The army of officers searching for a surviving escaped killer continued their work under steady rainfall today, keeping their focus on the dense and boggy woods of upstate New York where his fellow fugitive was fatally shot two days earlier.
On the 23rd day of the search, state troopers with guns drawn searched a cabin in Malone and other officers carrying rifles manned checkpoints and examined vehicles, opening trunks and peering into windows in their hunt for David Sweat. Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill said tips continued to pour in and he was optimistic Sweat would be captured soon.
“It’s going to be one of those phone calls that turns this case around,” he said late Saturday.
Richard Matt who once vowed never to be taken alive was fatally shot Friday during an encounter with border patrol agents about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of the prison he escaped from with Sweat on June 6. About 1,200 searchers focused intensely on 22 square miles (57 square kilometers) of thick forests and heavy brush around where Matt was killed.
Police hoped the solo escapee would finally succumb to the stress of little sleep, scant food and biting bugs. “Anyone in the woods and on the run from the law so to speak is not getting a full eight hours sleep, they’re not eating well and they have to keep moving,” Mulverhill said. “He’s fatigued, tired, and he’s going to make a mistake.”
Sweat could have an even tougher time now without someone to take turns resting with and to watch his back, Clinton County Sheriff David Favro said.