In this aerial photo, law enforcement authorities investigate the charred remnants of a cabin in the Angeles Oaks area of Big Bear, Calif. An official briefed on the investigation tells The Associated Press that a wallet with a California driver’s license with the name Christopher Dorner has been found in the rubble of a cabin. A charred body was also found inside after a shootout and fire. Authorities believe the remains are those of the former Los Angeles police officer, but they have not been formally identified.BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. – Karen and Jim Reynolds say they came face to face with fugitive Christopher Dorner, not on a snow-covered mountain trail, but inside their cabin-style condo.
During a 15-minute ordeal just a stone’s throw from a command post authorities had set up in the massive manhunt for the ex-Los Angeles police officer, the couple said Dorner bound them and put pillowcases on their heads. At one point, he explained that he had been there for days.
“He said ‘I don’t have a problem with you, so I’m not going to hurt you,”‘ Jim Reynolds said. “I didn’t believe him; I thought he was going to kill us.”
Police have not commented on the Reynolds’ account, but it renews questions about the thoroughness of a search for a man who authorities declared was armed and extremely dangerous as they hunted him across the Southwest and Mexico.
“They said they went door-to-door but then he’s right there under their noses. Makes you wonder if the police even knew what they were doing,” resident Shannon Schroepfer said. “He was probably sitting there laughing at them the whole time.”