TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Federal agents arrested an Ohio man at a motel Wednesday morning in the killing of his on-and-off girlfriend during a vacation to North Carolina's Outer Banks earlier this summer, ending a monthlong nationwide manhunt.
The U.S. Marshals Service said agents surprised Nathan Summerfield at the northeast Ohio motel where he had checked in a day before and took him into custody without any resistance.
He was wanted on a murder charge in the death of 33-year-old Lynn Jackenheimer of Ashland, Ohio, who disappeared around July 4 while vacationing on the Outer Banks with Summerfield and her children. Her body was found in a vacant lot in Frisco, N.C., about 20 to 30 miles from where she'd been staying in the Nags Head area.
Police say Summerfield had returned the woman's children to Ashland, where he also lived, and drove away.
Authorities began looking for him after his brother told an emergency dispatcher in Ohio that Summerfield told him that he'd strangled Jackenheimer in North Carolina.
U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott said Wednesday that Summerfield will be extradited to face charges in North Carolina.
Summerfield may have been on the move for several weeks, Elliott said. His car was found a week ago in southwest Michigan, Elliott said.
"We had sightings of this individual all over the country," he said.
Agents arrested Summerfield just hours before he was supposed to check out at a motel in Wadsworth, which is west of Akron, said Alice Selbert, manager of the motel that sits along Interstate 76.
Summerfield, 27, was driving a red pickup truck and checked in Tuesday morning, she said. "We didn't realize it was him at all," she said.
The U.S. Marshals Service would only say that several tips led them to the motel, which is only about 30 miles northeast of Ashland.
Jackenheimer was reported missing when she didn't come home, and her relatives traveled to the Outer Banks to help search for her. Her body was found in a vacant lot two weeks after she disappeared. She died from strangulation and stab wounds.
Attempts to reach Summerfield's relatives Wednesday weren't successful. A phone number for his brother has been disconnected.
