N.Y. governor posts $100K reward in hunt for fugitive killers

Two convicted murderers who used power tools to escape from prison near the Canadian border must have taken days to cut through steel walls and pipes and break through the bricks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday as a $100,000 reward was posted for information leading to their capture.

Authorities were investigating how the inmates obtained the power tools they used in the Shawshank Redemption-style breakout over the weekend.

"It was sophisticated plan, it took a period of time, no doubt, to execute," Cuomo told ABC's Good Morning America on Sunday, "adding "They were heard, they had to be heard."

David Sweat, 34, was serving a sentence of life without parole for the 2002 killing of a sheriff's deputy. Richard Matt, 48, had been sentenced to 25 years to life for kidnapping, killing and dismembering his former boss in 1997.

"These are killers. They are murderers," the governor said. "There's never been a question about the crimes they committed. They are now the loose, and our first order of business is apprehending them."

Authorities set up roadblocks and brought in bloodhounds and helicopters. Hundreds of law enforcement officers fanned out across the area around the prison, about 32 km south of the border between New York and Quebec, following up on dozens of tips.

But authorities acknowledged they did not have a good idea where the convicts could be. They may have crossed the border into Canada or headed to another state, Cuomo said.

"This is a crisis situation for the state," he said. "These are dangerous men capable of committing grave crimes again."

In Canada, Jacqueline Roby, a spokesperson for Canadian Border Security Agency, confirmed Sunday American authorities have been in touch with CBSA regarding the fugitives.

A "general lookout" has been entered into the system so all Canadian customs officers are aware, Roby told CBC News. However, she said, the CBSA has not been given specific information that the fugitives are heading to Canada.

These are dangerous men capable of committing grave crimes again.- N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo

The escape prompted the Ontario Provincial Police to issue an internal alert to its officers. However, Sgt. Peter Leon, the force's provincial media relations co-ordinator, said late Saturday there was no indication the two fugitives had crossed the border into Ontario, or were even headed that way.

Provincial police in Quebec said Sunday they had not received any special alerts or instructions regarding the escaped inmates.

The fugitives had filled their beds inside the Clinton Correctional Facility with clothes to appear as though they were sleeping, cut into steel steam pipes and shimmied out of the prison. On one pipe cut in the escape, investigators found a note with a crude Asian caricature along with the words, "Have a nice day."

Dannemora occupies just over 2.6 square kilometres within the northern reaches of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It's surrounded by forest and farmland about 30 kilometres from the Canadian border.

Sweat, 34, is serving a sentence of life without parole after he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Deputy Sheriff Kevin Tarsia deputy in Broome County, N.Y., on July 4, 2002. Sweat and another man fired 15 rounds into Tarsia in 2002 shortly after using a pickup truck to break into a Pennsylvania woman's house, stealing rifles and handguns, authorities have said.

Steven Tarsia, the slain officer's brother, said finding out Sweat had escaped "turns your world upside-down all over again." He said just the other day, he had been trying to remember the names of the men responsible for his brother's death, and "I couldn't remember their names. All of a sudden, I remember them again."

Nearly a decade after the 1997 kidnapping, murder and dismemberment of his former boss, William Rickerson, in upstate New York, Matt was returned to the U.S. from Mexico where he had fled to and, later, was arrested for fatally stabbing another American outside a bar in a robbery attempt. He was convicted in 2008 of Rickerson's death.

A family member of Rickerson reached by phone declined comment to The Associated Press.

Adjoining cells empty

The two men's adjoining cells were empty during a morning check, said Anthony Annucci, the acting state corrections commissioner.

"A search revealed that there was a hole cut out of the back of the cell through which these inmates escaped," Annucci said. "They went on to a catwalk which is about six storeys high. We estimate they climbed down and had power tools and were able to get out to this facility through tunnels, cutting away at several spots."

Investigators were probing how the men acquired the tools and if any were missing from contractors at the prison.

Officials said it was the first escape from the maximum-security portion of the prison, which was built in 1845.