Inside Frein hideout: Clothes, firearms, mementos
Pages of prayers. Computer equipment. Toilet paper. Soy sauce. Korean liquor. Laundry detergent. Those were among the supplies investigators say they found in the abandoned airplane hangar next to the Tannersville, Pa., field where Eric Frein was captured last week.
Pages of prayers. Computer equipment. Toilet paper. Soy sauce. Korean liquor. Laundry detergent.
Those were among the supplies investigators say they found in the abandoned airplane hangar next to the Tannersville, Pa., field where Eric Frein was captured last week.
The long list of items was made public Wednesday in a search warrant filed in Monroe County Court. Neither document nor investigators said Frein used the items or put them into the building. But the list appears to offer insight into how the alleged killer of a state trooper survived and evaded police for 48 days in the Poconos.
Officers found water bottles and five-gallon jugs of water, according to the warrant, as well as noodles, crackers, coffee cups, and a propane stove. There were a 14-page handwritten note dated December 1996; a wireless mouse; notebooks; headphones; DVDs; a shaving kit; blankets; and several changes of clothes - including blue Hanes underwear, a raincoat, and a camouflage T-shirt.
Police also took two rifles, a pistol, and a bayonet from the hangar. Two of the firearms were made by Eastern European manufacturers. Police have said Frein participated in Eastern European and Cold War-era military reenactment groups.
Some of the 119 items recovered from the hangar appeared to be survival tools: glow sticks; a compass; a flashlight; a first aid kit; binoculars; twine; a radio; and a headlamp.
FBI and other agencies had previously scoured the area where a team of marshals ultimately nabbed Frein. But it was unclear if investigators had searched the inside of the vacant hangar before his arrest.
The long list of items found inside would be impossible to have been carried all at once. That suggests that Frein may have wanted to flee in his Jeep Cherokee, but was forced go on foot after he crashed it, said Erik Kulick, an expert survivalist who runs True North Wilderness Survival School in Pittsburgh.
"A trained survivalist would not have had so much gear and would've picked better gear," Kulick said.
But Kulick said Frein seemed to have prepared well for being on the run if he brought along materials to keep him mentally strong and mitigate loneliness, such as religious writings and DVDs.
"The Bible is telling, because that's something he can refer to to keep his spirits up," Kulick said. "He had to be under a lot of stress and was probably pretty lonely. And quite frankly, that spoke to me when they arrested him. He seemed ready to give up."
Frein, charged with killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and shooting Trooper Alex Douglass outside the state police barracks in Blooming Grove on Sept. 12, was captured on the hangar's runway last week. Police searched the hangar because Frein told them his weapons were inside, according to court documents.
Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin and state police declined to comment Wednesday on the court documents.
The hangar and the Birchwood Resort, both abandoned and deteriorating, remained a crime scene for just 24 hours after Frein's capture. The next day, the area was left open and abandoned. The hangar remained filled with stacks of old furniture and various items that police did not take in their search.
Frein told police that a laptop found in the hangar was his, according to court documents, and that he had used it to access the Internet while on the run.
Police also found a journal inside the hangar; officials said its contents described Frein's activities during the last several weeks and were consistent with prior entries that described the shootings in Blooming Grove.
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