Escapees’ Accomplice Arrested; Massive Search Continues

The two killers who cut their way out of a maximum-security prison used tools left behind by contractors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes after each night’s work so that no one would notice, a prosecutor said Sunday.

District Attorney Andrew Wylie also said that Joyce Mitchell, the prison tailoring shop instructor charged on Friday with helping the men escape, had agreed to pick them up in her car and drive off with them but backed out at the last minute because she felt guilty for participating.

“Basically, when it was go-time and it was the actual day of the event, I do think she got cold feet and realized, ‘What am I doing?’” Wylie said. “Reality struck.”

Wylie said there was no evidence the men had a “Plan B” once the getaway driver backed out, and no vehicles have been reported stolen.

That has led searchers to believe the men were still near the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, where the manhunt was in its ninth day Sunday, with hundreds of officers slogging through mosquito-infested woods, fields and swamps for Richard Matt and David Sweat.

At the same time, Gov. Andrew Cuomo cautioned that for all anyone knows, the convicts could be in Mexico by now.

Wylie said it took a long time for the killers to complete their plan, working methodically between midnight and 5 a.m. over many nights. They had also scouted out the tunnel system under the prison at night for the best way out.

Mitchell, 51, was charged with supplying hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver. Wylie said that the two inmates planned to have Mitchell drive them about seven hours away to an unknown destination.

Residents were very much on edge, with some keeping guns handy. But there was also an outpouring of support for the search effort.

“The locals have been awesome,” said Sgt. Barry Cartier. “They come around with food all the time. We’ve got too much to eat.”

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the June 15th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.