How bad are these escaped killers? Bad.
The two men whose daring weekend escape from a New York state prison has triggered a nationwide manhunt are seriously hardened killers.
One killed a cop. The other dismembered his former boss.
Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, lived in adjoining cells in the maximum security section of the Clinton Correctional Facility in rural Dannemora, N.Y. They were counted as present Friday night but found to be missing during a 5:30 a.m. bed check.
"It's very important that we locate these individuals," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "They are dangerous and we want to make sure that they don't inflict any more pain and any more harm."
Sweat is white, 5 feet-11 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds, police said. He was 22 years old when he and another man shot and killed Broome County Deputy Kevin Tarsia, a 13-year veteran.
Tarsia, working an overnight shift, had been driving home on July 4, 2002, when he noticed three men in a park. He came upon Sweat and two companions splitting the proceeds of a burglary they had committed. They killed the deputy when he confronted them, authorities said at the time.
Sweat was sentenced to life without parole. Broome County Sheriff David Harder said deputies now are assisting state police with interviews as part of the manhunt.
"We put Mr. Sweat away for the brutal murder of our deputy," he said. "How this happened I don't know, but now everybody is hard at work."
Matt was serving a 25-years-to-life sentence for murder, kidnapping and robbery in the slaying and dismemberment of a Niagara County man in 1997.
Matt -- who is white, 6 feet tall and weighs 210 pounds -- and another man were convicted in the death of William Rickerson. Matt had worked at a food warehouse until he was fired by the 76-year-old businessman. Rickerson's headless torso and legs were later found floating in the Niagara River.
Matt fled to Mexico in 1998 before he could be arrested. He was accused in Mexico of stabbing a man outside a bar and was imprisoned for murder. He was extradited to the United States and convicted by a Niagara County jury in 2008.
Matt has a history of escape, having broken out of the Erie County Jail in 1986 by scaling a fence. He was recaptured four days later. Now he is free again.
Rickerson's son, William Jr., told NBC News, "I just hope they catch him."