'I saw the black hat': US Marshals describe capturing suspected cop killer Eric Frein

close

Video

US Marshals who arrested Eric Frein describe takedown

Suspected cop killer discovered in airport hangar after seven-week manhunt

Eric Frein was captured after a massive 48-day manhunt when three deputy U.S. Marshals from an elite unit spotted the accused cop killer moving through tall grass near an abandoned airport hangar in the Pennsylvania woods and then got the jump on him before he even noticed.

"I saw the black hat," team leader Scott Malkowski told Fox News' Shepard Smith. He said the team then fanned out to get closer to Frein. "Once he got through the grass, I saw his hands,” Malkowski said. "He had no weapon. Twenty-five meters out he turned to me. He finally saw us."

Frein made no attempt to flee and didn't put up a fight. The marshals ordered Frein to keel and to put his hands in the air. They then ordered him to lie face down on the ground. "Once we handcuffed him, I asked him who he was. He said, 'Eric Frein,'" Malkowski said.

Frein was captured Thursday near the hangar at the old Birchwood-Pocono Airpark near Tannersville. He appeared gaunt and fatigued at a court appearance Friday at the Pike County Courthouse. He is being held without bail on first degree murder and other charges.

Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin plans to seek the death penalty.

Authorities say Frein killed Pennsylvania state trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson and critically wounded Trooper Alext Douglass in an ambush Sept. 12.

Frein appeared in front of TV cameras with his face bloodied and bruised. Malkowski and Deputy U.S. Marshall Scott Kimball said he suffered the injures while marshals had him down on the pavement.

Malkowski, 44, and Kimball, 48, are members of a U.S. Marshall special operations unit based in Virginia. Malkowski said the 13-member unit thought the airpark was worth checking out as they drove past it.

"We all had a feeling to come back to it," Malkowski told Smith. "We thought that was a place a fugitive would hide out."

Frein was handcuffed with Dickson’s handcuffs and driven to court in the dead officer's squad car.

Kimball said he was surprised Frein was unarmed "given the fact he set up an ambush and murder a brother fellow law enforcement officer."

He added, "I'm glad we got him."

Police said Frein had weapons in the hangar.

"He had nowhere to go. There is nothing he could've done, Malkowski said, adding: "From what I saw, he felt defeated because we'd won. We'd defeated him."

Investigators are still trying to determine how Frein, a survivalist, eluded capture for so long.

"We looked worse that he did," said Malkowski. "He looked pretty good for being on the fun for 45 days. He was pretty clean."

The Associated Press contributed to this story