Escaped New York convicts possibly headed for Canada: police

Two dangerous convicted killers who escaped a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago may be on their way towards Canada and border guards are on alert, police said today.
Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, used power tools to cut their way out of their cells at the Clinton Correctional Facility before dawn on June 6 in a spectacular prison break likened to a Hollywood movie.
The audacious escape sparked a huge search involving more than 1,100 personnel backed by sniffer dogs and helicopters to find the men, who have reportedly been spotted in several locations in recent days in upstate New York.

The hunt is now centered on the town of Belmont, about 350 miles (550 kilometers) southwest of the prison and roughly 100 miles from the state's western border with Canada.
"We have developed evidence in our search area that the suspects may be headed towards Canada," Major Charles Guess of New York State Police told reporters.
"We cannot get into specifics of the evidence we have recovered while investigating this particular lead. That evidence is still being evaluated by our laboratory as part of the investigative process.

"But based on what we know at this point, we have a high degree of confidence in our conclusion.

"We can't talk specifically because we don't want to put information in the public that could jeopardize finding David Sweat and Richard Matt and returning them to prison where they belong."
Two prison workers have been charged over the brazen breakout, and Matt and Sweat -- whom police described as dangerous and probably armed -- have left tantalizing scraps of evidence as to their whereabouts including DNA evidence.