Officials said Thursday afternoon that they believe Arthur Buckel has left the Barnegat Township area and as a result, the search efforts would move elsewhere. Watch video
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP - After more than 24 hours of police searches, lockdowns and heightened security, township officials announced Thursday afternoon that they believe escaped prisoner Arthur Buckel has left the area.
Mayor John J. Novak told a courtroom full of reporters that roughly 90 minutes before an impromptu 4:30 p.m. press conference, township officials had developed information that Buckel was no longer in Barnegat and the operation would be moving away from the township.
Even though the 38-year-old Buckel -- who was discovered missing from the Bayside State Prison unit at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital on Tuesday morning -- is no longer believed to be in the area, police officers will be at every school in the township on Friday for the duration of the day.
"This is a precautionary measure to help return to normalcy," said Novak, who thanked the Ocean County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies for sending additional manpower to Barnegat during the active manhunt.
Novak said he did not know how much the search would end up costing the township, adding this kind of police activity is not typical in Barnegat and that it would be a relief for residents to return to a sense of normalcy.
Township officials said the New Jersey Department of Corrections would be taking over the investigation and that any further information would have to come through that agency.
Syed Hassan, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said late Thursday that the department had "nothing new to report" and would not be commenting on the current scope of the search.
Barnegat residents have been on edge since swarms of law enforcement officers descended on the southern Ocean County township of roughly 21,000 people on Wednesday morning.
Buckel was seen entering the CVS store on West Bay Avenue shortly before 10 a.m. Police also found a stolen Chevrolet Silverado in the parking lot which was registered out of Hammonton, where an intense manhunt had occurred on Tuesday.
All schools in Barnegat and others in surrounding areas were placed on lockdown while the search for Buckel ensued. The search continued through Wednesday night and Thursday.
It was clear, however, at an 11 a.m. press conference on Thursday morning that authorities had doubts Buckel was still in Barnegat. Still, officials continued to investigate numerous leads to no avail.
In fact, just before the press conference began, a swarm of patrol cars raced out of police headquarters and zoomed down West Bay Avenue. But it was a dead lead, just like all the others.
Buckel, who had recently lived in Clifton, was eligible for parole on May 21. He was sentenced in January to up to three years for various offenses including aggravated assault, receiving stolen property and burglary out of Passaic County.
The same month he was sentenced, public records show, his wife filed for divorce. Social media posts show photos of Buckel with a woman and several children.
A reporter from NJ Advance Media approached the home of Buckel's ex-wife in Clifton on Thursday, but was stopped by police. A police supervisor said over the radio that officers were in contact with the woman, and that she was not speaking to media.
The January conviction was not Buckel's first, however.
His most serious conviction came in 1996, when a then 18-year-old Buckel admitted to slapping his then-girlfriend's 10-month-old daughter to death in 1995 because she was crying. Buckel was sentenced to 25 years in jail with no chance of parole for 12.5 years. He lived in Jersey City at the time, but the baby's mother was a Barnegat resident.
Barnegat police said Wednesday that it was unclear why Buckel came to the township, which is about 50 miles northeast of Hammonton. He had distant relatives in Barnegat and Berkeley Township but both leads were dead-ends, police said.
While the search for Buckel appears to be over in Barnegat, Novak urged the public to remain vigilant.
"Officers will continue to maintain a strong presence and respond to any tips or leads in the Barnegat area," police said in an alert sent to residents.
-- NJ Advance Media's Rob Spahr, Andy Polhamus, Vinessa Erminio and Justin Zaremba contributed to this report.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.