Residents 'grateful' as police swarm town in hunt for killers
A famed "Michigan" sandwich costs $2.25 at Ronnie's Michigan Stand on the edge of Plattsburgh, N.Y. But nowadays cops eat for free.
Ronnie's sits less than a quarter mile from the primary search area, where for a second week hundreds of officers marched through thick woods and deep marsh in pursuit of two killers who fled the nearby Clinton Correctional Facility.
On Sunday, four officers from Albany stopped in at Ronnie's. Lunch was free and they were given a few Michigans to go, manager Peggy Rabideau said. A Michigan, she explained, is essentially a hot dog dripping in a tomato-and-meat sauce.
"Yesterday we gave away about 40 of them," Rabideau told Paste BN. "We are all so appreciative. You see these corrections officers and these police officers plowing through the woods and the water up to their knees and it makes your heart break.
"But they say they won't stop until they find them."
"Them" are Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, who turned 35 on Sunday. They remained on the run after their escape from the maximum security prison June 5 or 6. The search was primarily focused on Plattsburgh, just a few miles east of the prison in Dannemora, and authorities have warned residents to stay in their homes while officers combed the area for clues.
Hundreds of federal, state and local officers have swarmed the area for days since authorities said police dogs had picked up the scent of the escapees. The police presence has turned a few square miles near the Canadian border into a virtual armed camp. And that's just fine with most residents, Plattsburgh Mayor James Calnon says.
"People are really grateful that there are 800 people out there doing their job and protecting all of us," Calnon told Paste BN on Sunday.
As U.S. Marshals went from home to home in nearby Cadyville, New York State troopers and correctional officers lined the two-lane roadway which leads toward the prison. While some of the officers continued to search the trunks of vehicles at intersections, others remained stationary along 374, some sitting or standing under small canopies to shield themselves from the sun. There were officers positioned within a few hundred feet of one another within a few miles of the prison.
Authorities are stressing that local people should keep doors and windows locked — and report any suspicious activity, Calnon said.
"People are nervous, but they understand the situation," Calnon said. "People are still living their lives. Just cautiously."
At Ronnie's, closing time has been moved to 8 p.m. from 9 p.m. to allow employees time to get home before dark, Rabideau said.
"Everyone around here is just thinking of everyone else's safety," she said.
Prison employee Joyce Mitchell, 51, faces a court appearance Monday on charges that she aided the escape. She's accused of "providing material assistance" to the men, who authorities say used power tools to cut their way out of the maximum security prison.
Mitchell, who worked as the prison's tailor supervisor, was arraigned in Plattsburgh on Friday for promoting dangerous prison contraband, a felony, and criminal facilitation, a misdemeanor. She is at the Clinton County Jail with a $100,000 cash bail.
Mitchell is accused of providing the escapees hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit. Authorities say she also planned to pick them up near the manhole from which they fled and drive them hundreds of miles away — but did not follow through.
"Joyce Mitchell ditched the plan to pick up the two inmates partly because she loves her husband and she didn't want to do this to him," Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie told CNN.
If convicted of the felony, Mitchell could face a maximum of seven years in prison, while the misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to a year in jail.
Matt was serving 25 years to life for kidnapping, dismembering and killing his former boss in 1997. Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff's deputy.
Despite several reports of local sightings, State Police Maj. Charles Guess said there had been no confirmed sightings of either convict since they vanished into the rural New York night more than a week ago.
"We don't know if they are still in the area or if they're in Mexico by now," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.
Contributing: Burlington (Vt.) Free Press