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Awoke to some great news this morning.

Michael Bresnahan, one of the state's most wanted fugitives, was arrested in Oregon.

I'm on vacation, so I don't have all of the details.

But I am told that it was a combination of frequent publicity of this case and good police team work on the local, state, and federal levels that helped lead to Bresnahan's capture.

Some background. Michael Bresnahan was wanted for a brutal home invasion and attack on a retired 61 year old school teacher in Winchendon in August 2007. I interviewed the woman in March, and she told me she was awoken by a man who put his hand across her mouth, threatened to kill her, and then attacked her for two hours in her own home.

I'm told that physical evidence recovered from the house pointed investigators towards Bresnahan, but when they went to arrest him, he was gone.

I covered this story for our New England's Unsolved series in March. I've done several updates since. America's Most Wanted also featured the case, using my interview with the victim. When news broke about a week ago that Bresnahan was spotted at an Oregon Walmart, that got the attention of the local media there.

When I did the first story, it was believed that Bresnahan was still in New England, possibly in Massachusetts or just over the state line in New Hampshire. There were a couple of sightings and investigators hoped that the New England's Unsolved story would flush him out.

Instead Bresnahan just fell off the grid: no credit cards, no drivers license, no bank accounts, nothing to track him. It appears he made his way cross country going from truck stop to truck stop hitching rides. In between New England and Oregon there were many opportunities for Bresnahan to earn cash, and I'm sure that's what he did.

When Bresnahan was picked up on a surveillance camera at the Oregon Walmart, he was looking at camping gear. Clearly, this was a guy doing everything he could to stay out of the mainstream, and away from police.

But it didn't work.

The Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Unit, the US Marshals, and local police kept up the pressure and now Michael Bresnahan is in jail.

I don't know when he'll be brought back to Massachusetts, but it could be late this week or early next.

Everyone, thanks for your interest in this case.

We'll talk again soon,

Bob Ward

Bob_Ward's Blog

Fugitive Michael Bresnahan Caught!

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