Search for fugitive baby killer Arthur Buckel continues week later

The search for fugitive baby killer Arthur Buckel continues nearly a week after he escaped from a South Jersey prison.

Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Schuman confirmed Sunday that Buckel is still at large but offered no details about where he might be and if he is even still in New Jersey.

"We're not going to discuss the realm of the search. We don't want anyone who is contemplating contacting the inmate to know where we are searching and where we're planning to search," Schuman said.

"A lot of people are looking for him," including members of the DOC's fugitive unit and K-9 units, said Schuman.

Schuman would not talk about the planning Buckel did leading up to his escape.

"The primary focus is on find him. Once they find him then they're going to kind of work their way back to figure out what exactly happened and what steps can be taken to lower the chance of it happening again."

He said the last escape from Bayshore was 2006.

Buckel, 38, was discovered missing from the Ancora unit of the Bayshore State Prison in Hammonton on Tuesday during an early morning head count. He was just over three weeks from being eligible for parole. Buckel worked as a janitor at Ancora.

Police said he stole a pickup truck and made his way to Barnegat, where he has relatives but did not make contact. Buckel was caught on surveillance video at a CVS on West Bay Avenue, triggering a school lockdown and massive search in the southern Ocean County town on Wednesday and Thursday. The DOC took over the investigation after determining Buckel was no longer in the area.

Marlboro Police said Michael Ozinitsky, 20, of  Marlboro, was charged on Friday with obstruction after making a false report that he spotted Buckel at a Wawa store near Marlboro High School,  prompting the school to shelter in place while a search was conducted by police. Ozinitsky's story began to unravel when he changed the location to a Quick Chek, which is farther away from the school.