Hunted fugitives David Windecher and Emiley Cox were found and captured by the show's military and law enforcement experts during Wednesday night's penultimate episode on CBS.
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"I'm disappointed that we got caught. These are some of the best law enforcement agents you're going to find -- highly skilled, highly trained and I respect them all. We made mistakes and had a small, tiny little slipup, and that slipup is the end," David said following his team's ouster. "It was exhilarating. I would do it any time over again; I just loved it."
Hunted began with 18 ordinary United States citizens going on the run across 100,000 square miles of the southeastern United States as fugitives. The teams of two people are challenged to disappear in one of the most technologically-advanced nations in the world, and if a team can avoid capture or 28 days, the pair will win $250,000.
The 32 hunters use real-life techniques to find the fugitives, who are given a one-hour head start to get away and only have $500 in their bank accounts. The teams on the run are allowed to ask anyone for help and can travel anywhere within "the hunting zone," which includes Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.
Last night's episode kicked off with four teams still on the run -- David and Emiley, Aarif Mirza and Immad Ahmed, Lee Wilson and Hilmar Skagfield, and English King and Stephen King.
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David and Emiley were able to escape capture about four times, and in order to get themselves off the grid, they decided to sleep in their car parked on the side of a road overnight. Once they resumed traveling to their next destination, however, the experts received consistent "LPR hits," which gave away the location of their vehicle on the highway.
Two teams of investigators then followed the couple on the road and planned to keep doing so until David and Emiley ran out of gas and needed to stop at a station for more. But the couple caught on to the fact they were being tailed, so they tried to lose the vehicles by getting off an exit and quickly heading down a side road.
The experts were aware of their next move, however, because they intercepted a phone call between Emiley and her mother when the team needed some advice. Once their getaway attempt failed, David and Emiley hopped out of their car and ran on foot in opposite directions, however, they were chased down and ultimately caught.
As for Aarif and Immad, a man who saw them attend a religious service at a mosque told the experts that someone had picked them up in a blue car. Thanks to parking lot cameras, the investigators were able to view the car and its license plate.
The experts then logged the driver's cell phone calls and discovered he had contacted a man named Sam, who had been allowing Aarid and Immad to stay on his farm and work to earn their keep. It was easy for the experts to then determine Sam's address.
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Meanwhile, Lee and Hilmar returned to Atlanta where they believed the experts had thoroughly exhausted their search. The guys had a lot of friends there and created different diversions to throw the experts off by releasing a lot of clues and information they had to sift through.
For instance, Lee and Hilmar caused chaos by posting Craigslist ads under the phone number of one of their main contacts. The experts thought their cocky attitudes would defeat them in the long run because it was easy to look up the IP address of the computer they were using.
The experts were also narrowing in on Stephen and English. The investigators knew English would be calling the shots and therefore probably contacting those close to her. The experts began looking through her second and third tier contacts as a result.
The impressive hunters this season include former FBI Robert Clark, former Navy SEAL Andy Stumpn, former CIA Connie Min, former U.S. Marshals commander Lenny DePaul, former British intelligence Ben Owen, former White House chief information officer Theresa Payton, former CIA analyst Aki Peritz, former NSA Cyber intelligence Landop UV, former military cyber expert Myke Cole, behavioral specialist Dr. Max Wachtel, former U.S. army special forces Chad Light, cyber analyst Charles Debarber, former naval intelligence Steve Masterson, intelligence analyst Zaira Pirzada, and Georgia swat commander Ry-Phi.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski