CORTEZ – Three fugitives accused of killing a police officer and wounding two deputies remained on the loose early today despite an intensified manhunt by up to 200 officers and an FBI search helicopter.

Frustrated searchers turned up few new clues Saturday as they scoured the rugged and unpopulated terrain north of Hovenweep National Monument near the Colorado-Utah border, where the suspects abandoned a stolen truck.

"It’s needle-in-the-haystack stuff," said Cortez City Manager Bill Ray, spokesman for the search operation. "If they don’t want to be found, it’s going to be hard to find them."

Searchers poured in from 21 city, county and state agencies in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, as well as five federal agencies. They were aided by tracking dogs, a fixed-wing airplane and six helicopters. Some officers rode mules and horses.

The terrain in the Cross Canyon area, at the center of the search, offers numerous hiding places.

Officials evacuated many people Friday from a wide area, extending from Hovenweep to McElmo Canyon to west of the tiny hamlet of Yellow Jacket, Ray said. Evacuees and searchers crowded Cortez hotels.

The fugitives’ identities and motives remained a mystery. Police have given only sketchy descriptions of the suspects: white males in their 20s wearing ski masks and dressed in camouflage.

"We don’t know anything about them yet," Ray said. "We sure would like to."

Some officials, including Gov. Roy Romer, have speculated that they belong to an anti-government hate group.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation did turn up at least one fingerprint on one of the stolen vehicles Saturday afternoon, Ray said. The CBI had not made any identifications by late Saturday, he said.

Searchers also found three sets of footprints around the abandoned truck, which the suspects had attempted to bury with vegetation, Ray said. Previously, authorities said only two sets were found. A urine track also was found.

Herald/Jerry McBride DOZENS OF CARS belonging to investigators were parked Friday near the trailer housing the Colorado command center for the manhunt. This site is inside the Hovenweep National Monument.

The CBI was inspecting a water truck the fugitives allegedly stole in Ignacio from a Farmington company, Overright Trucking, and a flatbed truck they are alleged to have stolen later from a Cortez construction company, Neilsen’s Inc. Seven police cruisers damaged by gunfire also are being inspected.

Many of the cruisers had shattered windshields, which were not bulletproof, Ray said.

The three fugitives are suspected of killing Cortez police officer Dale Claxton, 45, and wounding Montezuma County sheriff’s deputies Jason Bishop, 25, and Todd Martin, 35, with fully automatic weapons Friday.

Bishop was released from Southwest Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon after being treated for a minor gunshot wound to his head, hospital officials said. Martin remained in stable condition and was expected to recover from serious gunshot wounds to his left elbow and right knee, Ray said.

Martin was working his last day as a Montezuma County sheriff’s deputy when he was shot, according to a spokeswoman with the sheriff’s office. He is transferring to the Colorado State Patrol, she said.

Ray said search efforts Saturday night and early today would be more intense than the previous night.

"We’re going to have more night search capability tonight," he said. The FBI was bringing in a night-tracker helicopter, and numerous area hunters donated night-vision goggles, he said.

The state of Colorado also is providing more equipment, including four National Guard Black Hawk helicopters.

"I’ve been in touch with police officers down there about every six hours," Gov. Roy Romer said Saturday afternoon. "I just authorized the use of some helicopters to get men down there with night-vision equipment, so we’re continuing to put some resources into the search."

The Durango Police Department reduced to seven from 12 the number of tactical officers involved in the search, Capt. Dale Smith said.

Searchers remained wary.

"I think they are tough, dangerous people," Ray said.