CHELSEA – A Dresden man faked a suicide, giving rise to a massive two-day search costing tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said.

Fred A. Hall, 54, admitted himself to the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Togus on Friday, hours after state police ended the search for him.

The search began Wednesday when a suicide note was found in Hall’s abandoned pickup truck on the southbound shoulder of the Interstate 95 bridge over the Androscoggin River in Topsham. Police dogs, aircraft and divers took part in the search.

State police were notified that Hall was in Togus after his wife, Sharon, received a call from him at the hospital. Two detectives then went to Togus to talk with him.

Hall staged the suicide and planned to drive to Indiana, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. The motive for the Indiana trip is unknown.

“We will be consulting the District Attorney’s Office once the reports are done in this case, but I do not have a specific answer as to whether [Hall] could be charged monetarily for the cost of the search. It’s very early,” McCausland said.

Before it was called off Friday, the search involved a Brunswick Naval Air Station helicopter and two aircraft from the state police and Maine Warden Service, as well as the whole team of divers on the ground.

Also, a motorist who was distracted by seven police cruisers on the I-95 bridge caused a five-car pileup Wednesday. No one was seriously injured, but three people were treated at area hospitals.

Sharon Hall said her husband, a Vietnam War veteran, remained at Togus on Monday. “I imagine they’re going to be re-evaluating him this morning,” she said. “He’s going to need a lot of help.”