The Associated Press
ALREAD, Arkansas (AP) -- Police focused on a relatively small area of heavily wooded mountains Wednesday in their search for two suspects in the shooting of a state trooper who also were wanted for questioning in the disappearance of two other people.
State police put search dogs on the same trail where the animals had picked up a scent on Tuesday. Aircraft also were being used.
The search in the Ozark National Forest was concentrated on 50 acres where officers believed the men were hiding, state police Sgt. Pete Westerman said Wednesday morning.
The Alread School District canceled classes for a second day because of the fugitive search.
Convicted felon Mark Holsombach, 49, and William J. Frazier, 28, became the targets of the manhunt after a gunshot fired from their cabin Monday morning hit a trooper, one of several officers sent to serve warrants on the pair. The trooper was treated for a wound to one arm.
After the shot, officers tried to flush the men out with tear gas, and later rammed the hut with an armored vehicle, but by then no one was inside.
Larry Scott, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the area around the cabin had a mixture of slopes, structures and bunkers, two of which were filled with weapons and military-type gear.
“It’s actually designed for an attack,” Scott said.
“They’ve been planning for something like this for some time,” said Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley. “The survival skills are to their advantage, but we still think we’re going to be able to get them.”
State police went to the cabin Monday to serve several warrants, including one seeking Frazier on a theft charge and one accusing Holsombach of possession of firearms. New warrants were issued this week alleging attempted capital murder of the trooper and accusing Frazier of a weapons violations.
Officers also wanted to talk to the two about the disappearance of Theodore R. Throneberry, 46, and his wife, Ann Ryberg Throneberry, 45, whose home was about a half-mile from the cabin.
Throneberry was last seen in February and his wife has been missing since March 1.
Police said Holsombach and Frazier had been seen in the Throneberrys’ yard and were the last people seen with Ann Throneberry.
Alread is a tiny community about 65 miles north of Little Rock.