RAINIER, Wash. -- A La Grande house painter wanted in the slayings of three people he knew in Union County was captured in Thurston County Monday, deputies said.

Union County District Attorney Tim Thompson said 42-year-old Gregory Alvin Cook was captured by Thurston County sheriff's deputies.

Thurston County authorities told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Richard Thompson that Cook took a bus to Washington state around July 31 and then made his way to Olympia.

Police believe Cook arrived in the Rainier area sometime Sunday afternoon, met a woman at a Laundromat in town, became friendly with her and later went to the woman's home. According to police, Cook and the woman were up talking most of the night.

Oregon police received information that directed Thurston County sheriff's deputies to the woman's home off the Vail Cutoff Road near the town of Rainier at about 11:45 a.m.

Police said Cook surrendered to police without incident.

The capture came just hours after authorities issued a nationwide alert for Cook, saying he was believed to be hitchhiking.

The man will be booked into the Thurston County Jail. Detectives from Oregon are en route to Olympia in to speak with the suspect and possibly bring him back to Oregon if he waives extradition.

Cook faces various murder charges in the deaths of 51-year-old Shannon M. McKillop of Elgin, whose severed hand was found in a small pond on industrial timberlands outside Elgin by a child netting goldfish.

Also killed were 50-year-old Frank M. Scaramuzzi and 28-year-old Jeremiah H. Johnston, both of Elgin. The men's bodies were found over the weekend in a separate location.

Thurston County officials said there was no indication that Cook committed any crimes while in Washington.