Mountain Man Captured After Years of Burglaries
March 5, 1998 - 0:0
SEATTLE A Bulgarian murder convict who apparently lived for years as a mountain man' in remote Pacific Northwest forests was recovering from police dog bites on Tuesday after his arrest on burglary charges. Mincio Vasilev Donciev, 67, was arrested early on Monday and is suspected of burglarizing at least 60 cabins some of them more than once over the past decade.
He took survival things batteries, clothing, food, said Jan Jorgensen of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. Donciev was in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after being bitten while beating a dog with a walking stick during his capture, Jorgenson said. Donciev, wearing an allegedly stolen green raincoat and brown rubber boots, was carrying three knives and two semiautomatic handguns when he was found near Darrington, about 50 miles (80 kms) northeast of Seattle. We consider him very dangerous, although he hadn't hurt anyone in the mountains, Jorgensen said.
Sheriff's deputies had known for years that Donciev was their suspect based on fingerprints and other evidence from cabin break-ins. In 1985, he had served nine months in King County Jail in Seattle for carrying incendiary devices. He was released in January 1986, and his whereabouts were not known until the burglaries began. We don't know why he ended up there (in the mountains), but it was a place he could go and be invisible, said Jorgensen. She said Donciev speaks little or no English. Authorities say Donciev was a police officer in Bulgaria before he was convicted of attempted murder in 1954.
He served a five-year sentence but was convicted of murder in 1966 and sentenced to 20 years. He escaped in 1970. Immigration officials declined to comment on Donciev's citizenship status. Sheriff's deputies had searched without luck for the phantom burglar, who was charged from the bench in 1992 and 1996. Few if any people had seen him. Then several months ago retired U.S. border patrol tracker Joel Hardin was hired to look for Donciev's forest routes.
Donciev was arrested after sensors placed along a trail alerted officers he was near cabins. He had been surviving in the wilderness for an extended period, and was very comfortable in that type of environment, Hardin said. He estimated that Donciev ranged over 20 square miles (52 sq kms) in areas that get up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow in winter.
His camp has not been found. Rural residents expressed relief at the arrest. You wouldn't want to confront someone like that, said caretaker Helen Lambert, who often found vacation cabins burglarized, with sugar, flour and other staples missing. He didn't take liquor, she added. (Reuters)
He took survival things batteries, clothing, food, said Jan Jorgensen of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. Donciev was in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after being bitten while beating a dog with a walking stick during his capture, Jorgenson said. Donciev, wearing an allegedly stolen green raincoat and brown rubber boots, was carrying three knives and two semiautomatic handguns when he was found near Darrington, about 50 miles (80 kms) northeast of Seattle. We consider him very dangerous, although he hadn't hurt anyone in the mountains, Jorgensen said.
Sheriff's deputies had known for years that Donciev was their suspect based on fingerprints and other evidence from cabin break-ins. In 1985, he had served nine months in King County Jail in Seattle for carrying incendiary devices. He was released in January 1986, and his whereabouts were not known until the burglaries began. We don't know why he ended up there (in the mountains), but it was a place he could go and be invisible, said Jorgensen. She said Donciev speaks little or no English. Authorities say Donciev was a police officer in Bulgaria before he was convicted of attempted murder in 1954.
He served a five-year sentence but was convicted of murder in 1966 and sentenced to 20 years. He escaped in 1970. Immigration officials declined to comment on Donciev's citizenship status. Sheriff's deputies had searched without luck for the phantom burglar, who was charged from the bench in 1992 and 1996. Few if any people had seen him. Then several months ago retired U.S. border patrol tracker Joel Hardin was hired to look for Donciev's forest routes.
Donciev was arrested after sensors placed along a trail alerted officers he was near cabins. He had been surviving in the wilderness for an extended period, and was very comfortable in that type of environment, Hardin said. He estimated that Donciev ranged over 20 square miles (52 sq kms) in areas that get up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow in winter.
His camp has not been found. Rural residents expressed relief at the arrest. You wouldn't want to confront someone like that, said caretaker Helen Lambert, who often found vacation cabins burglarized, with sugar, flour and other staples missing. He didn't take liquor, she added. (Reuters)