DURHAM – Police and game wardens spent nearly six hours searching by air and land Tuesday for a pair of teenagers suspected of breaking into homes along Route 9.
By 6 p.m., one teen was arrested and two others were believed to be hiding in the woods after police with tracking dogs failed to flush them out.
The drama began at about noon when a man driving on Route 9 spotted two people wearing dark hoods jumping from a car. Police said the witness saw the two hooded young men running between houses, and he believed they were up to something criminal.
“These guys were wearing sweatshirts in 90-degree weather,” said Maine State Police Trooper Scott Gosselin. “Obviously, that looks a little suspicious.”
Concerned about the neighbors, the witness stopped and knocked on the door of one home near where the teens were seen running. After advising a woman there about what he’d seen, the man went to another house and knocked on the door there.
“It looks like he interrupted the burglary at that address,” Gosselin said.
The two suspects were seen running from the back of that house and fleeing into the woods as the man knocked on the door, Gosselin said.
The witness then drove away until he had found the white car again, Gosselin said. He took down registration information and called it in to police.
While State Police, Androscoggin County Sheriff’s officials, Maine game wardens and others were on the way, the witness went back to search for the car again. He found it in a sand pit nearby.
“He went to approach the car and he saw that it was a juvenile, also in a sweatshirt, behind the wheel,” Gosselin said.
The man ordered the teenager to get out of the car, but the teen sped away, instead. The witness was not ready to let him go that easy.
“He knew the owner of the sand pit so he called him and told him to close the gates,” Gosselin said.
The boy drove from the pit before he could be trapped inside by the gate. Meanwhile, police with dogs from the sheriff’s and Yarmouth police departments continued searching the woods. The Warden’s Service had aircraft in the area and they sent it over to assist in the manhunt.
Gosselin said they received numerous sightings of the suspects during the search. Finally, after roughly three hours, police went to a nearby campground after learning that a suspicious teenager had been spotted there.
Police were joined by the witness, who identified the teen as the one he had approached in the sand pit. The 16-year-old was arrested on charges of burglary, criminal mischief, driving with a suspended license and unauthorized use of property.
At about 6 p.m., police suspended the massive search for the remaining suspects, though they were still being sought Tuesday night.
“We’re pretty sure we know who the other two are,” Gosselin said. “We suspect they may still be in the woods.”
Police were confident the teenagers would soon be caught. The 90-degree weather Tuesday afternoon gave way to wind and hail at about 2 p.m. After that, sticky, hot weather returned and bugs were out in force in the Durham woods.
“It was grueling,” Gosselin said of the manhunt.
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