After $80K reward and ‘zero leads,' what's next in the manhunt for the Texas shooting suspect?

After two false alarms Monday, hundreds of law enforcement officials are still involved in an “intense manhunt” for the suspect accused of fatally shooting five of his neighbors in Cleveland, Texas.

Sheriff’s deputies, K9 units and air units searched an area where a person reported a possible sighting of 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, but the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office later said he was not among the people in the area. Another possible sighting prompted several schools to secure their campuses as local, state and federal officials searched the area and again did not find Oropeza, the sheriff’s office said.

Although more than 250 officers from over a dozen agencies are searching for Oropeza and $80,000 has been offered for information on his whereabouts, investigators have “zero leads," James Smith, the FBI special agent in charge, told reporters Sunday.

Law enforcement experts told USA TODAY in addition to scouring the area, investigators are likely trying to find Oropeza by digging into his past, interviewing people close to him and sorting through any tips from the public.

“This person's off the grid, they've gone dark, which is expected,” said Lenny DePaul, the former chief inspector and commander of the U.S. Marshals' New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. “Right now, you got an intense manhunt going on, but there's also a fugitive investigation going on behind the scenes.”

“They're chasing a ghost, unfortunately,” DePaul later added.

Ground search is ‘very much a necessity’

The investigation began after Oropeza allegedly opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle just before midnight Friday. Before the shooting, Wilson Garcia said he asked his neighbor to stop shooting his gun because Garcia's 1-month-old son was sleeping and the family called police five times, according to the Associated Press.

Smith said officials believe Oropeza, who is considered armed and dangerous, fled the area on foot, but they don’t know for sure.

Police were able to identify Oropeza based on a Mexican identity card and doorbell camera footage, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said. Law enforcement set up a perimeter and found clothes and a cell phone in the area around the home, which includes a dense forest, according to Capers.

Police also found weapons, including the one they said was used in the shooting, Capers said. But tracking dogs from the Texas Department of Corrections lost the scent during the early hours of the manhunt and the search area was widened as far as 20 square miles from the scene, he said.

John Moriarty, former Inspector General at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said during fugitive operations his team would leave the perimeter in place until they found hard evidence that confirmed the suspect had left the area. He said ground searches are “very expensive and manpower intensive, but it's very much a necessity until you can eliminate him out of that area.”

Police investigate Oropeza’s background

Moriarty said in addition to the ground search, investigators are likely interviewing and possibly surveilling family members, coworkers and associates to learn as much as they can about Oropeza’s habits and determine if he has reached out to any of them for help. Capers said police have interviewed the suspect’s wife multiple times.

“They’ll know absolutely everything there is to know about this guy within the first 48 hours pretty much,” Moriarty said.

He said a major obstacle in the search is Oropeza’s connection to Mexico. Oropeza is a Mexican national who was deported four times between 2009 and 2016, the Associated Press reported citing a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The border is an impediment, especially if he's familiar with it and knows how to cross without getting detected,” Moriarty said. “You don't have as much oversight by the Mexican authorities over the border like you do on the U.S. side, but the ability for him to run back into Mexico is real and it happens a lot.”

Moriarty said the apparently spontaneous nature of the crime means Oropeza likely didn’t have much time to plan an escape. He said that may make it easier for investigators to track him down, but how long a search for a fugitive takes “all depends on how dedicated they are to staying away.”

“Just like I told you the family gets worn down, they get worn down, too, if they don't have the resources,” he said. “They're hungry. They're hot. They don't have food, shelter and clothing, the three basic things everybody needs.”

Reward money, tips could aid search

The national media attention and thousands of dollars in reward money is likely bringing in tips from the public which could lead to a break in the case, Moriarty said. He said an influx of tips can also become “overwhelming,” without the proper infrastructure and manpower to chase them down.

Though Smith, the special agent in charge, said Sunday investigators don’t have any tips on Oropeza’s location, DePaul said it’s unlikely police have exhausted all leads and they "may just be saying that."

“There's a fugitive investigation going on behind the scenes and I can pretty much guarantee there's been a lot of leads coming out of that," he said.

Capers said the FBI Houston Office and its SWAT team, the U.S. Marshals and Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force, the Harris, Montgomery and Liberty County Sheriff’s Offices, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers are supporting the search.

Though it’s unclear how long the search will take, both DePaul and Moriarty said the U.S. Marshals are among the best in the country at tracking down fugitives and it’s unlikely Oropeza will evade authorities forever.

“As far as the investigation goes, the best in the business are out there doing their thing, and they'll find him sooner or later, one way or another,” said DePaul.

Contributing: John Bacon and Terry Collins, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas shooting suspect search: How police track down fugitives