Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

After a manhunt began Tuesday, Douglas Jaccard was captured Thursday at his home on Dyer Road in Wythe County.

Officers from Wythe County and surrounding jurisdictions searched Wednesday for Douglas Albert Jaccard.

The Wythe County Sheriff's Office arrested a man Thursday night who is suspected of having killed one man, shot two others -- including a deputy -- and set fire to a house.

Douglas Albert Jaccard, 58, was taken from his home to the Wythe County Sheriff's Office about 8 p.m. to be served with charges related to the slaying of his neighbor, Joseph Foster Bane, said Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan.

Dozens of sheriff's deputies and police officers had been searching the area around the New River near the Pulaski and Wythe County lines since Tuesday morning, when police say Bane was shot and killed in his front lawn on Dyer Road, off Virginia 100 near the Pulaski County line.

Jaccard is a Vietnam veteran with a criminal history and a pending court case that stemmed from allegations that he propositioned a 14-year-old boy.

The foundation of Bane's incinerated house continued to smolder Thursday night. The small Barren Springs neighborhood was able to relax its guard two days after the incident.

"Relieved?" asked Danny Cromer, who lives down the street. "If you put 50 pounds on both shoulders, then took them off, that's how it feels."

After Tuesday's events, Cromer and his girlfriend, Margaret Edwards, were convinced that Jaccard would be found not far from his home on Dyer Road.

"The simple reason is, this was his domain," Cromer said.

"And he wasn't going to leave it," said Edwards.

The couple believes Jaccard hid in caves near the New River. "I thought he would be caught in a hole like Saddam Hussein, and he'd come out shooting, for the simple reason he's that kind of violent person," Cromer said.

"But caught out in his house? Never thought that," Cromer said.

The couple described Jaccard as "a crazy man." They said when he got out of jail in 2005, he was friendly and helped some neighbors with gardening and construction projects. But the good relations, they said, ended about two years ago, over what they described as territorial conflicts with him, strange behavior and threats.

Edwards said: "He could be your friend today, or your worst enemy tomorrow."

"There'll be one man who won't be missed," Edwards said.

Law enforcement officers surveying the area from the air Thursday reportedly spotted Jaccard near the New River in late afternoon, but officers on the ground could not find him, Dunagan said.

At that time, about 25 law enforcement officers from the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, the Virginia State Police and the Wythe County Sheriff's Tactical Team were combing the woods in the area for Jaccard.

When a second shift of officers and deputies were setting up a surveillance post at Jaccard's house for the evening, they found him there and arrested him, Dunagan said.

"There was no major incident that I'm aware of," Dunagan said. "There were no shots fired or anything like that, but I can't say whether they had to tussle with him."

The sheriff's office also said in a statement it "believed that the murder weapon used in the murder of Joe Bane has been recovered," but did not release further details.

Jaccard and Bane were residents living among the fewer than 12 houses on Dyer Road.

State police had been searching Jaccard's house Thursday night, according to Sgt. Michael Conroy, but the house was dark by about 10 p.m.

On Tuesday morning, Bane was found dead in his front yard just after 7 a.m., Dunagan said.

Bane's sister-in-law, Sarah Hicks, who also lives on Dyer Road, said her father, Jerry Covey, went outside when he heard gunshots. Covey, 61, was shot in the arm and later taken to Pulaski Community Hospital and transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for surgery, Hicks said.

After Bane and Covey were shot, Jaccard broke into Bane's house and set it on fire, Hicks said. Hicks' sister, Sharon Bane, and the Banes' teenage son were inside, Hicks said.

Sharon Bane was initially afraid to leave the house, believing Jaccard was nearby, Dunagan said, but she eventually jumped out of a second-story window. She was taken to Pulaski Community Hospital to be treated for injuries.

The Banes' teenage son made it out safely, Hicks said, but the house burned, leaving nothing but charcoal and ashes on the ground.

Hicks said that Jaccard and Bane's family have had a long-standing feud. On Sunday, she said, Jaccard threatened her family to "take care of us." The family reported the threat to the Wythe County Sheriff's Office, she said.

The sheriff's office said they have responded to several complaints over the years between Jaccard and his neighbors. But there has previously been no basis for an arrest to be made, Dunagan said.

Jaccard is also suspected of shooting 46-year-old Pulaski County Deputy J.A. Radcliffe, who has been with the department for 14 years. Radcliffe was struck in the back along the line of his bulletproof vest and suffered only a minor injury, Pulaski County Sheriff Jim Davis has said.

Jaccard also fired at but missed two Wythe County deputies, Dunagan said.

According to court documents, Jaccard was scheduled to appear in Wythe County Circuit Court on Wednesday for a pretrial motions hearing on charges of indecent liberties, abduction and possession of explosive materials.

The charges stem from allegations that on March 18, Jaccard propositioned a 14-year-old boy with whom he was de-barking wood in the Dyer Road neighborhood, according to the circuit court case file.

Jaccard asked the boy if he liked oral sex and also asked if the boy would be interested in sex if Jaccard "dressed up like a woman," according to a criminal complaint.

He had began serving a prison sentence for a malicious wounding charge in 2002, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Jaccard and his attorney appealed the case after a Wythe County jury recommended he serve a 10-year sentence, and in June 2004 the Virginia Supreme Court found that the trial court had erred in telling jurors about a probation revocation as part of Jaccard's criminal history.

He later received a three-year sentence after the case was ordered back to Wythe County for a new sentencing hearing.