She Started to Second-Guess Herself

Amid all that, one call stood out.

After the sighting, Ms. Thompson said she called 911 as she bolted toward her house. “I told them I might have possibly seen the fugitives,” she said.

She said the dispatcher told her to lock her doors and windows and call neighbors to warn them. Two State Police troopers arrived within about five minutes, but they waited several minutes for additional officers and dogs before they went looking for the men, she recalled.

She was well aware of the commotion caused by her call. She started to second-guess herself and what she saw, and wondered if there might have been another explanation. Others raised the same questions. Some speculated that she had seen nothing more threatening than a pair of carnival workers returning from a town a few miles away.

But even with those doubts, Ms. Thompson said, there was one thing of which she was certain: She made the right call.

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