Oct. 31--Eric Frein, the accused murderer of a Pennsylvania state trooper, was arraigned Friday morning, hours after he was captured by police who had been hunting him for seven weeks.
Frein has been on the run since Sept. 12, when he allegedly shot and killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and severely wounded Trooper Alex T. Douglass in what authorities have described as a "cowardly ambush."
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FOR THE RECORD
8:41 a.m.: An earlier version of this post gave the name of the Pennsylvania state trooper killed in the Eric Frein case as Bryon Dixon. His name is Bryon Dickson.
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Pike County Dist. Atty. Ray Tonkin said Frein's capture and arraignment should comfort a community that has lived in fear while the fugitive appeared to be playing a cat-and-mouse game with the police who were hunting him.
"We have now started to find the answers that the community desired in this case," Tonkin said. "The families in this matter ... will never be the same but today we find some comfort as a community that we are taking these next steps toward justice."
Frein, 31, was led into the Pike County Courthouse for his arraignment on charges that include first-degree murder, attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer and possessing weapons of mass destruction.
He showed no emotion as the charges were read, the Scranton Times-Tribune reported, and when asked by the judge if he understood his rights, he replied quietly, "Yes, I do."
He was not granted bail and could face the death penalty, prosecutors have said.
He was silent as we was led out, though someone shouted a question at him several times: "Eric, are you sorry?"
Onlookers gathered near the courthouse cheered when the armored vehicles pulled up to the courthouse, the Allentown Morning Call reported, and neighbors peeked out windows and rushed to their porches to catch a glimpse of the prisoner.
"The community can breathe a big sigh of relief," local resident Ellen Geis told the Morning Call.
The parents of Cpl. Dickson also expressed relief at the news. "It doesn't change our circumstances," his mother, Darla Dickson, told the Scranton Times-Tribune. "It just changes how we'll view the next few days with some relief in our hearts."
Though authorities had said in the past that Frein was a trained survivalist who had anti-government leanings, State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens declined Friday to discuss Frein's possible motives, citing the ongoing investigation.
Bivens said Frein has spoken since his arrest, but he declined to give any details of what the suspect said.
Numerous tips and sightings of Frein had been reported since he went missing, but Bivens said his capture was not based on a tip.
Instead, he said, a team of U.S. marshals found Frein while they were doing a routine sweep of a wooded area along with hundreds of other law enforcement officers. They found Frein in a field by an abandoned airplane hangar at the Birchwood Resort Airpark, authorities said.
Unarmed and caught by surprise, authorities say there was no struggle when they arrested him.
In court, cuts were visible on Frein's face, and Bivens said he was injured at some point during his weeks on the run from one of the largest manhunts in Pennsylvania history.
UPDATE
10:27 a.m.: This post has been updated with additional details and comments from Cp. Byron Dickson's mother.
7:40 a.m. This post has been updated throughout with additional details and background.
This post was originally published at 7:16 a.m.
