June 22, 2015
The 2-week-old search for two escaped murderers focused on a rural area about 20 miles away from the New York prison they fled after their DNA was discovered inside a burglarized cabin, CNN reported on Monday.
CNN, citing an unidentified law enforcement source, said evidence of the escapees was found on items in a cabin in Owls Head, New York.
Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 35, were discovered missing from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, early on June 6.
The two inmates cut through cell walls, crawled through a steam pipe and climbed out a manhole to escape, officials said.
A witness reported seeing someone running into a wooded area near the cabin that had been broken into, CNN reported.
During the weekend, the search had been focused about 280 miles (450 km) southwest of the prison, near the Pennsylvania border, after a possible sighting was reported in the town of Friendship, New York.
Joyce Mitchell, 51, who worked as a training supervisor in the prison's tailor shop, has been charged with helping the inmates escape by providing them with tools.
A Clinton corrections officer identified as Gene Palmer has been suspended in connection with the escape.
(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Bill Trott)
