“Lessons learned in the Eric Rudolph manhunt come to play here. He was found accidentally, eating from a dumpster behind the diner where the FBI sat and ate their meals for six months.”\
It was seven years after the Olympic bombing and it was a Save-a-Lot so I don’t think the FBI ate their for six months.
He was in town the whole time and yes the FBI was camped out there for at least six months. Every motel owner in the area became filthy rich and then sold their businesses when the FBI finally left.
They couldn’t find him after literally the largest FBI manhunt in history. More agents looking for him than any other case.
The Appalachians contain some of the thickest forests in the world.
The cops didn’t catch him until a local alerted the police.