Suspects Like Eric Frein Who Used Survivalist Skills To Evade Capture

Suspects Like PA Cop Killer Who Used Survivalist Skills, Hid In Woods

Investigators searching for the man suspected of killing a Pennsylvania trooper in an ambush outside a barracks in the Pocono Mountains nearly a week ago describe the suspect as a self-taught survivalist who hates police. Eric Frein, 31, is believed to be hiding in dense forest punctuated by private communities, vacation homes and hunting cabins. If so, he wouldn't be the first criminal suspect to avoid authorities by disappearing into nature for a while. Some others:

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ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH

After the deadly July 1996 Olympic park bombing in Atlanta, Rudolph hid in the mountains of western North Carolina for more than five years, apparently living off the land and using survival skills he learned as a soldier. Authorities also suspected the serial bomber had help from sympathizers or others during that time. Rudolph, who also was charged in a deadly blast at an Alabama abortion clinic, was caught in 2003 after being seen scavenging for food near a grocery store trash bin in Murphy, North Carolina. He was sentenced to life in prison.

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TROY JAMES KNAPP

Known as the "Mountain Man," the California fugitive became a sensation in Utah as he roamed the wilderness for years, avoiding people and sometimes breaking into cabins to steal food or weapons that he used to hunt small game. He spent summers deep in the woods with high-end camping gear and winters in snowbound cabins. Authorities investigating burglaries since 2007 eventually identified Knapp from surveillance photos and fingerprints on a whiskey bottle, and he was captured last year after shooting at federal agents when he was flushed from a home near a mountain reservoir. He pleaded guilty in June under an agreement that will likely put him in prison through 2024.

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MINCHO DONCHEV

The convicted killer escaped from a Bulgarian prison, moved to the U.S., was convicted in Seattle for trying to burn down a home in 1985, and then fled to the woods. He lived for more than a decade in crude dugout camps in Washington state, stealing food, clothes and other supplies from vacation cabins in the Cascade mountains. Donchev, identified in some official documents as Mincio Donciev, was arrested in March 1998 and imprisoned for burglary and felony weapons violations after fingerprint evidence linked him to some of the burglaries.

Before You Go

Frein Arraignment

PA State Police Barracks Shooting

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