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Frantic search for killer brought officers here

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

In the wake of Brian Nichols’ alleged four-man killing spree Friday, local residents received a fright of their own Saturday as the SWAT team and other authorities blanketed the area in search of the elusive suspect.

Fayetteville Police Detective Steve Crawshaw said his department received a call about 9 a.m. Saturday. The unidentified caller alleged Nichols, the man accused of slaying Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Deputy Hoyt Teasley, and U.S. Customs Agent David Wilhelm, and critically injuring Deputy Cynthia Hall, had taken refuge in Fayetteville.

“A call got transferred to us from Fulton County saying that Nichols might be in Fayetteville,” Crawshaw said. Another official said officers believed that Nichols’ brother lived in that area of Fayetteville.

Agents from a fugitive squad based out of Fulton County, Fayette County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team, and Fayetteville police feverishly scoured the Hunter’s Lane area, off South Jeff Davis Boulevard. A helicopter scanned above, Crawshaw said.

The manhunt lasted about an hour, he said.

Authorities went to the home where the fugitive was reportedly staying and talked to the family. It didn’t take long for authorities to realize Nichols was not there.

“It turned out to be false information,” Crawshaw said. He indicated the mere thought Nichols, a man whose alleged crimes rocked the nation this past weekend, might have been here was scary.

Nichols surrendered to authorities about an hour later at an apartment complex in Duluth, where he had taken 26-year-old Ashley Smith hostage eight hours before.

Nichols reportedly allowed Smith to leave the apartment to visit her 5-year-old daughter. But instead she ran to a telephone and called police.