The fugitive sought by Dawes County authorities since Monday night is now in custody.

Sheriff Karl Dailey says Justin Pierce, who also uses the name Justin Beck, was arrested shortly before 1:00 this (Wed) afternoon while hiding in a haystack on Bethel Road south of Whitney.

Although Dailey had been working through third-parties who had contact with Pierce by cell phone to get him to come in and surrender, Pierce was still trying to elude capture when he was arrested.

Dailey says more details on the end of the 2-day manhunt will be released later this afternoon.

Dailey isn’t surprised that Pierce managed to elude the manhunt and deal with chilly temperatures because he has military training in escape-and-evade practices.

Dailey also says that since nothing in Pierce’s record suggests violence, he didn’t consider him a threat to local residents, adding that he would have called in more resources from other agencies had he felt Pierce posed a physical threat.