The ominous messages flash relentlessly on the large electronic sign on Main Street in Athens.

“MANHUNT UNDER WAY” followed by “CALL 911 WITH TIPS” in a never-ending cycle.

All along the 25 miles of state Route 150 from Athens in Somerset County to Guilford in Piscataquis County, residents, visitors and business owners are jittery. Doors are locked at night for the first time in memory, tourist traffic is down and people have been looking over their shoulders since police began hunting for Robert Burton after his girlfriend was found dead nearly seven weeks ago.

Burton, 38, also known as Robert G. Elliot, faces a murder charge in the death of Stephanie Gebo, whose body was found June 5 in her home at 46 Kulas Road in Parkman, just north of the Somerset County line. He has eluded police ever since, and the knowledge that a wanted man – one who police say is armed and dangerous – is roaming the region’s dense woods is taking a toll on local residents.

“We want to find him to bring conclusion. The family needs him to be caught and the community does, too,” Maine State Police Lt. Sean Hashey said Tuesday at the command post set up inside Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford. “We’re being told that people aren’t coming to camp, and if you talk to businesses in the area, we know that they’re not seeing the traffic that they normally see.”

Rob Robinson, the son of the owner of C&R Store in Harmony village on Route 150, about 8 miles up the road from the flashing sign in Athens, said a suspected killer loose in the area has cut into the store’s normally robust summer business.

“We usually get a lot of four-wheelers. They don’t seem to be coming out this summer,” Robinson said Tuesday. “I just think they’re afraid of running into him. A lot of people from out of state have been asking about that sign. Business is a little slower right now, and it has been since that guy killed his ex-girlfriend.”

SIGNS WENT UP BEFORE THE FOURTH

Jaime Johnson at the Cambridge General Store, farther up Route 150 and closer to the murder scene in Parkman, agreed that business has slowed since the murder.

“I’ve noticed it’s been slower on weekends when it should be busier,” Johnson said. “We’re all locking our doors and locking our cars. It’s scary. I can’t believe they haven’t found him yet.”

The flashing electronic signs went up in Athens, Newport, Charleston, Milo and Monson on July 1 in anticipation of the Fourth of July weekend.

At the time, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said they were “primarily geared toward vacationers who may be on their way to that section of Maine for the holiday weekend and may be completely unaware of what’s been going on for the last month.”

They remain up three weeks later, and police said they will be until Burton is caught.

He was last seen around noon July 6 at a camp on Point Road in Guilford, captured on film by the surveillance camera of a nearby home.

At the time, state police gave the same reminder they’d been sending since Gebo’s body was found and Burton took off, asking “the public to be aware as they head to their camps in the area and encourage them to call if they find anything out of place or unusual,” while requesting camp owners “to account for all watercraft and to immediately report anything that is missing.”

Residents in the area speculate that Burton is hiding in the rugged terrain, criss-crossed with all-terrain vehicle trails and logging roads, breaking into vacant camps and stealing food to survive.

‘LIKE THOSE GUYS … IN NEW YORK’

“I think he’s hiding in the trees – like those guys who escaped in New York,” said Mary Lou Thompson, of Athens, who owns a camp in Wellington near the Parkman town line. “They’re probably walking right under him. I’m not worried for myself down here, but I wouldn’t want to live up there.”

Inside the Athens Corner Store on Tuesday morning – across the street from the flashing sign on Route 150 – customers talked about the manhunt and about Burton, who is well-known in the nearby Parkman-Guilford area.

Katie Anton, the store manager, said everybody was jumpy when the state Department of Transportation first put up the electronic sign in town. Things have calmed down a bit since, but it is unsettling to know that Burton is out there somewhere with a gun, she said.

“The day it went up, there was a lot of talk about it,” Anton said. “They were concerned. It is so close to home. I’m still concerned. I think about it. When my 7-year-old goes out to play, I think about it.”

But Ken Clark, of Athens, said he’s “not worried at all.”

“I’m a Vietnam veteran,” he said. “I don’t feel any threat from this man at all.”

Clark said he and his wife have taken some steps that they might not have taken before, such as locking their vehicles at night and taking the keys inside for safekeeping.

“That is directly because of him, because if he is out there on the loose, I don’t want him to take my truck to get away,” Clark said.

Laurel Williams, of Athens, is worried about Burton being on the loose because he is dangerous.

“Sure it concerns me – a man running around loose with a gun,” said Williams, who turns 95 Wednesday. “This guy, he’ll kill anybody. He’d shoot his mother, I think. This guy is that vicious.”

Tracy Morrison, owner of Morrison’s Garage in Harmony, has started locking his windows at night, but he is convinced that Burton is in the woods in the North Guilford area, where he grew up. He said he’s not concerned about the Walker International Circus coming to the Harmony Fairgrounds next Tuesday.

“There’s locals like him there in town,” Morrison said. “They know where everything is up there – old school bus camps – there’s camps everywhere.”

Paul Griffin, owner of Griffin’s clothing and footwear in Skowhegan and another outlet in downtown Guilford, agrees, noting that Burton has a lot of friends in the area and knows the hills, bogs and woods quite well.

“Why do I think they haven’t caught him yet? I don’t think they have a clue what they’re doing,” he said. “He’s a local boy, he knows the area and everybody knows him. How many of these (police) are local that know the area? They don’t know the area or they would have found him. I think he knows how to get around, where to go and what to do.”

Griffin believes the chase and the manhunt have become a contest for the fugitive. In 2002, Burton was on the run for 12 days after threatening a woman with a rifle and knife before fleeing into the woods, according to reports. He was found at an abandoned camp in Willimantic in Piscataquis County.

“In my opinion, it’s just a game to him,” Griffin said from his store in downtown Guilford. “He’s not going to go far away, and eventually he’s going to get tired of the game and turn himself in. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Anyone with information about Burton’s whereabouts is asked to call state police at 973-3700 or 911. A reward of $3,300 is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

BURTON HAS LONG CRIMINAL RECORD

The body of Gebo, 37, was discovered by her two children a week after the couple reportedly broke up and the day after Burton’s probation for domestic violence crimes had ended.

Burton has a long criminal record, having spent 10 years in prison for domestic violence assaults.

The photo of Burton taken at the camp July 6 shows him wearing camouflage and carrying a black pack on his chest.

Law enforcement officials think Burton has been hiding out in camps and in the thick woods of Piscataquis County, where he grew up.

Burton broke into Gebo’s house, and she shot him before he was able to get the gun away and use it to kill her, said Piscataquis County Sheriff John J. Goggin.

On Tuesday, McCausland said the hunt for Burton got a boost this week when the FBI joined state, local and county law enforcement in the effort.

“There is a renewed effort this week with help from the FBI, which is appreciated,” McCausland said. “Our focus is apprehending him, and those efforts continue this week.”

Hashey, the state police lieutenant in charge of the command post in Guilford, said the FBI is providing manpower and technological assistance.

“We’re continuing to search in the same area that we’ve been searching – North Guilford,” he said. “We’re adjusting what we do based on what we have for information and what we see.”

HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE, TRACKING DOGS

More than two dozen state police vehicles, including a Bearcat armored off-road response vehicle, stand at the ready behind the high school. Inside the command center, officers using computers assemble the latest data available in the search for Burton.

On Tuesday there were an estimated 30 law enforcement officers using tracking dogs on the ground looking for him.

Hashey said police have been telling residents, visitors and camp owners to lock up belongings such as firearms, canoes and bicycles, and to make sure the doors are locked and food is removed from camps.

“We’ve been telling camp owners to pay attention to what the camp looks like when you leave it, so that when you go back you would know if it had been entered,” he said.

Hashey said police believe Burton is armed and that camp owners appear to be staying away until Burton is caught.

Burton is described as being 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds, and having brown hair and blue eyes. He has tattoos on the back of his hands – a shamrock on his left hand and the word “Outlaw” on his right.

“We certainly hope every day is the day that we find him,” Hashey said. “And we know that we will eventually. We’re being persistent, working with a lot of other agencies. I don’t think he’s going to surrender. We believe we’re going to have to catch him. It’s difficult terrain and he knows the area.”

Related Stories