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Charred Remains From California Cabin ID’d as Suspected Cop Killer Christopher Dorner

Feb. 14, 2013 7:20pm
Charred Remains From California Cabin IDd as Suspected Cop Killer Christopher Dorner

This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer. Seeking leads in a massive manhunt, Los Angeles authorities on Sunday put up a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer suspected in three killings. Credit: AP

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Officials said Thursday that the burned remains found in a California mountain cabin have been positively identified as fugitive former police officer Christopher Dorner.

Jodi Miller, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County sheriff-coroner, said the identification was made through Dorner’s dental records.

Miller did not give a cause of death.

The search for Dorner began last week after authorities said he had launched a deadly revenge campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing, warning that he would bring “warfare” to LAPD officers and their families.

The manhunt brought police to Big Bear Lake, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, where they found Dorner’s burned-out pickup truck abandoned. His footprints disappeared on frozen soil and hundreds of officers who searched the area and checked out each building failed to find him.

Five days later, but just a stone’s throw from a command post authorities had set up in the massive manhunt, Karen and Jim Reynolds said they came face to face with Dorner inside their cabin-style condo.

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.”

The notion of him holed up just across the street from the command post was shocking to many, but not totally surprising to some experts familiar with the complications of such a manhunt.

“Chilling. That’s the only word I could use for that,” said Ed Tatosian, a retired SWAT commander for the Sacramento Police Department. “It’s not an unfathomable oversight. We’re human. It happens. It’s chilling (that) it does happen.”

Law enforcement officers, who had gathered outside daily for briefings, were stunned by the revelation. One official later looking on Google Earth exclaimed that he’d parked right across the street from the Reynolds’ cabin each day.

The Reynolds said Dorner was upstairs in the rental unit Tuesday when they arrived to ready it for vacationers. Dorner, who at the time was being sought for three killings, confronted the Reynolds with a drawn gun, “jumped out and hollered `stay calm,’” Jim Reynolds said during a Wednesday night news conference.

His wife screamed and ran downstairs but Dorner caught her, Reynolds said. The couple said they were taken to a bedroom where he ordered them to lie on a bed and then on the floor. Dorner bound their arms and legs with plastic ties, gagged them with towels and covered their heads with pillowcases.

“I really thought it could be the end,” Karen Reynolds said.

The couple believes Dorner had been staying in the cabin at least since Feb. 8, the day after his burned truck was found nearby. Dorner told them he had been watching them by day from inside the cabin as they did work outside. The couple, who live nearby, only entered the unit Tuesday. “He said we are very hard workers,” Karen Reynolds said.

After he fled in their purple Nissan Rogue, she managed to call 911 from a cellphone on the coffee table. Police said Dorner later killed a fourth person, a sheriff’s deputy, during a standoff, and died inside the burning cabin where he took cover during a blazing shootout.

While authorities have not corroborated the couple’s account, it matched early reports from law enforcement officials that a couple had been tied up and their car stolen by a man resembling Dorner. Property records showed the Reynolds as the condo’s owners.

The San Bernardino County sheriff has refused to answer questions about how one of the largest manhunts in years could have missed him.

During the search, heavily armed deputies went door to door to search roughly 600 cabins for forced entry. Many of the cabins were boarded-up summer homes.

Authorities said officers looked for signs that someone had forcibly entered the buildings, or that heat was on inside in a cabin that otherwise looked uninhabited.

Helicopters had landed SWAT officers in a lot near the Reynolds’ condo, and through the weekend they stood in plain view from the cabin, gearing up in helmets, bulletproof vests, with assault weapons at the ready.

Charred Remains From California Cabin IDd as Suspected Cop Killer Christopher Dorner

In this aerial photo, law enforcement authorities investigate the charred remnants of a cabin Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 in the Angeles Oaks area of Big Bear, Calif. Credit: AP

Charred Remains From California Cabin IDd as Suspected Cop Killer Christopher Dorner

In this image taken from video provided by KABC-TV, the cabin in Big Bear, Calif. where ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded inside is in flames Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. Credit: AP

According to the Reynolds, the cabin had cable TV, and a second-story view that would have allowed him to see choppers flying in and out.

Timothy Clemente, a retired FBI SWAT team leader who was part of the search for Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph, said searchers had to work methodically. When there’s a hot pursuit, they can run after a suspect into a building. But in a manhunt, the search has to slow down. “You can’t just kick in every door,” he said. Police have to have a reason to enter a building.

Officers would have been approaching each cabin, rock and tree with the prospect that Dorner was behind and waiting with a weapon that could penetrate bulletproof vests. In his manifesto posted online, Dorner, a former Navy reservist, said he had no fear of losing his life and would wage “unconventional and asymmetrical warfare” and warned officers “you will now live the life of the prey.”

Even peering through windows can be difficult because officers have to remove a hand from their weapons to shade their eyes. Experts said it is likely officers may have used binoculars to help examine homes from a distance, especially when dealing with a man who had already killed three people, including a police officer.

In many cases, officers didn’t even knock on the doors, according to searchers and residents.

“If Chris Dorner’s on the other side of the door, what would the response be?” Clemente said. “A .50 caliber round or .223 round straight through that door.”

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Comments (62)

1 2
  • Zuitsuit
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 11:58pm

    This man is the only true American hero of this decade.

    Report this comment

    Zuitsuit  
  • CloudNine
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:56pm

    I say bag the remains and put on a shelf for sale, right next to the “Kingsford Matchlight”!

    Report this comment

    CloudNine  
  • bluntforce
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:48pm

    Alas, the modern day Django was quick fried to a crackily crunch. He’s on a permanent Cheetos break.

    Report this comment

    bluntforce  
    • CanadaRocks
      Posted on February 15, 2013 at 8:56am

      He can hang out with sniper kyle and they can exchange murder stories. Two cowards? Two heroes?

      Report this comment

      CanadaRocks  
  • mikeye74
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:41pm

    Thank God its over and no other police were injured or killed. Now having said that officer in the news saying they didn’t know or realize that the tear gas would start a fire is either a liar or the biggest fool on the planet. All who have used gas,smoke,or flash bang (simulators) know what they produce, heat and fire. So maybe there needs to be an investigation in the department. No dorner is not a hero but he may have had cause. Pretty stupid way to try and get justice but that was his choice.But maybe
    theres more to it . Sorry but LA has alway been known for dirty cops….check the facts.

    Report this comment

    mikeye74  
  • BostonHarold
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:30pm

    John Wilkes Booth died much the same way…

    Report this comment

    BostonHarold  
  • katzkiner
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:27pm

    He was not the total wacko killer like Holms and Lanza. He could have killed the boat owner, the truck owner, and the two owners of the cabin. If he had killed the cabin owners he would have got away. He is not due any credit, but he spared some people. Can anyone explain that?

    Report this comment

    katzkiner  
  • Couyon64
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:11pm

    He’s going to be buring for a long time………….

    Report this comment

    Couyon64  
  • DREDGE
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:27pm

    One down a million to go!!!!!

    Report this comment

    DREDGE  
  • Attila_the_Hunney
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:25pm

    Well there goes the Big Daddy of the black supremacist movement. Hater can go hatin on satan.

    Report this comment

    Attila_the_Hunney  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:18pm

    Hope they bury his “extra crispy” **** in a greasy used KFC bucket.

    Report this comment

    LeadNotFollow  
  • theonlynana
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:14pm

    One of the biggest problems in this country is those “NUTS” we turn into “HEROES”, druggies,murders and people who for some reason not capable of handling real life and the bumps in the road that life gives you. Theses are the ones (like “O”) who blame everyone else for their own short comings. Sad, this “NUT” chose to kill, whether LAPD was wrong when they fired him did NOT give him the right to go on a killing spree, that there are many supported his actions will be the true down fall of a once great country.

    Report this comment

    theonlynana  
  • mbean
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:08pm

    Hollyweird celebrities will be lining up to play their “Hero” in the Bioic will will be out soon I am sure. Maybe Spike Lee will direct and Denzel will play himself.

    Report this comment

    mbean  
  • temple62
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:29pm

    Great, now the LAPD can stop firing rounds at pick-up truck drivers delivering newspapers!

    Report this comment

    temple62  
    • The Big Mick
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:50pm

      thank heaven for small favors.
      The “chilling” thing is that the Thin Blue Crew was quite prepared to violate the rights and risk the lives of any number of people they were sworn to protect and serve in their bestial lust for Gang Vengence on this guy. That and the Cowardice displayed in riddling two women or more with bullets who could not POSSIBLY have presented ANY threat. Mere FEAR of Doornob sparked HUNDREDS of violations of Rights and Safety of the people who really WERE “there own.”

      Report this comment

      The Big Mick  
    • barber2
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:10pm

      Guys; Blame the messenger much ? You blame the cops ? What about the Killing Machine, Wacko Dorner ? The guy thinks he has been treated unfairly so he decides to kill innocent people to get even ? Sounds like the Far Left ” social justice ” crowd : Get Revenge for historically past slave holders by punishing people today who had nothing to do with slavery. After 60 years of Affirmative Action . Stupid. Dysfunctional. I am tried of the mess that insane , angry, and criminals minds inflict on our society. Dorner was just an angry black male , like Obama’s Marxist mentors, who cause more heart ache and evil because they are so twisted by hate. There were avenues for his anger. He just chose to take his anger out on innocent people. Sick. Twisted. Evil. Sad.

      Report this comment

      barber2  
    • MK2
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:29pm

      Wait a g.d. Minute they were both wrong the other story on the blaze a Cali cop is saying that cops don’t carry for protection it is a show of power no shots should have been fired all they had to do was display there guns whoever had the bigger gun should have won problem solved

      Report this comment

      MK2  
    • circleDwagons
      Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:09am

      Barber2. Dorner was a cop, how do we know the good cops from the bad cops? Did Dorner shoot up the pickup truck with the women? Are cop killers worst than regular killers? Why should cops be heavily armed but not law abiding civilians?

      Report this comment

      circleDwagons  
  • The0bserver
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:21pm

    Christopher Dorner got what he expected he would get and probably wanted, so no problem with that. Too bad too many officers (one is too many) had to die by this maniac.

    However, it bothers me that they burned down a citizen’s cottage (and it looked like a big cottage) owned by someone who did not know Dorner nor was part of his crimes. So cops can burn down innocent people’s homes and you are OK with that? Maybe next time some nut wants to hole up somewhere you can offer that maniac your house for his refuge, Rush Limbaugh, et. al. I’d like to take of video of your reaction when your house is burned to the ground. Are the police going to rebuild that house for that owner? They have a moral obligation to do so in my book. If it was Dorner’s property, I’d say so what and who cares, but why should the innocent owner/victim pay the penalty for the police’s “carelessness” and negligence? I think there should be a moratorium on these tactics and incendiary devices until they can make them safe from “accidents.”

    Report this comment

    The0bserver  
    • MK2
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:16pm

      The million dollar reward that was on the table should go to rebuild the house o wait I think the people he tied and held hostage should get that they did make the call that lead to his demise so it looks to me that they should be out a lot more then the million they do owe them a new house

      Report this comment

      MK2  
  • GoodStuff
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:20pm

    The Paulbots will be sad.

    Report this comment

    GoodStuff  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:09pm

    Now the conspiracy videos will be made with the no body clip and the police scanner clip featured. Nothing else will happen and he will in shot time be forgotten at least on the national level. He will go down as a hero to the lovers of cop killers crowd, at least for a few months.

    Report this comment

    TJexcite  
  • RonPaulOrNoOne
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:56pm

    Cops should be ashamed. You like to burn people now. Sick and twisted. You cops are disgrace in Cali. You couldn’t handle one guy. You are a bunch of cowards and should be fired. All of you.

    RonPaulOrNoOne  
    • Stelex
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:58pm

      What does “Noone” mean???

      Report this comment

      Stelex  
    • Bamba123
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:02pm

      Hard to believe that there are people as twisted as you. Coward, try your hero, killing an innocent daughter of a man he didn’t have the guts to go after face to face. Ambushing cops and then running the coward dog he was. The fire was just to acclimate him to his current surroundings. The sad part is they could only kill him once. Next time you need to call 911 don’t call 1-PYC-HO-KILLER so someone you can idolize can come to your rescue. What a fool

      Report this comment

      Bamba123  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:05pm

      Maybe you can bring flowers to his grave and then go p*ss on the grave of the people he murdered.

      Report this comment

      Gonzo  
    • GoodStuff
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:18pm

      @RonPaulOrNoOne

      I didn’t know Soybomb was posting under a different name now. Further proof that Paulbots are insane.

      Report this comment

      GoodStuff  
    • The Big Mick
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:58pm

      Don’t buy it Bama. Much as I HATE Doornob and his Self-entitled Black RACISM, any unbiased objective observer can come to no cogent conclusion but the LaPed acted more like a Street Gang seeking revenge for “one of THEIR own” than Officers of The LAW here.
      When THEY were the targets they responded with a Visceral Fear, Lack of Fire Discipline, and Blatant Disregard of Constitutional Rights and SAFETY of the people THEY are SWORN to PROTECT. WE are “their own” NOT each “the thin blue crew”.
      Something they seem to have forgotten as soon as THEY, as opposed to the Public they swore to protect, were at risk.

      Report this comment

      The Big Mick  
    • barber2
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:00pm

      GOOD: They are all our hate the cops/ hate the military/ hate authority / hate America crowd. They are all Obama Lefties who like to play Divide the Conservatives with their half truths here.

      Report this comment

      barber2  
    • AUsername
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:29pm

      yeah those imports from the two most oppressive nations on earth at the time during WW2 and those thugs are not much different than their ancestors that murderer millions of people in camps. Its not muslims we gotta watch out for, its likely skinheads with a uniform and badge, your most likely to be attacked by them and anyone else and many of them terrorized people abroad and murdered other people in foreign nations before they took this domestic role.

      Report this comment

      AUsername  
    • Welcome Black Carter
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:48pm

      I say:
      Well done.
      (pun intended)

      Report this comment

      Welcome Black Carter  
  • pissantno.10
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:50pm

    can’t wait for the movie

    Report this comment

    pissantno.10  
  • RJJinGadsden
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:43pm

    It would be nice to hear more info, especially regarding how he lost his life. As much as I do wish he had surrendered, I am relieved that he did not fake his death by taking the life of yet another.

    Report this comment

    RJJinGadsden  
  • MDECKER
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:33pm

    Thank God Marco Rubio had a swig of agua, otherwise, Chris Matthews and Jesse Jackson would have nothing to gloat about.

    Report this comment

    MDECKER  
    • Stelex
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:50pm

      This man was burned by the white power elite in the LAPD…..A brother unjustly dissed by the man, Django real life and all. What Rubio did was well…….just unforgivable.

      Stelex  
  • FlagWavingPatriot
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:32pm

    Now all we need is the police to say they lit the fire on purpose (which I’m fine with in this case, I just like the truth).

    Report this comment

    FlagWavingPatriot  
  • Tri-ox
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:30pm

    So, I guess that Dorner won’t be able to attend that (Django-themed) ‘White House Beer (and race-baiting) Summit’ that obama invited him to?

    Report this comment

    Tri-ox  
    • Stelex
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:47pm

      I’m sure he’ll be there with Osama Bin Ladin, Burried at sea out of respect ya know. This guy was just like Django in real life according to MSNBC. I’m sure he’s as dead as Bin Ladin. Two of Obama’s hero’s no doubt.

      Report this comment

      Stelex  
    • rlimike
      Posted on February 16, 2013 at 10:54am

      Now that’s funny!

      Report this comment

      rlimike  
  • pandora665
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:29pm

    I’m sure a number of people will be able to breathe a sigh of relief after hearing this piece of news.

    Report this comment

    pandora665  
    • The Big Mick
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:45pm

      Ahh, but are they GOOD guys, or BAD guys?
      Is this JUSTICE or also COVER UP?

      Report this comment

      The Big Mick  
    • Lopez
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:46pm

      Yeah… They can all go to bed tonight knowing that they executed the right man

      Report this comment

      Lopez  
    • GoodStuff
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:19pm

      @BigMick

      “Ahh, but are they GOOD guys, or BAD guys?
      Is this JUSTICE or also COVER UP?”

      Seek help.

      Report this comment

      GoodStuff  
    • The Big Mick
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:03pm

      Good Stuff.
      Ok, YOU explain the bullet riddles truck and shot punctured bodies of two women guilty of nothing but delivering papers in a vehicle that looked vaguely like the suspects.
      YOU tell us who killed him. You tell us who started the fire. You tell us how he could hide within feet of command central and they had no clue. Yes, tell us how the LaPed and the PoPo Frats of the Surrounding Area covered themselves with Glory in this.
      There, I’ve sought your help, got anything but snide, if discogent, remarks?

      Report this comment

      The Big Mick  
  • The Big Mick
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:25pm

    Yeah, it’s him, but no, you can’t know who killed him, and no, you can’t know why we couldn’t find him right next door.

    Report this comment

    The Big Mick  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:25pm

    Could they tell if the body was burnt?

    Report this comment

    progressiveslayer  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:06pm

      He’s still burning Slayer…in Hell. Eternity is a b*tch.

      Report this comment

      Gonzo  
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