Correction officers at Clinton Correctional Facility found beds decoyed with makeshift dummies in place of two prisoners around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
David Swear, 34, and Richard Matt, 48 left those dummies as just part one to their great escape from the prison.
A manhunt revealed that the pair somehow gained access to power tools and cut through the steel back of their cell walls. They kept the tools on-hand and used them again after clambering a 6-foot-high catwalk which accessed a series of pipes and tunnels that they also cut through.
To add insult to injury, they left a note next to one of the punctured pipes, reading, “Have A Nice Day.”
The men made their final exit from the building through a manhole onto a nearby street 20 miles south of Canada. There whereabouts are unknown. NY Govenor Cuomo tweeted a picture of authorities inspecting the manhole the inmates used:
The question then becomes, how did these prisoners who are serving at least 25 years to life acquire power tools? Furthermore, how did they maneuver through the maze of pipes and tunnels? Officials claim that will remain a mystery.
The acting commissioner of the State Dept. of Corrections says, “It may have been over a period of time,” he suggests that through trial and error the two devised this elaborate escape plan and route.
Cuomo confirmed that the two, “are dangerous individuals.” Sweat is serving life without parole for the 2002 murder of Broome County sheriff’s deputy. Matt is serving 25 to life for the kidnapping, beating and murder of a man in Niagra County.
Sweat is 5-foot-11 with brown hair, green eyes, weighing 165 lbs. Matt is 6 feet tall, with black hair, hazel eyes and weighs 210 lbs.
The facility is guestimated to have more than 200 officers, a number of bloodhounds and helicopters have been searching for the men. Cuomo says this was the first escape from this facility since it was built in 1865. A reward of $100,000 is being offered to the person(s) who lead to the escapees whereabouts and arrest.
Source: NYPost, http://nypost.com/2015/06/06/
TSR Intern: Chantel P. IG: @_POPchanny | Twitter: @POPchanny
