Joyce Mitchell told police investigating the case of the escaped New York convicts that she “fell in love” with one of the men.
The married, Clinton prison worker — who has been a seamstress for the facility for five years — confessed she was set to drive the getaway car for what is being called a Shawshank Redemption- style escape in New York, but got cold feet at the last minute.
The escaped convicts, murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt, were discovered missing from the prison in Dannemora, New York, early on Saturday morning. Mitchell’s son, Toby — who defended his mom on Tuesday — said she checked into a hospital with a panic attack on Saturday.
“If she was involved in anything, you can rest assured there was a good reason to it and there’s more into it than a relationship with an inmate,” he added, according to the Daily Mail . Toby Mitchell suggested his mother could have been taken advantage of by the convicts, who were both serving life sentences and “had nothing to lose.”
An anonymous senior investigator who spoke to the New York Post said Joyce Mitchell was “charmed” by Matt and thought herself “in love” with him, despite being married and having a family, and allegedly provided the tools the escaped convicts used to carve their way out of the prison.
Joyce Mitchell was used by escaped killer Richard Matt so he could get the tools he needed to break out — and then vanished without so much as a thank you, sources told the Post on Tuesday. The source says the 51-year-old seamstress “thought there was something more between” her and 48-year-old Matt.
The report also indicates the escaped convicts planned their breakout while working in Mitchell’s workshop as they sewed uniforms for Metro-North railway workers. Joyce lives with her husband, Lyle Mitchell — who also works at the same facility, according to the Daily Mail — in the city of Dickson.
An intense manhunt for the escaped convicts is now underway in three states and authorities are asking residents in upstate New York to stay indoors and lock their doors. Some locals are being asked to turn their porch lights on to aide in the search.
Authorities are concerned that the killers whom Joyce Mitchell help escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, which is located 25 miles from the Canadian border in upstate New York, may have fled past the northern border. NBC News is reporting that Mitchell will be charged for her part in the escape.
UPDATE: Joyce Mitchell’s ex-husband dubbed her a “cheater” according to a report by Fox News on Thursday afternoon.
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