The manhunt expands in Northern California for a man suspected of killing his wife and two young daughters, reports the Associated Press. Law enforcements officials were proceeded very cautiously Friday through an area of steep, wooden terrain as they track 45-year-old suspect, Shane Franklin Miller.

Shasta County sheriff’s Lt. Dave Kent said that the manhunt expands to find the suspect and the search team hiked the tree-lined canyons where they believe the suspect may have taken cover.

Kent said, “Today we’re making a push to walk in and try to find him in the heavy brush. He may be going to a cabin. He may be hunkered down in the brush. It’s very strategic how we’re moving through that forest area.”

Miller is suspected of slaying his family Tuesday night in the rural community of Shingletown, then fleeing 200 miles west in his pickup truck to Humboldt County to escape arrest. According to Miller’s mom who spoke to the Associated Press, she had no idea whether her son and daughter-in-law had suffered marital problems and why her son turned against his family.

In a telephone interview with the AP, Joan Miller said, “I can’t speak to that. I don’t know. It was none of my business. This just breaks my heart.”

Joan Miller said she has not spoken to her son since the manhunt, which was recently expanded, began.

She said, “Heck, no. I honestly don’t know a thing.”

Miller has been described as armed and extremely dangerous according to authorities.

Kent said detectives continue to search his home, where the killings occurred for evidence and clues as to where Miller might have been headed. The pickup truck he abandoned near Petrolia is also being searched.

Miller grew up in coastal Humboldt County and authorities say his ability to fortify himself in the mountainous area called the “Lost Coast” make searchers participating in the manhunt vulnerable.

Phil Franklin, one of the hundreds ordered to lock their doors and shelter in place as the manhunt expands, said “It would be easy to hide out up there.”

To imagine the ruggedness of the landscape, think “Jurassic Park” because some of the movie was actually filmed in the terrain. Many residents in the area live off the grid and on unmarked back roads often shrouded in a coastal fog.

Like Franklin, most of the residents are armed because law enforcement patrols are rare on the peninsula that juts into the Pacific.

“The county is strapped for money so we don’t have police protection out here. We all contact each other if something occurs so we can coordinate help,” Franklin said.

The suspect himself is familiar to law enforcement. He once tried to make a living growing one of the region’s biggest cash crops – marijuana, and was convicted in 1996 of felony cultivation in a county known globally for the high quality pot grown in the same hard-to-reach forests, which authorities are combing through now.

In 2002, Miller was charged in San Francisco with making and selling marijuana for distribution, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a machine gun and money laundering, according to records shown in the court. He pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of guns and was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for it. In May 2007, he was released according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Court records also show that he served 46 months in federal prison for being in possession of a firearm.

He apparently stayed off the radar of law enforcement until 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, when Shasta County sheriff’s deputies received a call from his house. When they arrived, they found the bodies of Miller’s wife, Sandy, 34, and two daughters, Shelby, 8, and Shasta, 5.

Kent said that the police upon arriving in the scene, found all three shot multiple times.

Investigators believe the call was placed by one of the victims while the shooting was in progress.

Authorities have not recovered the gun or guns used for the slaying of Miller’s family. However, more weapons were found in the house when it was searched.