He was thought to have hidden for days in an empty home next to a golf course on a residential street in the small town of Big Bear Lake. 

When two women, believed to be a mother and teenage daughter, arrived to clean the property he tied them up.

It was not immediately clear when the women were tied up, but on Tuesday Dorner stole their purple Nissan vehicle and drove out of town.

He subsequently crashed that vehicle and carjacked a white pick-up truck, police said.

The 19-stone former Navy reservist was then spotted by a local game warden who exchanged gunfire with him.

Dorner was said to be leaning out the window driving at high speed and firing at the warden with a handgun.

He later dumped the white pick-up truck and and fled into the forest where he found the empty ski cabin, and was pinned down by police gunfire. One police officer was killed and another injured.

Officers broke the cabin's windows, pumped in tear gas and called for Dorner to surrender over a loudspeaker.

When there was no reply they used a vehicle to tear down the cabin walls. A single gunshot was then heard before flames engulfed the building.

Los Angeles Police spokesman Commander Andrew Smith said: "We believe he is dead. We believe he was in that cabin. We believe he was burned up in that cabin."

Dorner had posted an online manifesto claiming he was unfairly dismissed from his job in 2008, and that he was the victim of racism from colleagues.

On Feb 3 he is alleged to have shot dead Monica Quan, 28, the daughter of Randal Quan, a retired police captain who represented him at the tribunal when he was sacked.

On Thursday he shot dead a police officer before going into hiding.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9866733/...