Balloon a bust in manhunt
CANADENSIS – Pennsylvania State Police said an unmanned balloon brought in from Ohio was not helpful in the search for a suspect in the killing of a state trooper.
Trooper Tom Kelly, a state police spokesman, said the agency returned the Mylar balloon to Ohio Department of Transportation Tuesday.
Kelly said dense brush and rugged terrain in the Pocono Mountains search area hampered use of the tethered device, which is akin to a weather balloon.
The Ohio agency sent the balloon last week as troopers entered a sixth week of searching for 31-year-old Eric Frein.
Kelly said it was experimental and among several technologies being used.
Frein is charged with opening fire outside the Blooming Grove barracks Sept. 12, killing Trooper Bryon Dickson and seriously wounding Trooper Alex Douglass.