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Expert: “Keep the Pressure on Frein”

Retired FBI Special Agent Peter Ahearn knows the question the public is asking about the manhunt for Eric Frein. Why hasn’t he been caught yet? “You...

Retired FBI Special Agent Peter Ahearn knows the question the public is asking about the manhunt for Eric Frein.

Why hasn't he been caught yet?

"You think it's an easy thing to find somebody, but in reality, it's not that easy," said Ahearn, who has taken part in some of the nation's largest manhunts in the past 20 years.

And he headed up the Buffalo, NY office. Ahearn led the search for accused cop killer Bucky Phillips, who was on the run for five months before he was captured in western Pennsylvania.

Ahearn says this is a different case and has praise for the way state police and the FBI are operating the search.

"You have to keep that pressure on. You cannot give up at this point or scale back. Unless, of course, you know he's not in that area," said Ahearn, who believes Frein is hemmed in somewhere in the Poconos in Pike and Monroe counties.

"You don't leave behind things that you need like ammunition. I think they just got there a little too late to catch, but the more they do that, the less he has for himself," added Ahearn, referring to police's recent discovery of a rifle, ammo, and supplies at a campsite within the search area.

Ahearn also believes Frein is being worn down by fatigue and hunger. He says falling leaves and falling temperatures make him more vulnerable to capture.

"It's great to be a survivalist, but when the northeastern Pennsylvania winter hits, it can be a pretty difficult time for him, so they're going to be looking for him to be moving somewhere inside," added Ahearn, who believes police are keeping close tabs on the many hunting and summer cottages in the search zone.

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