Last year, a Wisconsin hunter discovered an unusual door peeking out from behind some thick underbrush off a dirt trail. After thinking about it for months, he decided to go back last week and see what it was all about.

Hours later, authorities arrested a fugitive wanted on multiple charges of incest, child sexual assault, and child pornography who they said had been living for nearly four years in a solar-powered bunker that he'd built.

Jeremiah Button had not been seen since he disappeared in February 2016, two weeks before he was supposed to stand trial on a slew of child sexual assault and child pornography charges.

The 44-year-old had been out on $25,000 bond for about 18 months. Authorities say that during that time, Button had been building a small, wooden bunker tucked into the side of an embankment along the Ice Age Trail in a state park near the rural, woodsy Wisconsin town of Ringle.

Thomas Nelson, a hunter from nearby Wausau, told WSAW-TV that he first stumbled across the brush-shrouded hideout in November, but when he noticed a door built into the earth, he bolted.

But Nelson couldn't stop thinking about it. Months later, he retuned to the state-owned wilderness, retraced his steps, and pushed the door open.

"I come around the corner a bit and there he is, laying in his bed." Nelson said in an interview with the station. "I mean, I was shaking when I went in, I was shaking when I went out."



In an incident report, Nelson told Marathon County sheriff officials that he had reported the shelter to law enforcement, the state's Department of Natural Resources, and the Parks Department, but they were "unsuccessful with any results."

When he actually entered the cave and saw a man sitting in a bed, he again called authorities and led them to the hideout, the report said. Lt. Troy Deiler and another deputy arrived, but said they were unable to make contact at the front door due to its "extremely tactically unsafe location."

The officers made 50 to 60 verbal commands and banged on the roof with a metal post they had found, the incident report said, before Button, dressed in full camouflage, finally emerged after about 20 minutes.

"I am a wanted man," he told officers with his hands up, the report said, and then proceeded to explain how he had been living in the woods for nearly four years. As they walked him out handcuffed, officers said Button was extremely chatty and remarked how "it was nice to talk to some human beings."