Two New York prison inmates went missing early Saturday morning from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora after an “elaborate plot” to escape.
The two fugitives are Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, according to a Facebook post from the
New York State Police, the International Business Times reported. Both are considered to be dangerous.
Police have received more than 150 leads so far, according to CNN, but New York State Police Maj. Charles Guess said Sunday that “they could be literally anywhere.”
Matt is serving a sentence of 25 years to life after being found guilty of three counts of murder, three counts of kidnapping, and two counts of robbery after beating a man to death in December of 1997, according to the Times.
Sweat is also serving a life sentence without parole after he was convicted of one count of first degree murder for causing the death of a Broome County sheriff’s deputy in July of 2002.
Matt is a six-foot, 210-pound, white male with black hair and hazel eyes. He has several tattoos including “Mexico Forever” on his back, a heart on his chest and left shoulder, and a Marine Corps insignia on his right shoulder.
Sweat is a five-foot-11-inch, 165-pound, white man with brown hair and green eyes. His tattoos are on his left bicep and right fingers.
According to authorities, Matt and Sweat, who occupied side-by-side cells, used power tools to cut through the walls of their cells, and then scaled a catwalk, used a series of tunnels, and escaped through a manhole cover a block away, CNN reported.
It is unknown how exactly the missing men obtained the power tools, but the apparatus may have been procured from maintenance workers on the 1845 facility, authorities told CNN.
They were last seen Friday evening during a standing count and were found missing early the next morning.
Head counts are visually performed every two hours to see if inmates are in their bunks, Clinton Correctional Facility Supervisor Steven Racette told CNN.
Matt and Sweat tricked guards by arranging their bunks to appear as though “people were sleeping . . . with these sweatshirt hoodies on,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference, according to CNN.
The police statement warns the public to not approach the fugitives, but to instead call the New York State Police at (518) 563-3761.
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