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NATCHEZ — The search for a violent sex offender who had been on the run from law enforcement the past three days has come to a close with his arrest on Monday afternoon, Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said.

Edward Wells, 53, was captured Monday around 4 p.m. Monday in the woods near Natchez Walmart, where several homeless people have a camp Patten said.

“We concluded the search yesterday and started and investigation and as our investigation continued tips started coming in of where he may possibly be laying his head, who may be helping him and things of that nature,” Patten said.

Wells had warrants from ACSO for failure to register as a sex offender and from the Mississippi Department of Corrections for cutting off an ankle monitor.

A manhunt for wells on Saturday involved the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Natchez Police Department and Adams County Sheriff’s Office Deputies with drones and K9s. Authorities spent several hours Saturday combing the woods and neighborhoods from Quitman Road to Auburn and Duncan Avenue to Homochitto Street but could not find him.

One tip led investigators to a makeshift tree house, a perch like a wooden palette precariously placed in the fork of a tree with a ladder leading up to it and some bedding below it in the woods near John A. Quitman Boulevard and Melrose Avenue where Wells was supposedly sleeping.

After further investigation, authorities were able to track Wells to his location in the woods beside Natchez Walmart and make the arrest, Patten said.

“Multiple units came up with a strategic plan to capture him without him being able to evade us,” he said, adding he is grateful they were finally able to capture Wells without incident and put the public mind at ease.

During the search for Wells, a second sex offender was identified and arrested for failure to register in Franklin County. While Patten sought help from the public in capturing an “unhinged” Wells who was actively evading arrest, Ernest Thomas Jr. posted several rants on social media. In social media posts and in a 55-minute live video, Thomas had made threats toward individuals, toward Patten and several other law enforcement officers with ACSO and the Natchez Police Department, Patten said.

This led law enforcement to look into Thomas and find that he also had a warrant for failing to register. Thomas was captured Monday on David Field Road in Roxie with the assistance of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

“I want to thank the officers from Adams County to Franklin County Sheriff’s Office for their help in getting these two individuals into custody,” Patten said. “It just goes to show how well-trained officers who are dedicated and love this community work well together.”

Patten also thanked ACSO deputies along with Natchez Police, Wildlife and fisheries and Mississippi Department of Corrections officers “for all the manpower and manhours put in searching for those individuals over the last couple of days,” he said, adding both have a violent history toward the public that raises concern.

“That’s why we took the route that we did and made the public aware,” he said.

Wells had been arrested before in 2001 for reportedly beating and throwing an ex-girlfriend from a 25-foot cliff, leaving her paralyzed. He was also arrested in 2015 for robbing and stabbing a 61-year-old man in Ridgecrest, among other crimes.