An all-out search of a 22 square-mile section of Malone and Duane, New York, continued Saturday, in the now 22-day-long hunt for escaped prison inmate David Sweat.
Three weeks ago, Sweat busted out of the maximum security prison in Dannemora alongside Richard Matt, who was shot and killed Friday after law enforcement surrounded him in the woods of Malone.
A Customs and Border Protection tactical team shot the murderer who once dismembered a former boss, and who had escaped prison once before.
The elimination of Matt stemmed from a 911 call that gunfire from a cabin struck a camper as it was towed by a passing vehicle. Tracing that gunfire pointed authorities to Matt, New York State Police said.
"We were happy they finally got one," Franklin County resident Percy McMahon told necn. "Now, hopefully within the next couple days, they'll get the other one."
After an autopsy was performed on Matt, officials determined that his bug bites, blisters and abrasions were "consistent with living in the woods for three weeks." His cause of death was said to be skull fractures and brain injuries from being shot in the head.
"My mindset is - still concern there's a felon in the woods, a killer in the woods, and we don't really know where he's going to pop out," said Don Simpson, who lives within the core of the new search area.
Vermont
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Saturday evening, members of the Vermont State Police were expecting to dial back their support role in the manhunt. The Vermont State Police tactical team planned to head back to Vermont, an official said. They are leaving more than a thousand officers from other agencies still engaged in the active search.
Sweat is considered armed and dangerous. Police couldn't say for sure Friday how far away from Matt he may have gotten, but they indicated they hope they have him contained.
Anyone who sees David Sweat is asked to call 911 immediately. Anyone with other pertinent information on the search may call 1-800-GIVE-TIP.
