Schools and a state highway shut Thursday as law enforcement chased a new lead in the manhunt for two convicted killers who cut their way out of a maximum security New York prison six days ago.
The public has been warned that Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, could kill again after using power tools to cut through walls at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora on Saturday.
New York State Police said a section of the state highway 374 east of Dannemora would stay shut Thursday morning in order to investigate a lead in the search for the two murderers.
All schools in the Saranac Central School District, which includes the village of Dannemora, were also closed.
The district said the closure was "to assist law enforcement personnel with their search efforts, and due to the closure of a number of roads" but that classes were scheduled to resume Friday.
Authorities had said Matt, who murdered and dismembered his 76-year-old boss, and Sweat, who killed a sherif's deputy, discussed heading to the neighboring state of Vermont before escaping.
"They are dangerous men. They are killers, they are murderers. There is no reason to believe they wouldn't do it again," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
New York State Police has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to their arrest and warned the public to call 911 immediately if they spot any suspicious activity.
More than 450 police, corrections personnel, forest rangers, the FBI, US Marshals and border officers have been involved in the manhunt, investigating more than 500 leads.
Inmates, guards, contract employees and other prison staff have been questioned, including a middle-aged mother who befriended or who was befriended by the convicts, authorities said.
Matt, six feet (1.83 meters) tall with multiple tattoos, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnapping and dismembering of his former boss in a 27-hour ordeal.
He fled to Mexico after the murder and killed an American, before being sentenced to 20 years and extradited back to New York.
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a sheriff's deputy in New York state in 2002 when he was 22 years old.
The pair's escape has been likened to Hollywood movies such as "The Shawshank Redemption" or "Escape from Alcatraz."
They cut through the walls of their cells with power tools, then crawled to freedom through an underground pipe system, coming up through a manhole and leaving behind a note saying "Have a Nice Day."
Schools and a state highway shut Thursday as law enforcement chased a new lead in the manhunt for two convicted killers who cut their way out of a maximum security New York prison six days ago.
The public has been warned that Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, could kill again after using power tools to cut through walls at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora on Saturday.
New York State Police said a section of the state highway 374 east of Dannemora would stay shut Thursday morning in order to investigate a lead in the search for the two murderers.
All schools in the Saranac Central School District, which includes the village of Dannemora, were also closed.
The district said the closure was “to assist law enforcement personnel with their search efforts, and due to the closure of a number of roads” but that classes were scheduled to resume Friday.
Authorities had said Matt, who murdered and dismembered his 76-year-old boss, and Sweat, who killed a sherif’s deputy, discussed heading to the neighboring state of Vermont before escaping.
“They are dangerous men. They are killers, they are murderers. There is no reason to believe they wouldn’t do it again,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
New York State Police has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to their arrest and warned the public to call 911 immediately if they spot any suspicious activity.
More than 450 police, corrections personnel, forest rangers, the FBI, US Marshals and border officers have been involved in the manhunt, investigating more than 500 leads.
Inmates, guards, contract employees and other prison staff have been questioned, including a middle-aged mother who befriended or who was befriended by the convicts, authorities said.
Matt, six feet (1.83 meters) tall with multiple tattoos, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnapping and dismembering of his former boss in a 27-hour ordeal.
He fled to Mexico after the murder and killed an American, before being sentenced to 20 years and extradited back to New York.
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a sheriff’s deputy in New York state in 2002 when he was 22 years old.
The pair’s escape has been likened to Hollywood movies such as “The Shawshank Redemption” or “Escape from Alcatraz.”
They cut through the walls of their cells with power tools, then crawled to freedom through an underground pipe system, coming up through a manhole and leaving behind a note saying “Have a Nice Day.”
