Publisher's Synopsis
Relentless Pursuit - On June 6, 2015, two convicted killers escaped from New York State's toughest maximum security prison, Dannemora. What followed over the next 23 days, was an unbelievable tale of intrigue, as salacious facts revealed the murderers had seduced a female prison employee into aiding in their plan to escape. Swept up by their artful manipulation, she smuggled hacksaw blades into the prison in frozen hamburger, engaged in sexual conduct with one of the inmates, and schemed to pick them up at midnight as they emerged from a manhole cover outside prison walls, in the heart of the village. To clear the way for their planned escape to Mexico, there allegedly was even talk of murdering her unsuspecting husband, to remove the "glitch." This is the inside story of the terrorized community, the outstanding men and women of law enforcement, and the State Trooper responsible for capturing the inmates.
The Manhunt "involved some of the most stubborn and courageous police work imaginable, pitting hundreds of officers not just against two elusive killers, but against some of the wildest and most unforgiving territory in the United States...And it all ended in scenes of gunfire, hard justice and death. It was the stuff of Adirondack legend."
- Brian Mann -
"Manhunt! 23 Days that Rocked the Adirondacks" Adirondack Life, December 2015.
Charles Guess is a retired New York State Police major and was the Incident Commander for the 2015 escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. With overall responsibility for the manhunt for escaped Inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat, he oversaw all agencies and personnel involved in the search, including the Department of Corrections, NYS Forest Rangers and Conservation Officers, FBI, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other federal, state, and local partners. In addition to leading a coalition of agencies, he coordinated strategic, tactical, and operational decisions on the ground and oversaw a team of investigators from the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who investigated more than 3,400 leads; ultimately culminating in the apprehension of both escaped inmates. Guess credits the tenacity of his outstanding troopers, law enforcement colleagues, and members of the community with this success.
