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Investigator: Frein 'fully' expected capture

MILFORD, Pa. - "Rot in hell." "You're a coward." Those were among the taunts from the crowd as Eric Frein, the accused killer of a state trooper, was led from a district court by a phalanx of police officers after he was arraigned on murder charges.

Eric Frein, charged with murder of Pennsylvania State Trooper Cpl. Byron Dickson and critically wounding Trooper Alex Douglass Sept. 10, is taken to prison after a preliminary hearing in Pike County Courthouse on Friday, Oct. 31, 2014 in Milford, Pa.
Eric Frein, charged with murder of Pennsylvania State Trooper Cpl. Byron Dickson and critically wounding Trooper Alex Douglass Sept. 10, is taken to prison after a preliminary hearing in Pike County Courthouse on Friday, Oct. 31, 2014 in Milford, Pa.Read moreAP Photo/The Scranton Times-Tribune, Michael J. Mullen

MILFORD, Pa. - "Rot in hell." "You're a coward." Those were among the taunts from the crowd as Eric Frein, the accused killer of a state trooper, was led from a district court by a phalanx of police officers after he was arraigned on murder charges.

As 150 or so looked on Friday, the man who had eluded more than 1,000 law enforcement officers for almost seven weeks in the Poconos woods was marched to the rear of the 19th-century building and taken to the Pike County Correctional Facility, where he was being held without bail.

The intensive manhunt that began Sept. 12 after a shooting ambush in which a state police officer was killed and another seriously wounded finally ended Thursday night, when Frein surrendered in an open field near an abandoned airport hangar and the now-closed Birchwood Resort.

Frein, who was unarmed but had high-powered weaponry nearby, had spent "substantial time" in the hangar, said Sam Rabadi, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Rabadi said evidence at the scene, including previously undiscovered writings, made investigators all but certain they had the right man. "He was fully expecting to be caught," Rabadi added, noting that Frein surrendered without a struggle.

The U.S. marshals who captured Frein said he had a "defeated" look on his face when they took him into custody.

A three-man team had spotted Frein and sneaked up on him, taking him by surprise. Scott Malkowski, who helped make the arrest, said Frein made no attempt to flee and didn't put up a fight.

"He had nowhere to go. There is nothing he could've done," Malkowski said, adding: "From what I saw, he felt defeated because we'd won. We'd defeated him."

The marshals said Frein suffered facial injuries while they had him down on the pavement.

Edward Hanko, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia office of the FBI, said investigators had searched that area before and found no sign of Frein.

"You'd have to have an army to secure that area," Hanko said. So Frein was able to return and may have slept in the hangar the night before his capture.

On Thursday, a team of U.S. marshals assigned to search the Birchwood site spotted Frein walking on an overgrown runway that is now an open field.

"Who knows why he was out walking around," Hanko said. "I fully believe he was caught off-guard."

Frein appeared at his arraignment in handcuffs that once belonged to slain State Police Cpl. Bryon Dickson. His hair was slicked back, and he had a goatee and bruises on the cheeks, nose, and eyes.

Frein answered politely as District Judge Shannon Muir asked whether he understood the charges against him and the purpose of the arraignment in the packed, one-room courthouse.

A state trooper turned the pages of the complaint, which the handcuffed Frein appeared to read intently.

Frein was charged with murder, attempted murder, and possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"We can now go back to being our small town," said Ralph Megliola, Barrett Township supervisor.

And it was game-on for trick-or-treating, which had been canceled due to the manhunt.

At a news conference, state police Col. George Bivens said no one tip led to Frein's capture, just "ongoing pressure from law enforcement."

Rabadi said intelligence information had led investigators to the hangar, but he declined to elaborate.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 12. Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin said he would seek the death penalty.

Bivens said that weapons were recovered in the hangar but that it had not been determined whether one of them was used in the Sept. 12 assault on the troopers.

Rabadi said investigators did not believe other weapons or explosives were still in the woods.

Police say Frein, a fan of Cold War military history, shot Dickson and Douglass in a Sept. 12 ambush outside the state police barracks in Blooming Grove.

Three days after the shooting, investigators found a Jeep stuck in the mud and documents inside it that identified Frein as the driver.

Then began a laborious but tightly focused search that involved investigators from across the country, cost several million dollars, disrupted daily routines, and crippled the tourist business during the peak fall-foliage season. Schools were intermittently closed, and residents became accustomed to regular roadblocks and SWAT team personnel tiptoeing through their neighborhoods.

The manhunt included officers from state and local police, the FBI, U.S. marshals, ATF, and other agencies. Tactical teams from other states rotated in and out.

The attack and retreat, police said, had been planned for years. In Frein's bedroom, they said, they found a book on sniper training. They cited other evidence that he had searched the Internet in 2012 and 2013 for information on police raids, cellphone tracking, and manhunt tactics.

Rabadi said that although law enforcement officials were determined to take him alive, it was fortunate Frein was unarmed when he was captured.

"Fortunate for him," Rabadi said.

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Inquirer staff writers Mike Newall and Aubrey Whelan contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.