People near the town of Green Isle, Minnesota, are reacting to an intense police search and manhunt that ultimately led to the arrest of one of their neighbors.
CBS News spoke with two people who played a role in bringing Vance Boelter into custody.
“Once I realized there were no other people here and no other vehicles, I started freaking out,” said Wendy Thomas.
Around 8 p.m. Sunday, Thomas drove to her neighbor’s house in rural Green Isle to pick up an address book. He wasn’t home, so she was in and out pretty quickly, all while talking with her dad on the phone.
“I was coming down the driveway [and] I said, ‘Dad, there is somebody in the front yard,'” said Thomas.
As she was leaving the property, she saw the man duck down by a culvert.
“As I was turning my truck this way, I could see him clear as day, just squatting there. That’s a person,” said Thomas.
Rattled by what she saw, Thomas sped away and quickly came across a sheriff’s deputy on patrol. He told her to take cover near County Road 11. Authorities then closed in on the property. Less than two hours later, Boelter was in custody after crawling on his hands and knees towards law enforcement.
“I was pretty traumatized. I had to go take a break with my brother and just let some tears out,” said Thomas.
“This is where he crouched down when Wendy drove out of my driveway,” said Kevin Effertz, pointing to the area where Boelter crawled out of the marsh.
Effertz returned to his home to find the FBI and others there. Since Boelter’s house was just a mile away, Effertz thinks he was trying to get back there, but he’s not sure why. He used to plow Boelter’s driveway in the winter, and like his neighbors, he’s left with more questions than answers.
“He never had any political views that we talked about. It was always about the weather, what’s going on. How’s your family,” said Effertz. “A guy, you shake your hand with him and everything else, and he does this, which is really strange.”
Effertz said one of his neighbors’ trail cameras had captured an image of Boelter earlier, and law enforcement had also reported a possible sighting of him in nearby woods before his arrest.
