Myron Toner didn't think much when he saw a man outside a friend's house near Wakaw, Sask. Wednesday afternoon.
"I saw a fellow walking in between her house and garage," Toner told CTV News a day later, explaining he thought it was a farm worker.
"I thought it was one of the hired men (who were) combining right beside her house."
Toner said he quickly turned back his vehicle after receiving a phone call saying that the man, who was soon learned to be Myles Sanderson, had tried to break into his friend's house.
Sanderson, the subject of a nearly four-day manhunt following a stabbing spree on James Smith Cree Nation, stole a white Chevrolet Avalanche Toner said belonged to his friend.
"He was already in her vehicle and tore out of here," Toner said.
He said he checked on his friend who was unharmed following a brush with the fugitive.
"She told me to go get him. I took after him to about Shannon Lake down Highway 41."
Toner said he turned back after a 911 dispatcher instructed him to head back to his friend's house.
"And that's what I did, went back until RCMP showed up back in her yard," Toner said.
Based on the sighting, police issued an alert which led to numerous tips involving the truck.
RCMP eventually forced the pickup off the highway south of Rosthern, Sask.
Sanderson was taken into custody, and subsequently went into medical distress and died following his arrest. Police are working to determine his cause of death.
Sanderson, 30, and his brother Damien, 31, were wanted in connection to a series of stabbings on Sunday that occurred on James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Sask. that resulted in 10 deaths and 18 injuries.
On Monday, Damien was found dead in a grassy area on the First Nation. He died from injuries that did not appear self-inflicted, according to police.
Jill Kroeger witnessed the immediate police presence that followed at the home where Sanderson was sighted.
"I came over the hill and I saw police lights and slowed right down and kind of crawled past the yard and there were four, I believe, police vehicles that I could see surrounding the yard and caution tape," Kroeger told CTV News.
Toner said he had noticed aircraft in the area as the province-wide manhunt for Sanderson stretched on.
"Every night the planes were flying. So I thought something was up."
He said that he's happy that the manhunt was over and is also thankful he didn't catch up to Sanderson.
"'I'm happy I didn't do what I was going to do," Toner said.
–With files from Heather Butts and Tyler Barrow.
