DNA Found in Cabin, Hunt for Inmates Shifts Again

The last lead in the hunt for Richard Matt and David Sweat doesn't seem to have led anywhere, but authorities are hot on the trail of a new one. After a possible sighting of the pair on railroad tracks 350 miles away from the prison they escaped from sent hundreds of officers to a small town near the Pennsylvania border, searchers are now focusing on the Owls Head area, which is just 20 miles from the Clinton prison, the Albany Times Union reports. Sources tell WPTZ that a hunting cabin in the area was broken into and a person was seen fleeing. A source had told the Buffalo News yesterday that "forensic evidence" suggesting Sweat is in the area was detected, and today sources say that evidence is DNA from at least one of the inmates, per NBC News.

Residents of the Owls Head area say there has been a huge law-enforcement presence, including helicopters, since late yesterday afternoon. The pair have now been on the run for more than two weeks, and after the report that they had been spotted on railroad tracks, Sen. Charles Schumer told ABC News that Matt and Sweat could be "riding the rails" to get hundreds of miles away from the prison despite being the focus of one of the biggest manhunts in state history. (More prison break stories.)