GUILTY UT - Troy Knapp, mountain man, burglary & weapon charges, 2007

He’s eluded authorities for more than five years, a mountain man who roams the wilderness of southern Utah, breaking into remote cabins in winter, living in luxury off hot food, alcohol and coffee before stealing provisions and vanishing into the woods.

Investigators have clawed for clues, scouring cabins for fingerprints that match no one and chasing reports of brief encounters only to come up short, always a step behind the mysterious recluse.

They’ve found abandoned camps, dozens of guns, high-end outdoor gear stolen from the homes and trash strewn around the forest floor.

Authorities say the man is armed and dangerous and responsible for more than two dozen burglaries. He has continued to outrun the law across a swath of mountains not far from Zion National Park. He’s roamed across 1,000 square miles of rugged wilderness where snow can pile 10 feet deep in winter.

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Quiche said:

I'm curious, Peli, what are you sensing about this guy?

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wfgodot said:

1. No problem with this guy trespassing, using cabins, etc. The conflict between private ownership and the natural rights of someone who appreciates his or her surroundings is as American as the first stanza of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

2. Big problems with shooting up cabins, defacing religious images. Thus his being perceived as a "time bomb."

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mysteriew said:

Quiche to some extent I can agree with you. But with this guy, he has been showing some anti social behaviors in that he has vandalized some cabins, defacating in a pan in one cabin. I think that is what has led to the concern that he may be a "time bomb."

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hollyblue said:

More than not he's had military training. Since LE have his DNA^^^ now, does the military keep everyones on file for a possible match?

Since this has been going on for 5 years, no chance of it being Koecher; but there was talk and discovery of young militia groups in the St. George area.

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CBS/AP) MANTI, Utah - Troy Knapp, an elusive survivalist dubbed the "Mountain Man" by cabin owners for allegedly burglarizing dozens of mountain cabins in Utah, was captured Tuesday after evading police for six years, authorities said.

Knapp, 45, was taken into custody in the snowy mountains outside of Ferron in central Utah after firing several shots at officers and a helicopter, authorities said. He was booked into Sanpete County jail Tuesday evening.

Sanpete County Sheriff Brian Nielson said no one was hit before Knapp was captured, who tried to flee on snowshoes from dozens of officers who converged on snowmobiles and a snowcat. There was nearly 4 feet of snow at the 9,200 feet elevation.

Authorities said Knapp was armed with several rifles and one handgun. He was also wearing camouflage clothes and sporting a red beard with some gray.

"He was severely outgunned at the time," Nielson said. "He ran into a number of officers that were also well armed and he could see that he was out of his league."

After surrendering, Knapp was cooperative and talkative with police, showing them on a map everywhere he has been and telling them he was relieved to be out of the winter elements. He was captured in an area about 180 miles north of the site where detectives believed he was a year ago.

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Until Monday, almost no one had seen Troy Knapp in nine years. The tattooed, red-haired drifter had more or less disappeared in 2004, after the latest in a string of prison stints, and the number of people who had laid their eyes on him—let alone spoken with him—could be counted on two hands.

Where was Knapp for that decade? Roaming across thousands of miles of wilderness, surviving off the land—and off of the area's many weekend cabins, which he'd break into and steal supplies from, sometimes leaving mocking notes with swastikas doodled in the margin.

Knapp, 45, was arrested on Tuesday, the culmination of a seven-year manhunt, in a collaborative effort between several different law enforcement agencies. "He was severely outgunned at the time," Sanpete County Sheriff Brian Nielson told reporters. "He ran into a number of officers that were also well armed and he could see that he was out of his league."
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"I envy the sights he's seen, the sunsets, and animals," Sevier County sheriff Nathan Curtis told Baynham. "I bet he's seen things most people never will."

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