Pocono schools reopen as hunt for Frein continues

CANADENSIS, Pa. - As the sun began to set Tuesday, dozens of police in camouflage fatigues, some hanging off armored carriers, streamed up a hill into the wooded expanse where an alleged killer of a state trooper continued to elude them.

The ninth day of the manhunt for Eric Frein mirrored the eight days before it. But state police said they are continuing to uncover information and close in on Frein, a self-taught "survivalist" who has reportedly memorized this stretch of the Poconos.

The police presence is only appearing to grow. And so is residents' frustration.

Some people said they still had trouble getting to their homes or leaving them as police shut down roads to clear swaths of forest. State police said Tuesday that they had let people come and go if they needed access to medicine or a loved one in need.

Tracie Tauber, 42, who lives in the search zone in Monroe County, said she and her sister had been forced to stay in a hotel off and on for several days.

The sisters were unable to return home again Tuesday, she said. Their father is in a nursing home. Their mother, 77, is in the hospital.

Tauber described the situation as "crazy" and "aggravating."

"We are running out of funding," she said of the hotel stays. "What are we supposed to do?"

The Pocono Mountain School District reopened its doors Tuesday with extra security after being closed for four days, though school buses were barred from traveling within the search area. Superintendent Elizabeth Robison said she decided to reopen the schools after assurances from township police. She said the day went smoothly.

Not every student went to school. Lori Batzel, 51, said she kept home her 11-year-old daughter, Britney. Batzel said she feared the school could go on lockdown, causing her as well as her daughter unneeded anxiety. The lockdown never came. But the Batzels' nerves already were a bit frayed by the constant zooming of police cars and hovering of helicopters.

"It's scary because it's usually so quiet," Britney said. "But now there's a guy in my woods. There are cops with machine guns, and it all freaks me out."

Frein, 31, allegedly ambushed two state troopers on Sept. 12 outside their barracks in Pike County. Cpl. Bryon Dickson was killed. Trooper Alex Douglass was critically wounded.

Police said they believe that after crashing his Jeep near the site of the ambush, Frein traveled on foot to the area near his home in Monroe County. Police said he had abandoned an AK-47-style rifle and other items but likely still carries the .308 rifle he used in the ambush.