RICHMOND

Police say the search for improvised pyrotechnic devices on trails and in woods in Gardiner and Richmond has been suspended.

Richmond and Gardiner police chiefs announced Wednesday afternoon that a search team had spent the day searching for homemade pyrotechnic devices that murder suspect Leroy Smith III, 24, allegedly told police he had placed in wooded areas in Richmond and Gardiner.

Richmond Police Chief Scott MacMaster said a search team of about eight officers and three bombsniffing dogs had searched several areas Wednesday along Route 24, focusing on a square-shaped area between routes 24 and 201 in Gardiner and Richmond, but had found no devices.

Police issued a release following Wednesday’s search emphasizing Smith’s claim to have planted the devices hadn’t been verified, but asked the public “to be aware of any unusual items that may resemble cardboard tubes with duct tape and fishing line attached” and to contact police should they encounter any contraptions fitting the description. The police and firefighters handed out informational fliers to the public Wednesday night.

On Thursday, police continued to search by air, and scoured the area in a helicopter looking for camp sites Smith may have set up in the woods, MacMaster said. A team was ready to search on the ground any such sites seen from air. Thursday night, however, MacMaster said police still has found nothing and have suspended the search for the foreseeable future.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

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