The search for two suspected cop-killers has involved more than 500 officers in four states, costing more than $1 million, yet searchers still only have the same evidence they had a year ago – two sets of footprints leading into a deep canyon northwest of Cortez.

But the hunt for Jason Wayne McVean of Durango and Alan "Monte" Pilon of Dove Creek is by no means over. This week, for example, separate groups of searchers converged in Wyoming, Kansas, and Utah, all pursuing tips that might have led to the arrest of the two fugitives.

But as of today, Pilon and McVean remain at large.

Over the past year, the majority of the tactical searches for the two fugitives have focused on a 20-mile area from Montezuma Creek, Utah, to Hatch Trading Post, Utah. SWAT teams from the Navajo Police Department have responded to dozens of reports of suspicious individuals, fires and activity near Montezuma Creek, but have never been able to make a positive identification of Pilon and McVean, said Navajo Nation Police Chief Leonard Butler in a recent interview.

Butler said one of the most credible recent sightings was in January, when a woman said she clearly saw McVean walking across her field, about 150 yards away from her. Butler said he showed her photographs of several people, and she was quickly able to identify McVean as the man she saw. The woman waited two weeks to report the sighting because she did not want Pilon and McVean to retaliate against her for reporting them, Butler said.

The sighting that created the largest tactical response occurred after a 9-year-old girl reported seeing men resembling the fugitives trying to steal a water truck in Montezuma Creek on June 29 – a month after their theft of a water truck from Ignacio led to the killing of a Cortez police officer. SWAT teams converged on the small town after the sighting, and at one point Navajo SWAT teams got within 30 yards of men whom they suspected were Pilon and McVean.

Butler said the SWAT teams did not try to arrest the men at night because the team was not fully equipped with night-vision equipment. In the morning, the men were gone.

Butler said his SWAT teams have obtained more night-vision equipment and trained for a nighttime encounter to prevent the suspects from escaping again.

"Now we’re better prepared, and our intention is to take them down, whether it’s daytime or nighttime," Butler said.

Although none of the sightings have led to Pilon and McVean’s arrest, Butler said he is confident the two men remain in the area near Montezuma Creek, either in a rural home or in a cave where someone is bringing them supplies.

"They’re a very hot item right now, and if they get out of that rural area, they’ll be spotted immediately," Butler said. "They’ve realized that it’s a pretty remote area, and they know that it’ll take several hours for anyone to respond up there."

Butler said one of his officers, Oliver Coho, lives in Montezuma Creek, and has helped reduce the response time to sightings.

San Juan County, Utah, Sheriff Mike Lacy said he believes the people who are being seen and reported near Montezuma Creek might actually be drug dealers or bounty hunters who have converged on Montezuma Creek, hoping to find Pilon and McVean and receive the $300,000-plus reward that is being offered for information leading to their arrest.

"Way before we had this manhunt, we had suspicious vehicles with people turning their headlights on and off from ridges, and that has nothing to do with the manhunt," Lacy said.

Despite responding to numerous sightings that turned out to be false, Lacy said he will perform a tactical search if some concrete evidence turns up.

"If we find anything substantial we’re going to go out full force, but we’re not going to bother with the Mickey Mouse stuff," Lacy said. "You can’t spend all your time following tracks."

Most of the agencies in the Four Corners who have responded to the manhunt within the last year admit that they were caught unprepared by the fugitives’ firepower and by the desert landscape, but say they’ve been training for a desert search in case the two men are spotted again.

"We’ve beefed up our arsenal, and we’re more prepared for these types of missions," said Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane. "We’ve trained in more desert tactical operations and less buildings."

Lane said he remains convinced that Pilon and McVean are hiding somewhere in the Four Corners.