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LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (AP) - A white supremacist accused of fatally stabbing an Oregon man and slashing the face of another man at a Utah bus station was arrested Saturday in Corvallis, authorities said.
Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said a tip led investigators to Covallis, where they spotted 37-year-old Erik John Meiser walking down a street. Sheriff's deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him at gunpoint and without incident at a Super 8 motel.
"We're thrilled to have him in custody," Roberts said at a news conference.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Meiser was staying at the hotel, and investigators hoped to figure out whether anyone helped him evade police.
All of us that have been involved in this investigation have had major concern about somebody else getting hurt.
–- Sheriff Craig Roberts
The capture ends a nearly weeklong manhunt that spanned the West Coast. Police earlier identified Meiser as the suspect in the Sept. 17 stabbing death of Fredrick "Fritz" Hayes at his home just outside the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego.
Authorities in Ogden, Utah, also have an arrest warrant for Meiser that accuses him of aggravated assault on Sept. 8. Ogden police said the victim's face was "severely slashed" with a razor-style knife and needed treatment at a hospital.
Meiser was booked into the Clackamas County jail on charges of aggravated murder, murder and burglary, the sheriff's office said. He was expected to go before a judge next week but would remain held without bail at the jail, where he will be placed on suicide watch, which is standard procedure for people charged with a serious felony, said Sgt. Adam Phillips, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.
Hayes' killing in an affluent suburb terrified neighbors, and much of metro Portland was on heightened alert for the 6-foot-5 bearded man that police called armed and dangerous. Electronic billboards kept his face in front of motorists in Portland and Salem.
"All of us that have been involved in this investigation have had major concern about somebody else getting hurt," Roberts said.
It's the suspect that did the murder, but this is really about justice for Mr. Hayes.
–- Sgt. Adam Phillips
Records show Meiser has an arrest record in eight states that stretches back more than 20 years, though none of the crimes were in Oregon or Utah.
They included assault, battery, burglary, disorderly conduct, drug possession, ethnic intimidation, making obscene phones calls, trespass, theft and vandalism.
Meiser has white supremacist tattoos, including one on his knuckles that spells out "Neo Nazi."
Public records indicate Meiser, when not behind bars, spent much of his life in Minnesota. Neighbors at a St. Paul address where Meiser lived in the 1990s said they couldn't remember him with certainty, but referred to the place where he lived as a "drug house."
Hayes died in front of his wife, Margaret, during a confrontation with a burglar at their home. Margaret Hayes, who was not injured, told officers the attacker was armed with at least two knives.
Investigators have found no link between Meiser and the couple. Fritz Hayes was a recently retired information technology professional who also worked as an official for high school lacrosse games.
With Meiser in custody, Hayes wouldn't be forgotten, Phillips said.
"It's the suspect that did the murder, but this is really about justice for Mr. Hayes," Phillips said.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
