that's our program tonight. be sure to catch up next week for another edition of "what would you do?." don't forget, connect with us any time, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. and don't go away. "20/20" starts right now. this is an important message from the new york state police. the search continues for two escaped men. >> hundreds of officers on a massive manhunt. >> tonight on "20/20," manhunt. from new york to mexico, it's the summer of prison escapes. >> we're inside the el chapo tunnel. >> and we're taking you dead center. >> they have no trail. it's like chasing a ghost. >> 23 days and nights of terror with two cold-hearted killers on the loose. >> richard matt and david sweat,

desperate convicts that don't feel pain, and don't mind causing it. >> he's a monster. >> and just this week, sweat speaks out. all-new details, planning their escape for months. a crash diet, hacksaws hidden in ground beef. >> you look at it and say, how did this happen? >> could it have been seducing a prison guard? >> what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking, joyce mitchell, what are you thinking? >> tonight, our correspondents in the field and in the forest. retracing the desperate steps of the killers, with the men that led the charge. >> he's yelling, stop!

>> come out! >> chilling new details you've never heard until now. >> his attitude was, if we have to kill or rob somebody, that's what we'll do. >> the campsite hideout in the woods. how it all played out, step by step. >> kept the pressure all the way from the border south. >> and the dramatic showdown with the capture of sweat. >> it's on. you're about to see how those words lead to a final shootout. but in many ways, this will just be the start of what we're piecing together about the summer of prison escape. >> we'll talk about el chapo

later. but first, here's gio benitez. >> reporter: it's the first june weekend in the scenic adirondacks region of new york. a summer playground. but this relaxing saturday is about to become an overtime work day for major charles guess of the new york state police. >> i was sound asleep. i got a phone call at about 6:06 a.m. >> reporter: guess heads to dannemora, a one-horse town whose lifeblood is one mammoth building, the hulking clinton correctional facility. outside, 5,000 residents, inside, 3,000 prisoners, and overnight, that population has just been lowered by two. >> they had two unaccounted for inmates at this point, which is a problem in and of itself. a total breach had been made of the perimeter. so we knew that the unaccounted for prisoners had become two escapees at large. >> reporter: finding the men will be major guess' problem. keeping the local community safe that's the job of clinton county sheriff david favro. >> i didn't believe it, though.

>> reporter: really? >> my response to the text was, this isn't funny on a saturday morning. >> reporter: it's no joke. two convicted murderers have escaped from clinton, a legendary prison where the worst of the worst are dispatched. in the past, there were the likes of notorious gangster lucky luciano seen here portrayed in "boardwalk empire." and until a few hours ago there were two modern-day depraved criminals, richard matt, who murdered and mutilated his former boss, and david sweat, a heartless cop killer. governor andrew cuomo rushes to the scene, worried. nobody's busted out of clinton in 100 years. officials show the governor the trail of the escape. >> it was elaborate. it was sophisticated. it encompassed drilling through steel walls and steel pipes so this was not easily accomplished. >> reporter: we now know the breakout has been months in the making. way back in january, david sweat

makes a new year's resolution to relocate. he begins sawing through the walls of his cell using a smuggled hacksaw blade. >> all they used was the hacksaw blades to get out, so that would make sense of the length of time that it took them to do it. >> reporter: by february, he had methodically cut through the steel wall of his cell, 3/8ths of an inch thick and continues carving through the wall of his next-door neighbor too, richard matt. were they clean holes? >> they were. there is an air duct in each of those cells. they cut around the air duct, removed it. they were large enough for a person the size of matt or sweat to get through. >> reporter: and so behind those cells there's some sort of corridor, right? a catwalk. >> yeah, it's a catwalk that goes through the length of the back of the cells. there are four different tiers. >> reporter: night after night, after guards finished bed checks, sweat freely wanders those catwalks, descending into the bowels of the prison. he finds a hammer a workman left

behind and uses it to knock through a brick wall. discovering on the other side a 24-inch heating pipe which leads underneath the 30-foot prison wall. the plan -- open the pipe and crawl to freedom just like tim robbins' character in "the shawshank redemption." sweat and matt joked that though it took robbins 20 years in the movie they will only need ten. as it turns out, it will be far less. >> sweat was down there multiple nights and he did most of the work and they cut though the pipes. they were just persistent. >> reporter: and fastidious, too. a fan hooked up to electricity in the tunnel keeps him from getting too sweaty. a second set of clothes from getting too dusty while cutting through that heating pipe. by may, as the weather warms, the blistering steam is shut off. meanwhile, the stocky matt goes on a crash diet so he's skinny enough to slither through their

escape route. >> to get through the pipe, which was less than two feet in diameter, and to get through the wall that they broke. he had to lose weight and even then, sweat says he had difficulty getting through. >> reporter: by that night in june it's all systems go. they execute their plan to perfection. they come out of the pipe near a manhole cover and emerge on the street a block from the prison. they leave behind a twisted calling card, this tiny note -- "have a nice day." and there's that taunting message they left behind, "have a nice day." >> it's an insult obviously to us. >> reporter: and where will the killers go? the prison is located in the densely wooded extreme northeast corner of new york state, the canadian border is less than 20 miles away, vermont is a short boat ride across lake champlain. as the sheriff drives through

town, things are still quiet. >> you're in a residential neighborhood, lots of homes close together. most of these people right there worked at the prison. people totally unsuspected preparing for a beautiful weekend not really knowing what was going on. >> reporter: now, the word starts spreading. automated phone calls throughout the area. >> this is an important message from the new york state police. the search continues for the two men who escaped from the clinton correctional facility. police are reminding residents in the area to remain on alert. >> the search heating up. >> the two are still on the loose. >> they are very dangerous. >> reporter: as people hear the news, amazement turns to fear. >> i almost vomited. that's how scared i am. >> we have a bunch of property back here with some woods and it just freaks me out that they can be running around back there. >> reporter: but for one employee of the prison, a woman named joyce mitchell, there was a special kind of fear. you'll see why very soon.

>> we're leaving no stone unturned. they could be literally anywhere. >> reporter: as the search goes into high gear, major guess is in command. >> my goal was to assemble, literally, the best team to assist me in our over-arching objective of capturing these guys and returning them to the facility. >> reporter: investigators are searching these dense woods by ground and by air launching helicopters to get that critical bird's eye view. all to find those prisoners. but the bad guys have a head start in those very thick woods. >> in six or seven hours they could be beyond new jersey getting near virginia. they could be way out west. and make no mistake -- >> richard matt is the devil. >> reporter: these are very, very bad guys. >> extremely violent. >> reporter: who is david sweat? is he a monster? >> yes. >> reporter: it's a very dangerous situation. stay with us. i don't want to live with the uncertainties of hep c.

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and very correctly convicted men are on the loose. >> they're following more than 150 leads. >> reporter: at first, these mug shots are pretty much the only image for hundreds of searchers and thousands of fearful residents in upstate new york to focus on, until this. >> this is my friend, ricky matt, here. he's a freaking crazy, lunatic maniac. >> reporter: a chilling video surfaces, recorded in 1997. that's one of the two escapees, a younger, skinnier, but just as twisted richard matt, known then as "ricky." >> this is the south american blowgun. >> reporter: recorded on super 8 film, an acquaintance demonstrating a blowgun by firing it at matt. >> ricky, with a smile there. >> here we go, we're about to shoot the dart into ricky's arm. >> reporter: just listen to what he says. >> we're going to dip these in a.i.d.s. blood, and we'll put a patent on them, and we'll sell them as deadly weapons. what do you think? >> reporter: the camera rolls as the dart goes right into matt's

arm. >> it went in there. and it started to come out there. >> reporter: he doesn't even flinch. >> he's so good at conning people, god! >> reporter: in one of life's countless contradictions, matt displays talent as an artist, growing up in suburban buffalo. this is some of his later work. but apparently, his true calling was violent crime. >> this man has no heart, no soul, to do this to another human being. >> reporter: just months after this tape was shot, retired police captain gabriel dibernardo would be investigating matt for murder. >> oh! disgusting. >> reporter: matt was a guy who was in trouble with law enforcement from the time he was a teenager. >> reporter: but despite his troubles, young ricky seemed to have no trouble with the ladies. >> ricky had girls that were gorgeous. >> reporter: he settled down with this woman, vee harris. today, she suffers from a debilitating illness, but back

then, she suffered from matt's violent outbursts. >> yeah, i had broken ribs, broken feet, broken toes. it was bad. >> reporter: vee forgives matt, though, because in their roughly 18 months together, he gave her a son, nicholas. >> my mom wanted to make sure i knew who he was then, so if anyone had said something to me in the future, i wouldn't be caught off-guard and not know what they're talking about. >> reporter: soon, dad would give everybody something to talk about. >> richard matt is the devil. >> reporter: lee bates met richard matt at -- where else? a strip club. soon, ricky convinced him to join in a plot to rob william rickerson, a local businessman who'd made the mistake of briefly giving matt a job. like many of matt's criminal enterprises, what the plan lacked in sophistication, it made up for in brutality. >> reporter: mr. rickerson looked up at rick, and rick turned around and punched him right in the face. >> reporter: bates says matt tortured the 76-year-old man, sticking a knife-sharpener into

his ear at one point. then locked him in a car trunk, and drove aimlessly for 27 hours. >> at different points, he had me pull over. i'd have to get out of the car with him. he'd open the trunk. he would beat mr. rickerson. >> reporter: each time they opened the trunk, it got worse. >> he snapped his fingers all the way back, and grabbing ahold of his head and snapping it, there was a pop. >> you don't tell richard matt he can't have what he wants. >> reporter: matt dismembered the body and threw it in a river. after all that, the big score? some rings, a couple of credit cards, and not even $100 in cash. meantime, about 200 miles away near binghamton, new york, david sweat had launched his own criminal career. >> he did larcenies here, burglaries. >> reporter: unlike his future partner, sweat is more of a thinking man's thug. >> it seems like every crime that he was involved with,

involved making lists and maps and planning. >> reporter: sweat's transition from heists to homicide took place on july 4th, 2002. this must have been a crime that just shook this community. >> it did, because it was so brutal. >> reporter: sweat and his cousin steal some firearms, and pull into this parking lot to move the stolen weapons from one car to another. >> the two vehicles that he observed were parked over there, facing that direction. >> reporter: that's when deputy kevin tarcia happens to drive by. >> when they saw him coming, they jumped out of the vehicles and hid. they shoot him, and they just mow him right down. >> reporter: deputy tarsia is hit 15 times, but the sheriff says he wasn't dead yet, so sweat makes sure -- by driving over him. >> i have never forgotten kevin, and i never will. kevin was a great man. this is the s.w.a.t. team when he was on the s.w.a.t. team. >> reporter:

christi ann ciccone-storman was engaged to kevin tarsia. she's neither forgiven nor forgotten his killer. >> he's a monster. there is some sort of chemical imbalance in his head. i wanted him to feel some pain. >> reporter: sweat pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. he's sent to the clinton correctional facility in 2003. a few years later, mad dog richard matt, who had finally been brought to justice himself, joins him. the two callous killers become buddies inside the prison in dannemora, new york. despite their various social pathologies, they are still capable of social charm. a charm prosecutors say they would leverage quite effectively with a woman who worked in that prison -- a woman who would be key to their escape. a woman named joyce mitchell. what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking, "joyce mitchell, what are you thinking?" >> reporter: stay with us. e snacking thing again. ugh! rough around the edges. ugh... greasy...

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"20/20"'s manhunt continues. once again, gio benitez. >> reporter: even in a bleak place like the clinton correctional facility, there are ways to make doing hard time more soft. well-behaved prisoners can earn a place in the so-called "honor block." this former inmate knows. >> honor block, you're allowed out of your cell the majority of the day. >> reporter: this former guard, too. >> they have what you call rec time on the flats, which is on the lower level where they can get out, watch tv. they have cooking privileges. >> reporter: and guess who weaseled their way to those privileges? two role-model inmates named richard matt and david sweat who earned honor block status and jobs at the prison's tailor shop.

>> honor block for killers? there's no honor among killers. disgusting to me. >> he's a murderer. he shouldn't have privileges. >> reporter: a fateful bromance was building. and a plot was hatching, involving an unlikely accomplice. named joyce mitchell. who is joyce mitchell? >> joyce mitchell is a middle aged woman, a mother and a wife. >> reporter: and a civilian worker at that honor block tailor shop. >> she had been working there for a period of time prior to her contact with sweat and matt. >> reporter: as they walked back and forth, they regularly stumbled over a sort of speed bump. eventually realizing that underneath ran a heat pipe from that power plant. if only they could crawl through

it they were home free. >> so every day, they had this, you know, layout -- of their, you know, potential escape route that they were looking at. >> reporter: someone should have suspected matt might try to escape. he'd done it before. he reportedly scaled the jail's barbed wire fence. now, this one he's planning to go under. now the brazen one joins up with sweat, the master schemer, the one who drew maps and lists for his every crime. but matt, the natural ladies' man takes his relationship with joyce mitchell to another level. he gives joyce some of his paintings, similar to these celebrity portraits. then he gives her something else. what was happening in that tailor shop? >> there is allegations of sexual contact. i can see how a friendship could evolve but to go to the extent of having sexual contact?

to me is unimaginable. >> reporter: even more disturbing to visualize than a lockdown love-in with these two? wylie says matt talks mitchell into helping out with the budding escape plot. >> the three of them were going to run off. she was going to have a life with either matt or sweat and leave her family, leave her husband, leave her son. >> reporter: the deal wasn't something for nothing. wylie claims in exchange for a fun-filled future on the run with convicted killers, mitchell had to smuggle in the tools they'd need to escape. >> i'm sure they realized once they could manipulate joyce to bring in the tools that was their first step. >> reporter: what did she give them? >> hacksaw blades, drill bits, a punch tool and a couple of pairs of eyeglasses that have lights on them. she later provided batteries for those lights.

>> reporter: but wylie claims she had help. a guard on their unit named gene palmer who brought ground beef to the prisoners with the critical saw blades hidden inside. >> he's a cool officer, down to earth. i don't think he had any knowledge of what was in that meat. >> reporter: palmer says he had no idea. but admits he cut corners other times. now properly equipped, they began to eat through the walls of the prison. after months of nocturnal labor its friday june 5th. in the tailor shop that day matt allegedly tells joyce the time has come. he says matt gives her pills to sedate her husband so they can get away.

according to wylie, about 10:30 that night, bed check. the inmates are all present and accounted for lights go off. but it's the oldest inmate trick in the book. stuffing to bed to make it appear they're sleeping. you'd think guards would have seen countless movies like "escape from alcatraz." but according to prosecutors the trick works and one of the most daring escapes from prison ever attempted is under way. off they go sliding past their cell walls, running down the catwalks, squeezing through the holes they'd carved in the wall and into the pipes. slithering 400 feet under the wall. and emerging up via that manhole at about 11:45. joyce is supposed to meet them in a getaway car but the perfect plot hits its first snag. she doesn't show up. prosecutors guess her conscience has compelled her to back out. >> they had total faith that she was going to pick them up at the manhole at midnight. and when she got cold feet and didn't show up -- they had to

regroup. they had no plan. >> reporter: just then these two neighborhood residents are pulling up to their house on the block. what do you see? >> i see a couple of guys in my backyard. i go look at them and i ask him, "what the hell are you doing in my yard?" and he was like, "sorry i don't, i didn't know where i was, i'm on the wrong street." >> reporter: it's all falling apart. true to form, matt starts to freak out but sweat stays level headed and convinces matt to follow him to the woods. they duck into the darkness and disappear. >> i had a horrible feeling the whole time. they had absolutely nothing to lose, two confirmed killers with at least three bodies between them. >> reporter: in the meantime, joyce checks into a local hospital. the next morning, a massive

manhunt. 1,600 members of law enforcement. in the air, high-tech gadgetry. on the ground, old-fashioned house to house searching. >> you had to keep it in perspective so you didn't become overwhelmed. >> reporter: acre after acre of deep woods. >> this is nothing. >> you could run into a bear's den any place. >> reporter: bad weather rolls in. cops are chasing more than 2,500 false alarms from mexico to canada. this is it? what if the killers were to stumble into a cache of weapons? the woods are dotted with

unlocked hunting cabins. food, clothing, and guns. lots of guns. >> that would have been our biggest nightmare. >> reporter: from the start, officials thought it was obvious that someone had to help them. >> how did they get the power tools? >> reporter: and it's not long before prosecutors uncover what they call joyce mitchell's interesting approach to inmate relations. headline writers are having a field day. shaw-skank redemption. as the saga stretches from d

todays to weeks, mitchell and palmer are both arrested. and they're both facing time themselves, and the two prisoners remain as free as the wind. stay with us. when "20/20" returns, the unlocked cabin. and how a bottle of booze and a single cough in the woods blow their cover. next. ng? but you get there and find out it's far from amazing. it's almost like it was too good to be true? that's like when you switch wireless carriers, and find yourself stranded with a frustrating, unreliable connection. if your network isn't working for you... come home to verizon and get 10 gigs for $80 a month plus $15 per line. verizon. come home to a better network.

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"20/20" continues, with manhunt. here now, linzie janis. >> reporter: after

15 frustrating days of false leads and dead ends, state police have nothing but egg on their face in their quest to bring richard matt and david sweat to justice. really rocky. but now, a huge break in the case, and it happens near the tiny hamlet of owls head, at a location so remote, we had to travel by atv to reach it. there it is. at the end of the trail, one of those adirondack hunting cabins that are often left unlocked and stocked with food, supplies, even booze -- manna from heaven for an escaped con on the lam. owner john stockwell and his black lab dolly were checking up on the cabin when they saw signs of unwanted activity. >> and challenged any of the occupants by saying "who's in there? you better come out. who's in there? you need to come out now." whoever was on the back deck fled down the bank, and he could tell that because he could hear

the crashing through the brush. >> reporter: inside, stockwell finds more signs that something's amiss -- a misplaced coffee pot, a missing shotgun that had been hidden between two mattresses, a map ripped off the wall. stockwell quickly alerts authorities, who find more evidence that sweat is the careful criminal, and matt, the wild card. >> sweat had wanted to leave. matt's position was no sense in leaving just yet. and if somebody intrudes upon our occupancy at the cabin, you know, frankly, we're ready to deal with them. >> reporter: we now have a shotgun? >> yup. we could kill him. we could take him hostage. sweat prevailed with the logic of, "let's get out of here." >> reporter: but in their mad rush to flee the scene, hardened criminal matt acts more like a bumbling amateur, leaving even more vital clues behind. >> they're getting out of dodge as fast as they can. items of interest that we recovered fall out of matt's pack -- toothpaste, toothbrush, razor, those kind of personal grooming items, which immediately were a hit on dna within the next 24 hours.

>> reporter: that must have been a good feeling. >> it was. it helped us sharpen our focus, and certainly boosted the morale of everyone involved. >> reporter: law enforcement immediately swarm the area like ticks on a bloodhound. but this prey is wily. police find discarded pepper shakers on the trail, signs of an old trick straight out of "cool hand luke." >> they were using pepper shakers to try to throw our dogs off, our canine. and you know, to some extent, it looks like that may have worked. >> reporter: these are smart guys? >> yes. especially sweat. sweat seemed to be the mastermind. >> reporter: and authorities later learn that sweat had gotten fed up with his increasingly unstable partner in crime. now sweat cold-bloodedly decides to ditch his hot-blooded buddy. >> sweat knew that matt was out of shape. any of these cabins where he could find alcohol, he would drink and get drunk. as his frustration level grew, he talked increasingly about harming members of the public or law enforcement.

and sweat really apparently wanted no part of that. >> reporter: meanwhile, here at titus mountain, investigators relocate their command center to this ski resort that sits right next to that cabin with the incriminating evidence, and they dramatically tighten the search perimeter. and you're just trying to flush them out at this point? >> the first thing is containment. if you can't attempt to contain them, then they're going to slip through. >> reporter: then, on day 21 of the manhunt, just 11 miles away from the owls head cabin, there's another huge development at a different hunting cabin near malone, new york. this is the notorious cabin that everyone's talking about, and "20/20" gets exclusive access. inside, it's filled with hunting souvenirs and other odds and ends. but on that fateful day, the sharp-eyed cabin owner detects this clear tip-off that the liquor-loving matt had come calling. >> he noticed a bottle of grape gin sitting here on the counter, and some of it was actually spilled on the formica.

probably time to call the state police. >> reporter: and you were here in moments? because your command center's just ten minutes away. >> correct. we deployed people immediately to this. >> reporter: even as investigators are interviewing the cabin owner, they hear shots ring out nearby. it turns out matt, as always, operating with more bravado than brains, had fired shots at a passing vehicle on route 30 in a vain attempt to carjack it. police descend on the area like an invading army. right in the thick of things, resident jon chodat, a photographer who captures a scene resembling a military operation. >> they told me to get in the house, but i said, "no." just a myriad of trucks and vehicles and helicopters, dogs and you know, teams of soldiers, and you know, camouflage. >> reporter: by now, matt has moved from that cabin to a deserted camper about 75 yards

away. with the noose quickly tightening, matt decides to hole up here for a spell. you can see there's a little bit of food in the cupboard. >> yup, food. when you are on the run for that long, anything is food. >> reporter: eventually, matt leaves the camper and hunkers down here in the woods, a swamp and a ravine behind him -- state police lining the road in front of him. he points that 20-gauge shotgun towards them, when suddenly, he coughs, betraying his position. >> and then they communicate that cough to the border patrol national tactical team that's actually in the wood line. >> reporter: they're coming up from behind where matt is just here? >> correct. >> reporter: a border patrol agent levels his m-4 assault rifle at matt and twice orrs him to drop his shotgun. >> the border patrol agent engaged inmate matt at this location. because matt failed to comply with his instructions, at least three rounds struck inmate matt in the head. >> reporter: this photo, obtained by wivb-tv, shows the

violent end to a violent life. after 21 days, richard matt has finally been brought to justice. >> news from upstate new york, one escaped killer dead. >> killed by the boarder patrol. >> reporter: were you disappointed that he wasn't taken alive? >> i was gratified that we had stopped one of them, but my immediate thought frankly was, "where's the other inmate?" >> reporter: where's sweat? >> where is sweat? next, a race to the border. >> kept the pressure all the way from the border south. >> maps out, guns drawn, and a final run through a field. how will it end? >> if he makes that wood line, he's gone. >> when manhunt returns.

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>> reporter: day 21, three shots ring out in the woods. and for residents of the region, a deep, but fleeting, sigh of relief. >> when they caught matt up there, i said, "well good, we're safe cause they're going to get sweat." but then, after two days when they didn't get sweat, i went, "oh no." >> reporter: denise yando, tom macdonald and their dog shasta live on a peaceful farm here in constable, new york, some 40 miles northwest of those prison walls. that's outside the primary search perimeter. but ever since matt and sweat emerged from that manhole, these two have been on pins and needles. >> reporter: you're thinking, it's logical that they could be headed this way. >> that's correct. very logical. >> reporter: logical, because on

their property sits a 14 1/2-acre alfalfa field. >> he had just cut it. >> reporter: just past that tree line, canada. >> we're very, very close to the border. it's only about a mile and a half. >> reporter: major guess is also thinking sweat's headed to the border, and mobilizes troops there. there wasn't a second to rest because you thought you were right on sweat as well at that point? >> correct. >> reporter: but as we now know, sweat is a worthy adversary. in fact he'd prepared by reading navy s.e.a.l. manuals in the prison library. now, equipped with supplies from those hunting cabins. >> he had granola bars, he had pop-tarts, he had water. >> reporter: he's travelling at night, avoiding locals, surviving in the wilderness. even shaving his face so he looks different than this police sketch. >> it's like chasing a ghost. >> reporter: once again the trail goes cold. back at titus mountain, guess continues to plot out the search area. >> we extended, kept the pressure all the way from the canadian border, south. >> reporter: his troops move down from the border and end up right in constable, and major

guess had guessed correctly sweat was there, too. at one point hiding in a hunting stand like this, in a tree above them. >> he had secreted himself in a hide sight, a deer stand here in the town of constable for two nights. >> reporter: law enforcement searching below him while he was up in this tree stand? >> correct. >> reporter: day 23. a squad car cruises past bob and denise's farmstead. so sergeant cook is driving along this road? >> he's doing his job patrolling down the coveytown road here behind us. >> reporter: sergeant jay cook, a local trooper on patrol, spots someone on the road. so he sees sweat right about here? >> right here. >> reporter: sweat had essentially slipped through that first perimeter. i know it was a loose perimeter. but he -- it was a mile and a half from canada? >> yes. >> reporter: but this crafty con got lazy. rather than trekking through the protective woods, he's taken a shortcut on a public road in broad daylight.

>> he became a little more desperate as he saw the continued pressure of state police and law enforcement, and took the chance and the risk of moving during the daylight. 'cause i think he could smell freedom two miles away. >> reporter: freedom, straight through bob and denise's freshly cut alfalfa field. right where he's headed when cook comes rolling up. >> by that point, sweat had actually moved into the alfalfa field by a good 20 to 25 yards. sergeant cook engages in conversation. says, "hey, stop." and sweat says, "no, i'm good." sweat kind of did a hand motion like this, framing his face, as if to say, "what, it's not me." you know, kind of like an unsolicited denial. >> reporter: but sweat had was clean shaven at this point? >> correct. >> reporter: so he actually thought he could get away with it. >> and i think that's exactly why he made the facial gesture

that he made like, "no, you got the wrong guy." but cook knew immediately, "i've got the right guy. this is sweat. it's on." >> reporter: suddenly, it's a foot chase. so bear in mind that sweat had a good 25-yard head start on sergeant cook. right about this distance is the head start that sweat has. you're sergeant cook at that location. >> reporter: and cook's yelling at sweat at this point saying, "i'm going to shoot you if you don't stop?" >> correct. sergeant cook has his gun drawn at this point. he's running full speed. >> reporter: so cook sees that thick forest and knows he has to take sweat out before he gets there? >> exactly. cook's alone. and if sweat makes that wood line, he's gone. so he has to set himself here. takes a deep breath. >> reporter: cook, an expert marksman, ends the manhunt with two shots. >> to which sweat dropped immediately. >> reporter: troopers descend on the field. >> we saw police cars going by like crazy. and then our neighbors pull in and said to us, you know your hayfield's full of police?

>> reporter: how does it feel to know that one of these escaped murderers was captured on your property? >> shocking. >> it was like, holy moses. i could think about this for a while. >> reporter: despite suffering a collapsed lung, david sweat has enough breath to tell his story. almost immediately he starts spilling. and what did sweat say to them? >> he just said he was trying to essentially make it to freedom. >> reporter: sweat gets medical treatment. tonight, he's alone with his thoughts in solitary confinement at the five points correctional facility on the other side of the state. and for major guess, the weight finally off his shoulders. >> i did take time to savor that moment, knowing that the guy who made the apprehension was safe. that was a huge relief knowing we had two of them now out of the public. >> sergeant cook did his job. he ended a 23-day nightmare for the citizens of the state of new york, and he ended it safely. >> breaking news.

>> the manhunt finally over. >> the community is safe. >> we appreciate everything they did. >> reporter: could you have thought of a better conclusion? >> no. we always said it would be a real good story for the north country. i think it really brought the community closer together. i really believe in my heart it brought the community closer to law enforcement. >> joyce mitchell has pled not guilty, and is expected to be back in court next week. and gene palmer has not yet entered a plea. >> stay tuned, when we come back, new information about the

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talk to farmers and see what gaps could be hiding in your coverage. my heaven! ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum. bum - bum - bum - bum ♪ we're going to turn now to the hunt still going on in mexico for el chapo. >> gio benitez has been covering the story since it first broke. el chapo exiting through a tunnel, taking him from a hole in his shower all the way to freedom. >> reporter: the man responsible for more than 25% of the illegal drug trade in the u.s. pulled off a cunning escape earlier this month. abc news is the first american media inside the maximum security prison. we are entering el chapo's cell. there's that camera. the camera captures el chapo removing his ankle monitor.

he disappears in the shower. he just ducks and goes right into that hole. all right, we're inside the el chapo tunnel. you've got electricity in here. he had lights. a freshly-dug mile-long tunnel. he relied on his robust army of engineers. these are the stairs he uses to climb to freedom. and here it is. this is the house where he just walked into and disappeared. and tonight< despite a massive manhunt and a $4 million reward for el chapo's capture, 13 days into his journey from jail. el chapo could be anywhere. >> that's our program. thanks for watching. i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. have a great night and a great weekend. breaking news tonight, an

infant kidnapped from his grandfather. >> what happened and how it ended.