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Where in the World Are the Prisoners Who Escaped From New York?

As a large manhunt for two escaped murderers stretched into its ninth day in upstate New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that "we don't know if they are still in the immediate area or if they are in Mexico by now."

By Matt Pearce

As a large manhunt for two escaped murderers stretched into its ninth day in upstate New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that "we don't know if they are still in the immediate area or if they are in Mexico by now."

In recent days, searchers have focused on the woods near Dannemora, N.Y., where Richard Matt and David Sweat were discovered missing from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6.

Officials said the pair used power tools and were assisted by prison employee Joyce Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, N.Y. Mitchell pleaded not guilty Friday after she was arrested and charged with a felony and a misdemeanor for allegedly smuggling hacksaw blades and other tools to the men.

Cuomo's remarks Sunday reflect that officials are apparently no closer to finding Matt and Sweat than they were a week ago, when he announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the pair's capture -- $50,000 each -- but acknowledged they could already be outside the country.

"We're following up every lead to the best we can," Cuomo said while answering a question at an unrelated news conference Sunday.

Clinton County Dist. Atty. Andrew Wylie, speaking to TV crews stationed outside the correctional facility Saturday evening, said Mitchell had not told investigators where the men wanted to go.

Wylie said Mitchell only said that they planned to head to an area about a seven-hour drive from Dannemora, which could mean anywhere from Canada to somewhere in New York state or any of the neighboring states.

Canada's border is about 20 miles north of Dannemora, a village whose population of about 4,000 includes the 3,000 inmates in the prison.

At one point last week, officials broadened their search to include Vermont after saying they'd received information that the men may have sought to escape there.

Mitchell was to appear in court on Monday.

The Press-Republican of Plattsburgh, about 11 miles east of Dannemora, reported Saturday that Mitchell had been moved to a different jail from where she was originally held, in Clinton County, because so many staff members at the Clinton jail have family and friends involved in the search for the inmates.

"The [Clinton County] jail is just a few miles from a massive manhunt, and there a lot of staff with family and friends involved, and we thought it best to have the least amount of distractions," Clinton County Sheriff David Favro told the Press-Republican.

Matt, 48, had been serving 25 years to life for the 1997 killing and dismemberment of his boss.

Sweat, who turned 35 on Sunday, was serving life without parole for killing a sheriff's deputy in 2002.

Their escape was discovered about 5:30 a.m. on June 6, but it is not clear how long they had been gone by the time prison guards realized that the lumps in their bunks were bundles of clothing designed to look like the sleeping men.

Investigators say the men, who had neighboring cells, cut holes out of a common wall and then carved into a steel pipe.

They followed that pipe to a manhole near the prison, emerged into a quiet residential neighborhood, and vanished.

Mitchell allegedly planned to meet them with a getaway car, but Wylie has said she told investigators that she changed her mind and didn't show up.

He has not ruled out further charges against Mitchell.

Pearce reported from Los Angeles and Susman from Dannemora, N.Y.

(c)2015 the Los Angeles Times

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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