KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Authorities said they have not seen an increase in the number of manhunts in East Tennessee, even if more searches have been reported recently.
David Jolley, a U.S. Marshal, said more cases involving searches for suspects have been higher-profile recently. Those include the search for Juan Carlos Perez Diaz, accused of killing a young woman and leading authorities on an overnight manhunt after her body was found in the bed of a pickup truck in Oak Ridge. He was taken into custody on July 23.
"The thing is, with our team, our guys are out there all the time working these cases and sometimes, you know, they go kind of under the radar. They're not high-profile cases, but it seems we've had a bit of a run of those lately," he said.
Tennessee authorities also spent days searching for suspects accused of shooting a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper near Middle Tennessee on July 19. One suspect was found a day after the shooting, while the other was taken into custody on July 22.