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STATESVILLE, N.C. – Statesville Police Chief Tom Anderson reached a national audience Tuesday when he reflected on the more than two-year fugitive manhunt for Marshall Lee Brown, from 1996 to 1999.

The case of 51-year-old Brown is featured on the Investigation Discovery show "I Almost Got Away With It."

“The whole thing took a life of its own, as far as chasing Marshall Brown. It became the news every week at the time,” Anderson said.

Brown, who escaped a Charlotte work release program in 1996, was charged in the shooting death of Stephen Calhoun inside a truck in south Statesville. Calhoun testified against Brown during his original 1977 murder trial.

"The second murder, the motive we believe was drug-related. Also, revenge was a possible motive," Anderson said.

After Brown was identified as the murder suspect, Anderson, who was a detective then, said the Statesville community reached out with hundreds of tips, which for a time led to dead ends.

"We had sightings every week of Marshall Brown. We searched numerous households, did numerous interviews and followed every lead," Anderson said.

Authorities got their break in July 1999 when federal agents – following a tip – arrested Brown in Washington, D.C.

The manhunt was over.

"I knew then I was caught; there was no way to get away. I felt like a piece of crap. It felt like tears," Brown said during the show's broadcast.

After getting caught, Brown was convicted of the December 1996 Statesville murder in 2002.

He's currently serving his sentence in the Pamlico Correctional Institution.