New York prison escapees 3-week manhunt is over
New York prison escapee Richard Matt, 49, has been found. He was located in the Lake Titus area, which is 47 miles from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. He was shot dead when he tried to carjack a camper van following a three-week manhunt. Border patrolmen in Malone, New York shot the fugitive after they ordered him to raise his hands and he refused. He was armed with a 20-gauge shotgun.
Fellow inmate David Sweat, 35, is still on the run and believed to be armed and dangerous.
Since their escape, law enforcement learned prison worker Joyce Mitchell had sexual affairs with both Matt and Sweat. Guard Gene Palmer is accused of smuggling tools for the pair into the prison inside frozen meat. They have both been charged for their role in the June 6, 2015 escape, which made national headlines.
Matt, who recently had a birthday, was reported suicidal when his last appeal was denied. He was serving 25 years-to-life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss, 72-year-old William Rickerson, then fleeing to Mexico, where he killed again in 1997.
In 2007, he was extradited to America, convicted of second-degree murder, and jailed in Clinton Correctional. Matt is a repeat prison escapee. When Matt was 13 years old, he ran away from a group home in Allegany State. Years later, he climbed over the fence of Erie County Correctional Facility, where he was serving a one-year sentence for assault. It took four days to track him down.
Sweat was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the 2002 murder of a sheriff’s deputy, Kevin Tarsia. He shot him 22 times and ran him over, according to the Daily Mail.
UPDATE: David Sweat was caught by State Police sergeant Jay Cook and his team on Sunday, June 28. He was shot twice and is in critical but stable condition in an Albany, NY hospital. Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed he had in his possessions maps, tools, bug repellent and Pop Tarts.
