Money /= smart, however it would lend itself towards more common sense…unless however u were from out of town or living under a rock.
I think its very simple how he is avoiding capture
1 Thought - there are hundreds of thousands of wooded acreage in the southtowns…its not impossible for one man to get “lost” in that regardless of the search effort.
2nd Thought- he is indoors living with some acquaintance he made that noone ever knows he made or he could have kidnapped or killed an old couple that noone pays attention to…I mean anything is possible in that regard.