How police caught a 'Most Wanted' fugitive
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - A national manhunt ended in an arrest in Lane County.
Police captured one of the most wanted fugitives from Massachusetts in Cottage Grove, less than two weeks after he was spotted in Springfield, Ore.
Local police captured 36-year-old Michael Bresnahan Monday night after he tried to out-run police along a railroad track in Cottage Grove. He's accused of breaking into the home of a woman in Massachusetts in 2007 and assaulting her.
Authorities had sought Bresnahan in Florida, Connecticut, even California.
When he showed up in Oregon, the sighting prompted media reports. Bresnahan's face popped up on TV screens.
To Sharley LaReau, it meant her daughter's boyfriend "Aaron" wasn't who she thought he was.
"I'm relieved. Very, very relieved," she said.
LaReau said her daughter met Bresnahan at a California truck stop in April and befriended him. They stayed a few weeks at LaReau's mobile home.
"She never really had her daddy in her life, so she was looking for somebody just to hold her, and he held her," LaReau said.
America's Most Wanted ran a segment on the case Saturday. Sunday, on surveillance video, police said Bresnahan was seen stealing beer from a Cottage Grove Safeway store.
Then Monday, police got a big tip from a local mill worker.
Ron Marsh spotted Bresnahan, saw the tattoos on his arms and called police.
"I got a good look at his arms and my fiance' saw the other side of his arms and we were just shocked, you know -- this is the guy," Marsh said.
Corporal Scott Shepherd of the Cottage Grove Police Department spotted the suspect shortly after the tip was called in.
"He just turned around and ran and yelled back at me, 'Go ahead and shoot me,' and continued to run north away from me," Shepherd said.
The manhunt for Bresnahan ended without incident on a grassy strip in front of storage units.
Still, LaReau thinks often about the crime victim in Massachusetts and what might have happened.
"I'm 62. The lady was 61. That could have been me," LaReau said. She has not talked to or seen her daughter in over three weeks, but to her knowledge, the daughter was not harmed by Bresnahan.
Bresnahan has been charged with being a fugitive from justice. Authorities said the next step is an extradition hearing.
