Law enforcement officers from numerous agencies will continue the manhunt today for two escaped murderers in Northern New York after the sweep of a small town in the Adirondack foothills came up empty yesterday.The hunt that began over the weekend focused Tuesday on Willsboro, close to Lake Champlain. Searchers walked shoulder-to-shoulder, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying sidearms, after residents reported seeing a couple of men walking on a road during a driving rainstorm the night before. By early evening, it appeared the sweep had come up empty, and there was no confirmation from police that the escaped convicts had been there. Still, New York State Police say leads continue to be generated and there will be an increased police presence in the area.
David Sweat, 34, and Richard Matt, 48, remain on the run after using power tools to break out of Clinton Correctional Facility, about 20 miles from the Canadian border. The pair cut through a steel wall, broke through bricks and crawled through a steam pipe before emerging through a manhole outside the prison grounds. They were discovered missing Saturday morning.
Matt, a Tonawanda native, was behind bars for the 1997 brutal murder of his boss. Sweat was convicted of killing a Broome County Sheriff's Deputy in 2002.
