The two escaped convicts apparently broke out of maximum-security prison using tools that were routinely stored there by contractors, returning them in the toolboxes after each night's work so that no one would notice, District Attorney Andrew Wylie said.
Joyce Mitchell, who was charged for being part of the escape plan, backed out last minute and wasn't able to pick up the convicts. She was supposed to drive the two inmates seven hours away to an unknown destination.
Wylie revealed that there was no "Plan B" once the getaway driver cancelled, and there were no reports of stolen vehicles in the area, which may mean that the two men could still be near the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers are searching for Richard Matt and David Sweat in woods and swamps close to the Canadian border; this is the ninth day of searching.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo also warned that the convicts could be in Mexico by now, AP reported.
Mitchell, 51, allegedly helped the two by supplying them with hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver, while they worked between midnight and 5 a.m. for many nights.
"They had access, from what we understand, to other tools left in the facility by contractors under policy and were able to open the toolboxes and use those tools and then put them back so nobody would notice," the prosecutor said.
After cutting through the back of their adjacent cells, breaking through a brick wall, cutting into a steam pipe and slithering through it, the pair emerged through a manhole outside the prison. Manholes on the street were sealed, including the one the convicts emerged from.
Meanwhile, residents were very much on edge, with some keeping guns handy. Some also expressed their support for the search effort by giving the police who are on duty some food, reported The Roanoke Times.
Sweat, 35, was ordered a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff's deputy, while Matt, 48, was sentenced for 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnap, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss.
