It didn't take ingenuity for Christopher Dorner to elude authorities for six days. He simply opened an unlocked door. 
 
 Rick Heltebrake with his dog Suni looks over the burned-out cabin where Christopher Dorner's remains were found after a police standoff Tuesday near Big Bear, Calif., Friday Feb. 15, 2013. Heltebrake... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 file photo shows an aerial view of a burned out cabin where accused quadruple-murder suspect Christopher Dorner was confirmed to have died after barricading himself... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This Feb. 7, 2013 file photo shows a burned-out pickup truck belonging to ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner being towed after it was discovered in Big Bear, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Los Angeles Police Department shows fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner. Officials say the burned remains found in a California... (Associated Press) 
 
 The body of slain San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy Jeremiah MacKay is loaded into a hearse at the SBCO Coroner's Office in San Bernardino, Calif. on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. MacKay was killed in... (Associated Press) 
 
 As law enforcement swarmed a mountain neighborhood searching for the fugitive ex-cop, Dorner hid in a condominium 100 feet across the street from a command post and a short distance where he left his burned-out truck. 
 
 On Friday, San Bernardino County investigators revealed Dorner died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and defended tactics used during their search before a fiery gun battle ended an exhaustive manhunt. 
 
 Dorner, 33, is believed to have entered the condo through an unlocked door sometime on Feb. 7, soon after he arrived in the resort area of Big Bear Lake after killing three people. He locked the door and hunkered down until the condo's owners came to clean it, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said. 
 
 Deputies knocked on the door that first night but moved on when they found it locked and with no sign of a break-in, McMahon said. 
 
 "Our deputy knocked on that door and did not get an answer, and in hindsight it's probably a good thing that he did not answer based on his actions before and after that event," the sheriff said of Dorner. 
 
 When the owners went inside the condo, Dorner tied them up and fled in their car, leading to a chase and a shootout that killed a sheriff's deputy. 
 
 While some residents have criticized authorities for missing Dorner so close by, the sheriff emphatically supported his department, raising his voice and saying deputies "performed flawlessly." 
 
 "Understand we found the door locked at that condominium," he said. "My instructions were that we were not going to kick the doors open to unoccupied residences or ones where nobody answered." 
 
 Police initially weren't sure if Dorner was killed by one of their bullets or by a fire sparked when they launched incendiary tear gas inside. Now they believe he died by his own hand as the cabin was going up in flames. 
 
 "When about a quarter of the cabin was on fire, we heard a distinct single gunshot come from inside the house which was a much different-sounding shot than what he'd been shooting at us," sheriff's Capt. Kevin Lacy said. 
 
 Dorner was equipped with an arsenal of weapons, including assault rifles with flash suppressors that masked the location the gunfire was coming from when he shot at the first two deputies to arrive at the cabin, killing Det. Jeremiah MacKay. 
 
 "Our officers had not even pulled their guns out at that point and were not prepared to engage anybody and they were ambushed," McMahon said. 
 
 The next five responding deputies got into a fierce firefight with bullets whizzing through trees. They deployed smoke bombs to block Dorner's view so they could pull the wounded to safety as other officers provided cover with a hail of bullets, Capt. Gregg Herbert said. 
 
 Worried he was lying in wait to ambush them, they eventually used heavy machinery to peel back walls and windows to see if they could see Dorner, who used smoke bombs to obscure their view. They eventually resorted to the tear gas, though McMahon said they didn't intend to start the fire. 
 
 The search for the former cop began last week after authorities said Dorner launched a violent revenge campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department for firing him, warning in an angry manifesto on Facebook that he would bring "warfare" to LAPD officers and their families. 
 
 The former Navy reservist was dismissed for filing a false report that accused his training officer of kicking a mentally disabled man. 
 
 His first victims were Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, both gunned down outside their Orange County condominium Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who Dorner said he felt represented the department's interests over his own before a disciplinary board. 
 
 After ambushing and killing Riverside police officer Michael Crain and seriously wounding his partner at a traffic light, Dorner fled to the San Bernardino National Forest, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. His burned-out truck, with a broken axle, was found within walking distance of the Big Bear Lake condo. 
 
 Dorner entered the condo through a door left unlocked for a maintenance man, McMahon said. He locked it and stayed there as officers went door-to-door checking vacation cabins and condos and used heat-seeking helicopters and metal detectors to search for the fugitive in the forest. 
 
 It was the condo's owners, Karen and Jim Reynolds, who finally found Dorner when they arrived Tuesday and unlocked the door that they assumed the maintenance man had locked. Dorner pointed a gun at them, tied them up and fled in their purple Nissan Rogue SUV. 
 
 "I really thought it could be the end," Karen Reynolds said afterward. Even though she was bound, she managed to call 911 moments after he left. ||||| View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com. 
 
 Ex-LAPD officer-turned-fugitive Christopher Dorner, who went on a deadly shooting rampage and then died after a shootout and fire last week, first tried to charm fishermen in San Diego’s Driscoll Wharf into giving him a ride to Mexico, sources said. 
 
 Dorner, 33, led authorities on a massive manhunt after allegedly killing an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer in a crime spree across Southern California that began on Feb. 3. 
 
 Dorner's deadly crimes were allegedly part of a revenge-filled plot he outlined in an online manifesto targeting law enforcement officers and their families. 
 
 Authorities searched for Dorner all over Southern California -- from Irvine to National City -- and led extensive checkpoints at the San Ysidro border, believing Dorner was trying to flee into Mexico. 
 
 Fishermen at Driscoll Wharf told NBC 7 exclusively that Dorner was on the pier near Nimitz and Harbor Island Drive on Feb. 5 trying to charm his way into a boat ride to Mexico. 
 
 “He kept saying he wanted to go fishing off Mexico. I said ‘Mexico? That’s kinda weird. You could go fishing on the bay,’” said Jeremy Smith, a local commercial fisherman. 
 
 Smith spoke exclusively with NBC 7 on Saturday night. 
 
 Smith and others at the dock said Dorner was willing to pay $200 to $400 for someone to take him out to sea. He told the fishermen he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan and just wanted to go fishing in Mexico first. 
 
 Read more from NBCSanDiego.com 
 
 But at this pier, far away from popular fishing charters, most people were making repairs on their boats, not ready to go to sea. 
 
 Smith offered to show him around a luxury yacht that was for sale docked at the pier. But he asked him to remove the military style boots Dorner was wearing to keep the white carpeting clean. Dorner declined. 
 
 "Maybe he had a gun," Smith guessed. "Usually people want to see inside." 
 
 Dorner's request for a ride surprised some local fishermen, including Roy Sherman. 
 
 “I’ve been down here for 40 years and he’s the first guy that came down here and asked for a ride,” said Sherman. 
 
 San Diego Police Lt. Andra Brown said she was not aware of this particular Dorner sighting in San Diego. 
 
 “We’re not going to discuss details of an ongoing investigation,” Brown said, and referred questions about the incident to the Irvine Police Department. 
 
 Several other law enforcement sources -- not in the San Diego Police Department -- confirmed the man described by local fishermen was likely Dorner. 
 
 Dorner did spend time in San Diego between Feb. 4 and Feb. 6. 
 
 Gift of fish tacos 
 
 A surveillance video taken behind an auto parts store in National City on Feb. 4 shows Dorner tossing bullets, a uniform and other items that linked him to the Irvine double-homicide into a dumpster. 
 
 After spending an hour at the pier the next day, the fishermen said Dorner left, but returned with fish tacos for Smith, hoping that would convince the fisherman to help him find a charter. 
 
 The witnesses reported Dorner was very friendly, always with a smile on his face, calling himself "Mike." 
 
 The man who called himself "Mike" told Smith a story about a friend who was having problems with the police and said his friend had been fired. 
 
 "I think he was talking about himself, now that I think about it," added Smith. 
 
 Dorner eventually left peacefully without his ride to Mexico, the group of fisherman said. 
 
 Driscoll Wharf is adjacent to Naval Base San Diego on North Harbor drive. 
 
 Smith said Dorner returned to the wharf on Feb. 6 but still couldn't find anyone to take him to Mexican waters. 
 
 That same day, a man fitting Dorner’s description tried to steal a boat from a San Diego marina, according to officials. An 81-year-old man on the boat was tied up but uninjured. The would-be boat thief was unable to steal the boat and fled. 
 
 Karen and Jim Reynolds came face to face with Christopher Dorner when they arrived at their Big Bear cabin to clean it out for renters. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports. 
 
 Later that night, police issued Dorner's description, and the fishermen said they notified authorities of their encounter. 
 
 On Sunday, fishermen on Pier 6 at Driscoll Wharf are amazed the kind man who brought them fish tacos on Feb. 5 was the dangerous fugitive accused of fatally shooting four people, including a police officer and a sheriff’s deputy. 
 
 The 10-day manhunt for Dorner ended on Feb. 12. 
 
 After barricading himself in a Big Bear-area cabin, he died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials said. That cabin went up in flames during a shootout between Dorner and officers, and the fugitive's charred remains were later found inside. 
 
 Related: 
 
 Dorner's luck ran out, but these five accused killers continue to elude cops 
 
 
 
 Dorner died of self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, authorities say 
 
 Police chief named in manifesto recalls 'the Chris Dorner that I knew' 
 
 
 

– Christopher Dorner, the ex-cop who died last week after allegedly killing four people, tried to escape to Mexico, NBC News reports. On Feb. 5, just two days after he allegedly killed his first two victims, fishermen at San Diego's Driscoll Wharf say he approached them and tried to find someone who would take him fishing in Mexico. He offered $200 to $400 but found no takers, even after he came back to the pier with fish tacos to sweeten the deal. The fishermen remembered him being kind, and talking about a "friend" who had been fired and was having problems with the police. He tried again on Feb. 6, to no avail; that same day, someone matching his description tried to steal a boat from a San Diego marina and failed, tying up an 81-year-old man on the boat in the process. That night, Dorner's description was released, and the fishermen he spoke to notified authorities. Another new tidbit from the ensuing manhunt: Turns out Dorner didn't have to exert much effort in order to find the Big Bear hiding spot where he ended up. He just found an unlocked cabin and walked right in, locking the door behind him. He stayed hidden for days, though the cabin was just 100 feet away from the police command post, until its owners came to clean it and stumbled upon him. Police had knocked on the door when the Big Bear search began, the AP reports, but upon finding it locked with no sign of a break-in, they moved on.