Police using unmanned balloon in Eric Frein manhunt in Pennsylvania

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Monday, October 27, 2014
VIDEO: Police using unmanned balloon in Frein manhunt
Pennsylvania State Police say they've started using a device similar to a weather balloon in their search for a suspect in the killing of a state trooper last month.

CANADENSIS, Pa. (WPVI) -- Pennsylvania State Police have started using a device similar to a weather balloon in their search for suspected cop-killer Eric Frein.



Trooper Tom Kelly, a state police spokesman, said Monday the Ohio Department of Transportation donated the use of the large, tethered, unmanned Mylar balloon.





He says the device provides troopers with a similar level of technology and coverage at a fraction of the cost of traditional aircraft. It's also silent.



Kelly says the balloon is experimental and among several technologies they're using in the search for 31-year-old Eric Frein.



Frein is charged with opening fire outside the Blooming Grove state police barracks on Sept. 12, killing Trooper Bryon Dickson and seriously wounding Trooper Alex Douglass.



It is day 45 of the search.



Over the weekend, authorities searching for Frein descended upon a spot where a woman found blood in her back yard.



Joyce Aleckna called police after finding the blood Saturday near the chicken coop on her small farm in Canadensis. None of the animals in the coop were injured, she said.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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