Car theft suspect found after manhunt.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

When a man knocked at Harry Eberle's door Friday and asked to use the phone, he thought nothing of it.

It was only when police sirens rang out and the visitor ran toward a rental home on his Fisher Road property west of Eugene that Eberle, 63, grew suspicious and dialed 911.

More than three hours later, an Oregon State Police SWAT team entered the rental home and found Stephen Robert Conn Jr., 31, of Eugene wrapped in a blanket and hiding in a back closet under a pile of clothes.

Conn, a convicted felon, was being held in the Lane County Jail on Friday night on a long list of charges, including burglary, car theft, eluding police, drug possession and being a felon in possession of a gun.

The manhunt began about 1:15 p.m. when Fish and Wildlife trooper Vonn Schleicher learned the 1986 Toyota pickup truck he was following had been reported stolen from the Eugene area, state police Lt. Mike Bloom said.

The trooper tried to pull the truck over on Highway 126 near Fisher Road, but its driver hit the gas, leading the trooper on a brief chase on Oak Hill Road and into a brushy field near Oak Hill Cemetery. The trooper was able to follow in his own four-wheel drive vehicle, Bloom said.

The stolen truck came to a sudden halt and the male driver bailed out, holding a pump-action, .22-caliber rifle with wooden stock in his hand, Bloom said. The driver didn't threaten the trooper with the weapon, but fled into the brush and briars and disappeared.

The trooper called for backup and stayed behind with a teenage girl who was a passenger in the stolen truck, Bloom said.

Officers and police dogs from state police, Eugene police and the Lane County sheriff's office flooded the area, setting up a large perimeter to prevent the man's escape. Roads in the area were closed for hours.

Around 2 p.m., dispatchers got the call from Eberle on Fisher Road. He said the man had stood on his front porch and used his cordless telephone to arrange a ride out of the area. But the responding officers' sirens spooked him and he fled to the duplex south of Eberle's own home. The tenants of both units were gone, but some of their doors were unlocked, and Eberle feared the man may have gone inside.

As the state police SWAT team surrounded the two-story rental, police dogs found the rifle near the stolen vehicle, Bloom said. The rifle had a round in its chamber and the magazine was fully loaded, he said.

Officers also found a gray baseball cap similar to one worn by the fugitive.

The SWAT team tried to communicate with the man by shouting at him over a loudspeaker and calling the telephone inside the rental. They weren't entirely sure he was inside the house, since well-meaning citizens continued to call in sightings of men who matched his description.

SWAT officers tried to ram open the steel front door of the rental duplex. Eberle said he already had told dispatchers he had the keys. Eventually the officers retrieved the keys and unlocked the unyielding door, he said.

They found Conn in the closet and arrested him without further trouble. His young passenger was released to her parents. Conn, who has an extensive criminal record, was arrested Nov. 14 after he allegedly fled from sheriff's deputies in another stolen car.

CAPTION(S):

Police join the search for a man suspected of car theft Friday off Fisher Road in West Eugene. They found the man in a rental home.