Ashley Flowers

So they decide to call in even more reinforcements.

By that afternoon, there's not only the sheriff's deputies searching, but also state police troopers, the state emergency response team, two local fire departments, Forest City police officers, and volunteers.

They create a search grid and form eight teams to deploy in different areas.

And they do end up finding a second boot, a wallet, a phone charger, and hoodie.

But their man is still in the wind.

And almost 19 hours after they first began their pursuit, at 7.18 p.m., the manhunt is called off due to the dark, and it is set to resume the next morning.

So they pick up again in the morning, but it's not until late afternoon, around 2.12 p.m., as their search radius widens, that one of the groups finds several footprints in a creek.

A search of the creek bed comes up empty, but one game and fish warden notices a trail of broken twigs from the creek leading up to the base of a steep ridge.

She follows it one step at a time.

And when she looks up, she sees who they were all after.

And he is hanging from a tree at the top of the ridge with a green ratchet strap around his neck.

Now, his death is ultimately ruled a suicide by ligature hanging.

The assumption being that this rider took his life, maybe so he didn't have to face the consequences.

But Arkansas State Police still conducts a death investigation anyway.

And as part of it,

On November 12th, over a week after the chase that set off this tragic chain of events, ASP Senior Special Agent Andre Mack interviews both Deputy Bynum and Sergeant Kinney.

Both interviews are recorded, and both men tell pretty much the same story.

So I'm just going to play you part of Bynum's interview, edited for clarity.

Bynum says he never had any personal interaction with the individual.

And this is important because, you see, it seems like part of the reason this investigation is even happening is because in the week following the incident, rumors had begun to take hold in the minds of the small town community members in Forest City.