A survivalist who eluded capture for 48 days after allegedly killing a trooper in a 2014 ambush says police were about a football field away from him at one point during the manhunt, according to a journal purportedly kept by the suspect.
Authorities say they found Eric Frein's journal at the abandoned airplane hangar where he was hiding out until his arrest. A trooper testified about the journal at Frein's capital murder trial on Wednesday.
The handwritten notes purport to detail Frein's movements and daily life as one of America's most wanted men, showing that he was keenly aware of the intensive police dragnet that spanned more than 300 square miles of the Pocono Mountains.
"This massive search cannot last forever," the author wrote on Oct. 4, 2014, about three weeks after the sniper attack that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and critically wounded Trooper Alex Douglass.
The journal writer asked Jesus Christ for mercy; took note of the progress of the manhunt; described breaking into a nearby home and stealing food; and poked fun at the media's characterization of Frein as a survivalist, writing, "Ha! Catchy phrase, I guess."
Frein, 33, faces a potential death sentence if he's convicted in Dickson's death.
On Tuesday, prosecutors showed the jury Frein's videotaped statement to police in which the accused sniper details how he planned and carried out the attack. Prosecutors say Frein also wrote a letter to his parents while on the run and spoke of a revolution.
