Eric Matthew Frein ends its fourth week, Harrisburg is taking the first steps to address how this unprecedented event will affect the future operations of the Pennsylvania State Police.

Officials here discuss the topic with the caveat that the manhunt isn’t over yet. Considered armed and dangerous, Frein, 31, of 308 Seneca Lane, Canadensis, is the sole suspect in the Sept. 12 sniper attack at the Blooming Grove state police barracks in Pike County that killed Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II of Dunmore and wounded Trooper Alex T. Douglass of Olyphant. Since then, authorities have been searching for Frein, a self-described survivalist, in the dense state forest that straddles Barrett and Price townships in Monroe County.

The estimate by a state police spokesman this week that the manhunt has cost several million dollars so far is one issue emerging on the radar screen of Corbett administration officials and lawmakers. Policy makers are starting to focus on related matters such as security at state police barracks, equipment needs of state troopers, impact on local governments and schools and assistance of local fire companies, 911 centers and the Red Cross with the manhunt.

Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, has requested a Senate committee hearing in Pike County once the manhunt is over to delve into these issues.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/manhunt-impacts-state-police-s-future-1.1769039

Terrain Difficult In Hunt For Frein

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Monroe County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PRICE TWP., PA — Eric Matthew Frein could make the roughly 30 mile hike from the scene of a murder to his hometown without ever seeing another person.

The terrain state police believe the suspected cop killer is hiding in could make him invisible.

“That whole area is pretty remote,” said Gary Alt, a retired state Game Commission officer and wildlife biologist.

Alt has spent more than a thousand hours in an airplane, flying low over the woods that stretch from Blooming Grove to Price Township, looking for bear. His experiences working in the game commission afford him intricate knowledge of the terrain Frein likely crossed to escape a manhunt that began in Pike County.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/terrain-difficult-in-hunt-for-frein-1.1768591

Chilling Cop Shooting Details Revealed

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Pike County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BLOOMING GROVE TWP., PA— Eric Matthew Frein hid in the dark across from the station and waited for a target. Any trooper would do.

State police Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II just ended a shift he wasn’t originally scheduled to work. It was late when he walked out the front door of the Blooming Grove barracks and into Frein’s sights. The next 90 seconds were hell.

“Friday, Sept. 12, got a shot around 11 p.m., he dropped. I was surprised at how quick,” Lt. Col. George Bivens, deputy commissioner of operations, read at a news conference Wednesday from a first-hand narrative of the shooting they believe Frein penned and hastily abandoned later at a campsite. “I took a follow-up shot on his head and neck area. He was still and quiet after that.”

State police revealed the chilling account Wednesday of the ambush that killed Dickson and severely wounded Trooper Alex T. Douglass. Frein, 31, is the lone suspect of the crime and is still sought for the assassination.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/chilling-cop-shooting-details-revealed-1.1767923

Eric Matthew Frein May Have ‘Substantial Stash’

PARADISE TOWNSHIP, PA — Shelter, water and food, in that order, are the chief concerns of accused cop killer Eric Matthew Frein as he navigates the wilderness while dodging police, a defense department analyst and survivalist said.

Wilderness survival boils down to the rule of threes, said Bob Collins, a Defense Department analyst from Ambler who teaches survival classes for Montgomery County Community College and Bucks County Community College.

The human body can survive three minutes without oxygen, three hours of intense heat or cold exposure, three days without water and three weeks without food, said Collins, who is trained in survival by the U.S. Air Force, where he served 16 years after 10 years in the Army.

Collins dismissed the idea that Frein is living fully off the land. If he survived three weeks without a food cache, it would put him into a category of survival expert on par with Collins or others like him.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/suspect-may-have-substantial-stash-1.1766035

Residents Show Support For Police – Manhunt Continues

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Monroe County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BARRETT TOWNSHIP, PA — Eight-year-old Natalie Winot has watched state police and investigators wandering through her neighborhood for days on end.

The two stationed near her house in Canadensis since the search for a suspected gunman Eric Matthew Frein began demonstrated to her and her brother, Nicholas, how their bomb-sniffing dogs perform their jobs. Natalie now keeps trading cards with the dog’s photos in her school folder.

The Winots showed the officers how to feed carrots to a people-loving deer they call Cindy. The officers snapped pictures of Cindy to send to their children.

Natalie wanted to show her support for the officers who have helped her family feel safe during a weeks-long manhunt for Frein 31, of Canadensis, who has eluded police since a Sept. 12 ambush and shooting at the Blooming Grove state police barracks which left Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II of Dunmore dead and Trooper Alex T. Douglass of Olyphant critically injured.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/residents-show-support-for-police-1.1761947

Manhunt Intestifies; Frein Now Considered A Federal Fugitive

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Pike County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BLOOMING GROVE TWP. — Eric Matthew Frein is now a federal fugitive.

U.S. Magisterial Judge Thomas M. Blewitt issued the warrant Tuesday for the 31-year-old Canadensis man, wanted by state police for murdering a state trooper, on the charge of flight to avoid prosecution.

The warrant was public but the affidavit supporting it was sealed.

Mr. Frein, 308 Seneca Lane, is accused of ambushing Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II, 38, and Trooper Alex T. Douglass, 31, during a shift change Friday night at the state police at Blooming Grove barracks.

Cpl. Dickson, of Dunmore, was shot twice and died at the scene; Trooper Douglass, of Olyphant, is recovering at Geisinger Community Medical Center from a gunshot wound to his pelvis.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/manhunt-intestifies-frein-now-considered-a-federal-fugitive-1.1754779