CORTEZ – Life continued to return to a semblance of normality, as the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo and parade captured the town’s attention Saturday night.

But efforts to track down fugitive suspects Jason Wayne McVean, 26, of Durango and Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek didn’t stop entirely.

Forty to 60 law officers based at a Cortez command center continue to work on finding the two, who have been on the loose since police say they killed Cortez police officer Dale Claxton and wounded two Montezuma County sheriff’s deputies May 29.

Robert Matthew Mason, 26, of Durango, also charged in the murder, killed himself June 4 near Bluff, authorities said.

Compared to five days ago, when about 500 officials searched for the two in Utah and Colorado, the presence of law enforcement is virtually nothing.

In tiny Cahone, 25 miles northwest of Cortez on U.S. Highway 666, residents are getting back to a daily routine.

For several days, the Cahone Recreation Center was used as a command center as law officers searched Cross and Cahone canyons and the Dolores River area for signs of the fugitives. Saturday, no police cars were in sight.

"Now it’s back to normal. We don’t see them anymore," said Joyce Cook of Cahone.

But that doesn’t mean that, at least for the immediate future, things are the same as they were before the manhunt.

"I think people are still on edge until they find them. We’re not letting our guard down," said Cook, who runs her business, Joyce’s Flowers, from her house.

Joyce and her husband, Wayne, a native of the area, were shaken a couple days after the shootings when someone knocked on their door at 2 a.m. They didn’t open the door and don’t know who it was. The same thing happened at about 2:15 the next morning, they said.

"At 2 o’clock somebody knocking at your door can kind of scare the liver out of you," Joyce Cook said.

They say they now lock their house and vehicle doors.

"We don’t go out at night like we used to," Joyce said.

"In the morning we wait until the sun comes up to go out there" to take care of the chickens, Wayne said.

Hovenweep National Monument, which opened briefly last week, remains closed as the search continues for McVean and Pilon.

"We don’t know where they’re at," said Frank Marcotte of Cahone. "If they’re still living."

Officials continued to hunt for the 16th day in canyons northwest of Cortez. Two caches of ammunition and weapons found near Hite, Utah, along Lake Powell have brought a small presence of officers to that area. The Colorado Bureau of Investigations was analyzing evidence from both finds.

Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane, Montezuma County Sheriff Sherman Kennell and Dolores County Sheriff Jerry Martin all reportedly are taking today off. They have been working on the case almost nonstop since May 29.

A $61,500 reward is being offered for information leading to the capture of the suspects.