Frein likely sighted, so schools closein Poconos

Eric Frein may have been spotted in the woods by a police officer Monday afternoon.

But the man dressed in green quickly disappeared out of sight into the dense forest near the Swiftwater, Pa., post office, police said.

"A search of the area was conducted, but no one was located," State Trooper Tom Kelly said of the sighting.

The Pocono Mountain School District was closed Tuesday as the search continued for Frein, the alleged killer of a trooper who has evaded capture for more than five weeks.

Monday's sighting, by a Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department officer, followed a Friday sighting by a resident and a shift in the search area.

Police said a woman who lives near Pocono Mountain East High School in Swiftwater spotted a man who was likely Frein on Friday night. He was 15 to 20 feet away from her and carrying a rifle, police said, with his face covered in mud.

While police have reported several sightings of the fugitive during the nearly six-week-long manhunt, investigators are not certain that any of the sightings have been Frein.

The man spotted in the woods Monday amounted to a "possible" sighting of Frein, police said. The Friday sighting by a resident - at the closest distance reported yet - had a "high level of credibility," Lt. Col. George Bivens told reporters.

Frein, 31, is charged with killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass outside the e barracks in Blooming Grove on Sept. 12. Police believe the self-styled survivalist has been hiding in the woods of Pike and Monroe Counties since the shootings.

The two recent sightings have caused police to expand the manhunt to Paradise and Pocono Townships. That area is several miles south of the five-square-mile area near Frein's parents' home in Canadensis, where more than 1,000 law enforcement officers focused their search for more than a month

But search teams have not abandoned Price and Barrett Townships, where police said they had previously spotted Frein and found items he left behind. In that area, investigators found a campsite with supplies, pipe bombs, and journal pages detailing the Sept. 12 shootings. They said DNA found on a water bottle at that campsite matched strands taken from his home.