By AP/KWMU
Roby, MO. – Texas County Sheriff Carl Watson says the search for Neldon Neal was "a long two months."
Neal, 60, hid in the thick woods of south-central Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest while police looked for him. They say he killed his wife in mid-March.
Neal was captured Saturday on a bluff overlooking the Gasconade River.
Police have since learned that at times, officers searched just a few feet away as Neal hid in a hollow tree. He was so close he could read their badges.
Authorities are investigating whether two other men helped Neal. Four women have already been charged with hindering prosecution; they're accused of buying him food and beer and giving him a tent and a sleeping bag.
Neal's wife was shot to death on March 13.
Authorities have said that on March 13, the unemployed Neal and a drinking buddy returned to the trailer in Roby he shared with his wife, Judy Lewis. His wife, Lewis' former daughter-in-law and her 2-year-old daughter were there.
A fight broke out, authorities said and Lewis, 51, was shot. Neal fled.
Neal's criminal history dates to the 1960s. He was sentenced to 15 years in 1998 for stealing beer but was released for good behavior in October 2005.