That’s when then-State Police Troop B Bureau of Criminal Investigation Capt. Robert LaFountain called Clinton County Sheriff David Favro and Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill to tell them DNA evidence had confirmed the fugitives had been at Twisted Horn hunting camp in Owls Head.

“That was the first real break that we had something concrete as to where they were since they had gotten out of the prison,” Favro said.

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All hands on deck

Pictures of escaped murderers David Sweat, left, and Richard Matt are displayed amid a manhunt for them in June 2015. (Enterprise photo — Matthew Turner)

When the search first began 15 days before, it was all hands on deck with almost all of Favro’s department responding to Dannemora, he said.

He sent several west, a logical place the inmates would have gone in order to avoid being seen, deploying the ATV unit to the railroad beds near the prison.

“We were going to have our ATV unit ride the trails and head west and see if we could have any luck in that direction going up to the camps where they ultimately were taken into custody.”

But alleged sightings concentrated the search within the Cadyville area for several days.

Favro’s office assisted throughout the manhunt by sweeping the woods and areas of the reported sightings, fielding phone calls from concerned citizens and sending out a patrol unit with a FLIR infrared camera.

Calls ranged from widows who wanted to learn how to use weapons left behind by their deceased spouses — which concerned Favro — to a report of a hunting camp in the Saranac area where almost 100 weapons and multiple CO uniforms were stored, and later seized by Favro’s department.

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Railroad beds

The fact that the inmates did end up going west remains “a craw in my side,” Favro said.

If he could do it over again, he would have assembled his deputies and 10 or 15 corrections officers — who worked in the Dannemora prison, had camps in the area and knew the land well — to continue the search in that direction.

The old railroad beds in particular presented the path of least resistance.

“For me, there’s a lot of frustration because in police work you get gut instinct on things, and I expressed my gut instinct, and I didn’t follow it enough,” Favro said.

“I should have been more aggressive, and I should have sent half of my resources west, where I felt was best, and the other half down in Cadyville.”

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Media event

On the day of the escape, Mulverhill’s deputies were sent to Dannemora to assist with traffic control and help lock down the area.

They later pulled back, but returned to security mode once it was confirmed Matt and Sweat had been at Twisted Horn.

“That’s when I really became involved in it as far as being present in the command post that was set up in Franklin County,” he said.

Both sheriffs noted the nonstop media coverage of the manhunt by local, national and international outlets.

“I think that’s something the North Country will probably never see again, a media event that size,” Mulverhill said.

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Lessons learned

Mulverhill believes the escape serves as a big reminder to both jail administrators and prison officials that security of a facility has to be number one.

“I think it really just … drove home the point that if you think you’ve got a facility that is escape-proof, think again, and take care of the small details because they’re important.”

On lessons learned from the escape, Favro said barriers between agencies remain that prevent “a clear upfront and open exchange of what’s going on.”

“All of the law enforcement agencies involved needed a real thorough updating of everything that we had.

“I did not learn about the break-in at the cabin until after they had gotten the DNA back, so we didn’t have people up there, we didn’t have members, nor did the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department have members up in the wooded areas up along the border the day that Sweat was actually caught.”

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Community support

Mulverhill commended law enforcement and corrections officers who participated in the search, but he felt the community as a whole never got the recognition it deserved.

“They really provided a lot of confidence, a lot of support to law enforcement and everything that we were doing and the job wouldn’t have gotten done without them.”

That community support in the form of signs, banners and picnic tables set up with food and water is the first thing that comes to Favro’s mind when he thinks about the escape.

“It’s so empowering. It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling to know that there’s that type of support that’s in our community.”