Authorities Arrest Los Angeles Man Also Tied to Neo-Nazi Group : Suspect in Trooper’s Slaying Eludes Capture in Ozarks

A trained survivalist linked to a neo-Nazi group and wanted for the killing of a state trooper eluded teams of law officers seeking him in the rugged Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri on Tuesday.

The suspect, identified as David Tate, 22, has not been sighted since the fatal shooting Monday afternoon of Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper Jimmie Linegar, 31, and the wounding of fellow highway patrol officer Allen Hines, 35, at a roadblock.

An associate of Tate’s, Frank Lee Silva, 26, of Los Angeles, was arrested Monday night at a campground in Benton County, Ark., about 50 miles southwest of the shooting scene, Highway Patrol Lt. Ralph Biele, said.

Authorities said Tuesday that Tate, who has been trained in survival techniques, could hold out for a long time in the wooded, rugged terrain with its numerous caves.

Widely Spaced Cabins

“A person could actually hide out there for weeks,” said Biele, who added that many homes in the area actually are cabins spaced up to three miles apart.

Meanwhile, teams of state, federal and local law officers, wearing combat gear and aided by tracking dogs and infrared sensing devices aboard aircraft, descended on a 150-square-mile search area.

State troopers rode shotgun on local school buses, checked passing trains and conducted house-to-house searches. Residents locked doors of homes and businesses and more than a dozen roadblocks were set up in the area. Gov. John Ashcroft put the Missouri National Guard on standby to assist in the manhunt.

Automatic weapons, dynamite and hand grenades were found in a van driven by the gunman, Biele told a news conference Tuesday.

Tate, of Athol, Ida., and Silva were among 23 persons named in a grand jury indictment handed down Monday in Seattle against members of the white-supremacy group known as The Order.

Charges Against Tate Told

Tate was charged in the indictment with dealing in stolen property and participating in the killing of Walter E. West, a reputed member of The Order who vanished last May.

Silva was charged in three counts of racketeering activity and was accused of dealing in stolen property and operation of The Order’s communications center in Boise, Ida.

Authorities said they arrested Silva without resistance Monday night after Wes Chambers, operator of the Safari Campground on the south side of Beaver Lake, notified police that he had seen the van driven by Tate before the shooting.

Biele said Tate was thought to still be in possession of the automatic pistol with which he allegedly shot Linegar after he had stopped a 1975 Chevrolet van with a Nevada license plate.

Shows Oregon License

The driver showed an Oregon driver’s license bearing the name Matthew Mark Samuels. A computer check indicated that was an alias used by Tate, who is wanted on an Oregon weapons violation, Biele said.

The van’s driver shot Linegar, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, four times in unprotected places with a silenced, automatic pistol, Biele said. He died two hours later.

The gunman then shot Hines, who arrived minutes later, three times, Biele said. Hines fired “two or three times” at the man’s legs and the suspect fled south into the brush, he said.

Hines, who was shot in the arm, hip and neck, was listed in fair condition Tuesday at Skaggs Memorial Hospital in Taney County.