THROOP -- Word of Eric Frein's capture first spread over the police radio to officers working throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania.
It was a 911 dispatch call they had been waiting for, for a long time.
The police officers we talked to said they heard tones on their police radios, then a special announcement that fugitive Eric Frein had been caught. They told us that was an official end to what's been a very long 48 days for the entire law enforcement community.
Maybe it's a sign of the times: Throop Police Chief Keith Jones received a text message around 6 p.m. Thursday with news he hoped was true. Then, minutes later on his way home, he heard it on the police scanner.
"I have to say, the sound of the tones and the dispatcher's voice, it all made it real. It all made it official. No more guess work. They hooked him up, they had him, and it was over. And it felt good," Chief Jones said.
It was an official answer after a long seven weeks of uncertainty for all law enforcement.
One Throop police officer in particular was waiting for that special announcement. Michael Huffstutler is a retired state police sergeant who worked in Blooming Grove.
"My son is in Troop l Jonestown. I got a text message from him in capital letters that said 'we got him,'" Huffstutler said.
Those three words first brought a few tears, then relief and happiness.
"My point of view, being a state police family, elation. All I can say is that everybody is elated. That's it, they've got him. He's going to spend the rest of his life in a cage one way or another."
After that 911 dispatch went over the radio in Lackawanna County last evening, there was a long silence then one more thing that wasn't quite clear enough to play for you. One officer says "great job to all the agencies searching for him."