Dorner manhunt: Big Bear condo window shows sign of forced entry
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A screen removed from a sliding glass window was the only sign of forced entry Wednesday at the Mountain Vista Resort condominium where police say Christopher Dorner broke in and tied up two members of a cleaning crew.
The screen sat in a foot of snow and rested against the back wall of Unit 203. The left-hand corner of the window frame bore a deep mark, as though some kind of tool had been used to pry the screen free of the frame.
Two members of a house-cleaning crew, who have been described by some law enforcement officers as maids, entered the condominium Tuesday morning. Inside, they found a man they said resembled the fugitive, a law enforcement official said. The man tied up the house cleaners, then took off in a purple Nissan parked near the cabin, authorities said.
PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer
One of the workers broke free and called 911 after Dorner left, officials said. The phone call kicked off a day of searching and sightings that resulted in Dorner and law enforcement trading gunfire at a single-story, multi-room cabin nearby later Tuesday, officials said.
Investigators on Wednesday were in the process of identifying the human remains found in the charred cabin, authorities said. If the body is identified as Dorner’s, the standoff would end a weeklong manhunt for the ex-LAPD officer and Navy Reserve lieutenant suspected in a string of shootings following his firing by the Los Angeles Police Department several years ago. The brown, unassuming three-story condo overlooks the command post and staging area where members of the media had gathered for manhunt updates. It is next to Bear Mountain Ski & Golf Resort.
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-- Louis Sahagun in Big Bear