OAKLAND TWP — To look at him, the words “agile” and “nimble” and “inconspicuous” would hardly come to mind in describing Robert Amend.

“His family says he can't run, he's 5 feet, 9 inches (tall) and 260 pounds. He's got one kidney, and he's not in very good health,” said state police Lt. Chris Yanoff.

But despite his physical shortcomings and an apparent lack of resources, the 49-year-old Amend from Pittsburgh's Sheraden section has proven to be elusive.

For two days, police in Butler County have searched woods, neighborhoods and other would-be hiding spots for the man accused of shooting his girlfriend during a weekend domestic dispute.

For two days, they've come up empty-handed.

“He could be anywhere,” Yanoff said Sunday, which came and went without a trace of the wanted man. “We're still assuming he's in the area.”

State police patrols are out again today in and around Oakland Township where Amend managed to evade pursuing troopers during a brief high-speed chase on Route 68 late Saturday morning.

Pittsburgh police were looking for Amend on charges he shot his estranged girlfriend earlier that day at her apartment in the city's Crafton Heights neighborhood.

The 40-year-old woman was shot in a leg and her side but she is expected to recover, authorities said.

Amend made his getaway into Butler County by turning off Route 68 west just past the Oakland Township Elementary School after his car ran over a spike strip that police had laid on the road.

His car went down an embankment and into a trailer park. He got out and fled on foot through woods shortly before noon.

An extensive nine-hour search by Pittsburgh police and the state police Saturday was unsuccessful.

A “passive search,” as Yanoff called it, using roving patrols, was employed Sunday with similar results. The same tactics will be used today.

A call to Pittsburgh police, who continue to lead the investigation, was not returned this morning.

Amend became the target of the manhunt just after 9 a.m. Saturday when he allegedly shot 40-year-old Tina Thornton at her home in the city's Crafton Heights neighborhood, said Pittsburgh police spokesman Sonya Toler.

The current nature of the couple's relationship was not immediately clear. Allegheny County online court records indicated they obtained a marriage license in 2008. However, there was no date listed that they got married.

The two had been together, on and off, since at least 2007, authorities said, when Thornton took out her first protection from abuse order against Amend.

Investigators said she recently got another PFA that barred Amend from having contact with her.

But in violating that court order Saturday, he allegedly shot Thornton with a .380-caliber pistol.

Toler said the woman was taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh with “non life-threatening” gunshot wounds.

Following the alleged shooting, Amend drove away. But before long he made an unusual cell phone call.

“He called a city (Pittsburgh) officer he knows and said he did it,” Yanoff said.

The search took on more clarity after an unspecified cell phone provider, at police request, began pinging Amend's phone to track cell site location information.

“They found out he was in our area,” Yanoff said.

Authorities speculated that Amend may have traveled out of Allegheny County via Route 28, eventually taking Route 268 through Kepple's Corners in Armstrong County to Route 68 into Butler County.

It was not immediately known why he took that course since he has no family in that area. He once owned a camp in Clarion County.

About 11:45 a.m., troopers first encountered Amend's Hyundai Sonata on Route 68 near District Judge Lewis Stoughton's office in Chicora.

His car was speeding westbound. The police car was traveling other way. The two vehicles passed. Both drivers for a brief moment looked at one another.

“(Amend's) eyes got real big,” Yanoff said. “Like, he was thinking, 'Oh, (expletive).'”

Amend raced away while police made a U-turn. The chase was on.

During the pursuit, police said, the suspect used the right berm to pass other vehicles. Troopers ahead were radioed and laid down a spike strip in the suspect's travel lane near the Oakland Township Elementary School.

The stop stick did its job, flattening the right rear tire

Still, Amend managed to drive and turned sharply into the driveway of a home. His car eventually traveled down a steep embankment in the middle of the Woodbine Oaks trailer park.

Pursuing police, blocked by a bend in the road, did not see Amend turn off Route 68, Yanoff said. They ended up passing the trailer park and checking nearby roads for his car.

That delay, investigators admitted, gave Amend time to escape capture.

“We're guessing he had a half-hour (head start),” Yanoff said.

Witnesses reported seeing Amend get out of the car and head up the hill toward woods in back of the park. That would be his last sighting for about 10 hours.

Police found his car shortly after 12:20 p.m. Before long, a large police staging operation was set up at the Oakland Township Elementary School parking lot.

A massive search comprised of tactical officers with Pittsburgh police and state police, dogs and a police helicopter continued until darkness set in.

Since the search began, the only credible sighting of Amend was at 10:30 p.m. Saturday on Dusty Lane, less than two miles northeast of the trailer park.

A supposed sighting about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on St. Joe Road in Oakland Township proved unfounded.

Authorities have been in contact with Amend's family as part of the investigation. Police said the family is cooperating.

Yanoff said investigators have no reason to believe that someone is helping to harbor Amend. But he didn't necessarily rule it out either.

“You have to overturn every rock, and that's what we're doing,” Yanoff said. “We want to catch this guy before he hurts anyone else.”

Police urge residents to be on alert and call 911 if they see Amend. They caution that he is likely armed.