Police in New York state searched Tuesday for two convicted killers after they were reported walking along a road in a driving rainstorm the night before.
Dozens of police armed with rifles walked through farms and fields near the town of Willsboro as they tried to apprehend David Sweat and Richard Matt.
Authorities believe the two men are on foot after a daring escape last week from a maximum security prison farther north in Dannemora, located near the Canadian border.
Officials say Sweat and Matt used power tools to carve out their escape route from their cells to a manhole cover in a nearby street.
Questions have been raised about how the inmates obtained the tools, and why the noise did not draw the attention of prison staff or other inmates.
Sweat was serving a life sentence for the 2002 death of a sheriff's deputy. Matt faced 25 years to life in prison on murder, kidnapping and robbery charges following the 1997 killing of a man.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the duo "definitely had help" in their escape.