DNA Found in Upstate New York Cabin Is from Escaped Murderers

NEW YORK – DNA tests performed on items found at an upstate New York hunting cabin came back positive for the two convicted murderers who escaped from prison two weeks ago, the local press reported Monday.

Forensic evidence found at the cabin – located 24 km (15 mi.) from the prison – indicates that the two convicts had been at the cabin within the last 48 hours. Authorities found prison-issue underwear belonging to one of the two men at the site, according to investigators cited by The New York Times.

David Sweat and Richard Matt escaped from the Clinton penitentiary near the Canadian border on the night of June 5-6, and since then hundreds of local, state and federal police have been searching for them.

The cabin is located in Mountain View, a forested and remote area, and the finding of items linked to the two men there brings the focus of the search back to the vicinity of the prison after on the weekend authorities had expanded the search area to more than 480 square kilometers (185 square miles).

New York State Police Maj. Charles Guess said Monday at a press conference that unspecified items were recovered at the hunting cabin and sent to a laboratory for DNA testing, but he did not confirm at the time whether or not the results came back positive.

Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy in 2002, and Matt, 48, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for kidnapping and killing his former boss in 1997.

The pair fled the prison after breaching the walls of their cells and moving through a tunnel and internal passageways until they came to a sewage pipe that led outside the facility.

On June 12, a female prison staffer admitted to police that she had helped the two inmates with their escape whereupon she was arrested and is facing multiple charges and a maximum prison term of seven years.

Joyce Mitchell, 51, confessed to investigators that she offered the two prisoners access to a cell phone and smuggled tools to them, as well as making efforts to have a vehicle ready for them to use when they escaped.