FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A Texan who skipped bond after he was charged in the February 2000 stabbing death of a Hurst construction manager has been caught in upstate New York, near the Canadian border.

Authorities say Curtis Wayne Pope was stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in Watertown, N.Y., on Monday. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Wednesday's editions that the 40-year-old New Braunfels man told the Watertown police officer that he was going hunting. A check of his driver's license and registration plate with state and national crime databases turned up no warrants, and Pope drove away with only a warning.

But not before he told the officer the motel where he would be staying. By Tuesday morning, Watertown authorities learned that Pope was wanted in Texas and arrested him. Pope is now in the Jefferson County Jail in Watertown, awaiting extradition to Texas.

"The Lord just intervened in this," said Judy North, the victim's widow. "If he had gotten into Canada, they might never had caught him, and my family would have lived in limbo like we have for the past three years."

Pope, who faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder, was scheduled to be tried this week on charges that he fatally stabbed Darrell B. North, 62, a project manager with Bigelow Development Corp., on Feb. 22, 2000.

North's body was found, stabbed 50 times, inside his padlocked office trailer at a motel construction site in Fort Worth.

Pope was a swimming pool subcontractor for Bigelow. He was arrested in Bexar County in August 2001 after police searched his New Braunfels home. He posted $50,000 bond and was released, but failed to show up Monday for jury selection in his trial in Fort Worth.

State District Judge George Gallagher issued a warrant for his arrest, forfeited his bond and excused the jury panel.

Pope's wife told court officials that she had not seen her husband since Saturday. New York state police were sent detailed information that Pope was en route to the Syracuse, N.Y. area, law enforcement officials said. However, the advisory did not reach Watertown until Tuesday morning.