Winfield man grew up in area where escapee was shot

While people in other parts of the country might have wondered where escaped prisoners David Sweat and Richard Matt would turn up, Ron LaFleur of Winfield said his parents and high school friends back in the Malone, New York, area never really believed the convicted killers had left the region.

Matt was shot and killed by a border patrol agent Friday in some woods in Malone, and Sweat was still on the run late Friday night.

LaFleur's 78-year-old mother and 80-year-old stepfather now live in Constable, New York, about eight miles north of Malone, and have a barn on their property where they thought one or both of the convicts might seek refuge. Since the well-publicized escape, the couple haven't left the house unarmed.

"Everybody's got a gun," LaFleur said of his hometown of Malone, which he left for the Air Force at the age of 19. "Everybody's got many guns. And I'm sure that's what they tell the prisoners."

Far from being thought of as a source of danger, until the past couple of weeks the prison was seen as a source of jobs. With the decline of farming in the region, many of LaFleur's generation who grew up on farms are now retiring from prison jobs, he said.

And with a lucrative reward for the recapture of the convicts, many have been searching their own properties on a daily basis for any sign of them.

In the close communities near the prison, the convicts could not have expected to depend on the silence or assistance of an accomplice, LaFleur said.

"There's been no other talk!" he said of the recent gossip in the area.

Though he's been in contact with his mother and stepfather every day since the escape, LaFleur said he has not yet been able to reach them to discuss Friday's killing of Matt.