New York Prison Break Update: Search Expands To Allegany County For Escaped Convicts

More than two weeks after escaping from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, authorities are following new leads in the hunt for excaped murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat. WGRZ, Buffalo, New York, reported Saturday police are searching for the pair in Allegany County, more than 360 miles away.

Central New York’s Time Warner Cable News reports the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher confirmed state police were concentrating their search around the town of Friendship as the result of a lead. The search in Allegany County is the latest in a series of leads that have yet to yield results.

New York State Police confirmed Friday they also were following a separate lead after sightings were reported in Steuben County. Authorities said investigators were searching a construction site in Erwin, 350 miles from the prison, for leads after a two men were seen walking near the Gang Mills rail yard in Erwin last week. The two men then reportedly were seen walking along County Route 115 in the town of Lindley, 30 miles further on, making their way toward the Pennsylvania border.

The sightings were not reported until Tuesday, and state police since have been conducting interviews in Erwin and Lindley. CNN reported in the two weeks since the escape, roughly 800 law enforcement officials have taken part in the manhunt, clearing almost 200 buildings and hundreds of homes in upstate New York.

Matt and Sweat escaped from the maximum-security prison in Dannemora June 6 where they were both serving sentences for murder. The U.S. Marshals Service has since added Matt, 48, and Sweat, 35, to its list of the 15 most wanted fugitives, offering a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to their capture.

U.S. Marshals Service Director Stacia Hylton told CNN the list is “reserved for the worst of the worst,” adding, “There is no question David Sweat and Richard Matt fall into this category.”