Hunt for NY Escapees Switches to New State

Gov. says he has info pointing to Vermont
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 10, 2015 11:50 PM CDT
Updated Jun 11, 2015 12:01 AM CDT
Hunt for NY Escapees Switches to New State
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, left, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo arrive for a news conference in front of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

"Vermont is cooler" isn't the state's new motto, it's the reason why Gov. Peter Shumlin thinks prison escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat may have made their way across the border to the Green Mountain State. Shumlin says he has information that suggests the convicts thought New York was going to be too "hot" in terms of law enforcement milling about, "and a camp in Vermont might be a better place to be," the Burlington Free Press reports. Shumlin says patrols have been stepped up on Lake Champlain—which straddles the border of New York and Vermont and stretches up to Canada—and he urges the public to be sensible and call law enforcement if they see suspicious people.

At a joint press conference with Shumlin, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said authorities haven't ruled out any possibility for the location of the two escaped lifers, reports the Guardian, which notes that authorities are retracing their steps and going door to door in the immediate vicinity of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. A massive search around the New York town of Willsboro, however, appears to have hit a dead end, and with the search set to enter Day 6, the pair have now been on the run for what counts as a long time: According to CNN, most fugitives in the state are captured within 24 hours, and out of 29 inmates who broke out of prison between 2002 and 2013, only one evaded capture for more than 48 hours. (More prison break stories.)

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