NEW YORK — On the morning of June 6, 2015, New York State Police alerted law enforcement agencies of a breakout at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. After months of preparation, two convicted killers used tools to hack their way through the prison’s walls and pipes, crawled through a sewer and climbed through a manhole outside the prison walls to their final escape.
Richard Matt, 48, was serving a 25-year to life sentence for the kidnapping, torture and murder of William Rickerson, a 76 year-old Buffalo businessman. Failing to discover from Rickerson where he kept his money, Matt bent the elderly man’s fingers until the bones broke. Later, he broke Rickerson’s neck with his bare hands. Matt then used a hacksaw to chop up Rickerson’s body, and dumped the remains into the Niagara River. Rickerson’s dismembered torso was recovered from the river several days later.
David Sweat, 34, was serving a sentence of life without parole for the murder of a Broome County, New York, sheriff’s deputy. The deputy had caught Sweat and his cousin moving stolen guns from one car to another. Sweat and his cousin shot the deputy 15 times. As the deputy lay on the road bleeding, Sweat fired two shots into his face, using the deputy’s service pistol. Sweat then drove his car over the deputy as he fled the murder scene.
Out of prison and at large in northern New York State, authorities described Matt and Sweat as armed and extremely dangerous.
At Chateaugay port of entry on the U.S.-Canada border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Port Director Virgil Farnsworth received news of the escape from state police and learned that the fugitives could be headed in his direction. “We started inspections of all outbound travelers a few minutes after they called us,” Farnsworth said.
Cross-border traffic at Chateaugay and other small ports in northern New York usually consists of farmers and local residents known well to CBP officers. With two criminals on the loose, CBP ramped up outbound inspections at border crossings at Trout River, Fort Covington, Chateaugay and Cherabusco, New York. “At that point, we didn’t know which direction the escapees were heading,” Farnsworth said. “We kept the outbound operations going continuously, 24/7, for the next 22 days.”
“I had a phone call telling me to load up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning and get the ATVs down to the search area. Between the noise from helicopters, barking bloodhounds and large number of law enforcement officers in the field, we knew we would have Matt and Sweat on the run,” Boucher said. Border Patrol’s station in Burke, Vermont, also deployed its ATV unit to the New York manhunt.
Thirteen miles southeast of Dannemora, at the CBP Air and Marine Operations base at Plattsburgh, New York, news of the prison escape reached the air inderdiction agents. AMO pilots responded to state police calls for all available air assets. Air Interdiction Agent Gerhardt Perry was taking his children to a softball game when his supervisor called with news of the prison escape. “I took the kids to the coach’s house and said, ‘I have to go right now, would you mind taking the kids?’” Perry said. Shortly after, Perry and Air Interdiction Agent Chris Dobozy took off in an Airbus AS-350 A-Star helicopter and began an air search for Matt and Sweat.
Two days of searching by law enforcement had not yielded a solid clue on the escapees’ whereabouts. New York state agencies in the manhunt included corrections officers, state police, forest rangers and environmental conservation police. In addition to CBP officers and agents, other federal law enforcement officers joined the hunt from the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI’s Hostage Response Team and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Canine teams from the state police, Border Patrol and FBI fanned out over the area, trying to pick up scent of the escapees.
Local police departments and sheriffs’ deputies were on the lookout, along with tribal authorities along the border. A tip line set up by the New York State Police was receiving hundreds of calls each day from the public – every call was followed up by law enforcement. In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were following up on leads from citizens living near the border.
Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) joined the manhunt June 9, combing search grids assigned by New York State Police. “Matt and Sweat had time on their side,” said Special Operations Supervisor Tom Woods, leader of the BORTAC elements assigned to Swanton sector. They had the terrain to their advantage, and the more time they were at large, the more distance they were creating.”
The density of the terrain was daunting. “There were no trails at all – it was bushwhacking all the way,” Woods said. “There were times you couldn’t see a foot either way.”
As law enforcement searched, torrential rains moved through the region, washing away any sign of the fugitives. “The weather was terrible during the manhunt,” said Woods. “We knew the rain was hampering us, but it had to be bothering the bad guys too. They had to be wet and hungry, and we were hoping the storms would help flush them out.”
New York State Police requested deployment of a second CBP special operations unit, the National BORTAC Team stationed in El Paso, Texas, which joined the manhunt on June 12. Acting Special Operations Supervisor Chris Voss recalled the first few days on the ground. “Time was the big thing. The fugitives escaped on June 6, and in five days could be anywhere,” said Voss.
At the ports of entry, CBP officers were temporarily reassigned from Champlain and the Buffalo Field Office to the smaller ports to bolster outbound inspections. National media had camped outside many remote CBP border crossings in satellite vans, looking for stories and trying to interview law enforcement officers and travelers.
Travelers at the Port of Champlain on I-87 were experiencing longer wait times due to outbound inspections on each side of the border. With two killers still at large, travelers remained patient and often expressed thanks for the increased level of vigilance. “People were concerned for the safety of their families,” said Port Director Farnsworth. “Many people told us they were sleeping with their shotguns.”
Voss, the acting BORTAC supervisor from El Paso, and his team returned to the field, searching the wilderness for Matt and Sweat for four more days. On the morning of June 26, a citizen reported that someone had fired shots at his recreational vehicle. Supervisory Air Interdiction Agent Brian Hebert and Air Interdiction Agent Jim Pontzer loaded BORTAC operators into two helicopters, landing them on a highway to join state troopers near the area of the gunfire.
The aircrews, with air crew rifle operators onboard, remained overhead, providing top cover to BORTAC operators. AMO fixed wing crews established and maintained airborne command and control, providing communications between the operators and the tactical operations center.
Moving through the dense terrain for two hours, the BORTAC team found a man deep in the woods, hiding behind a log. “My point man was the first person to see the subject,” Voss said. “The individual had his head down, and was flat on his stomach.” Voss maneuvered closer, keeping his eyes on the subject.
Voss knew this situation was different. “There was no response, no movement from the subject when my point man told him to put his hands up. I yelled at the subject to get his hands up – still no response. I thought, this could be the guy,” said Voss.
“From my position I could see the subject’s head coming up, and then I saw his face. He was moving something in my direction, but I couldn’t see what it was. As I moved in toward the subject, I saw he had a shotgun pointed right at me,” Voss said. “Once my brain made the equation of no response and the pointed shotgun, I began to shoot.”
“My point man maneuvered into a contact-cover position. I removed the shotgun from under the subject while my point man covered me. I did not want to disturb the weapon at a crime scene, but I definitely didn’t want to leave the gun too close to the subject,” Voss said. The rest of the team moved into the area and formed a perimeter around the log. BORTAC operators confirmed the subject was dead, and positively identified the body as Richard Matt by a tattoo that read, “Mexico Forever.”
Concern immediately shifted to where David Sweat could be hiding. State troopers expanded the perimeter around the log. Voss recalled, “The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Where is the other fugitive?’ He could have us in his sights, ready to pull the trigger.” Following CBP policy, Voss left the scene for administrative duties while CBP ‘s Use Of Force Incident Team arrived to investigate the shooting of Matt.
BORTAC operators and state police continued to hunt for David Sweat. “They continued to search and clear other areas, trying to find Sweat, until they realized there wasn’t much to go on,” Voss said. The BORTAC team and state troopers withdrew to plan further on how to catch Sweat.
Two days later and 16 miles from where Richard Matt was killed, David Sweat was shot and wounded while trying to run from a state trooper. After 22 days of searching, the manhunt concluded when Sweat was finally taken into custody by New York State Police on June 28.
(Courtesy: U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Photo source: NBC News)
