A review of a computer hard drive belonging to cop-killing suspect Eric Matthew Frein shows he planned the attack for a couple of years, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col George Bivens said Friday.
Bivens said the computer hard drive which Frein had access to indicated extensive Internet research on topics such as “how to avoid police manhunts, use of various law enforcement technologies and skills related to survival.”
Frein, 31, is the suspect in a September 12 ambush that left Cpl. Byron Dickson dead and another trooper wounded outside the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania.
Addressing Frein directly, Bivens said, “You are a coward. Your actions have caused tremendous disruption for an innocent community all while you try to hide from us. We are not intimated. We will not leave … We will protect the community. We will find you and we will bring you to justice.”
On Wednesday, with as many as 1,000 law enforcement officers involved in the manhunt at any given time, authorities revealed that the meticulous, grid-like search over some 3 square miles of rugged terrain was paying off.
There have been a number of sightings of a man believed to be Frein — a war buff obsessed with Eastern European military conflicts — by both local residents and police, Bivens said without giving further details.
The sightings were from a significant distance, however, and Frein has continued to elude authorities.
The search has yielded an empty pack of Serbian cigarettes, Bivens said. Frein claims to have fought with Serbians in Africa and has studied Russian and Serbian languages, according to the FBI, which last week named him one of its 10 Most Wanted fugitives. Soiled adult diapers were also found, perhaps used by Frein to stay in a stationary position for long periods of time.
