Jun 23, 2015 — Update - Tuesday, 5:59 PM: There was a flurry of law enforcement activity in the Mountain View area in Franklin County earlier this afternoon and last night, but the escaped inmates remain at large.

State Police said a possible sighting was reported Monday night on Fayette Road on Titus Mountain, but officers "spent several hours searching the area and did not find any signs of the suspects."

Then, around 3:45 PM today, convoys rushed to a scene in Mountain View and multiple helicopters circled overhead. It turned out to be another false alarm, Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill said in an email.

"It is difficult - people may see shadows, they may think that they see something," said Clinton County Sheriff Dave Favro earlier today. But he emphasized that residents should keep sharing tips with investigators, even if they live outside of the current hotspot.

Meanwhile, Clinton-Dannemora prison worker Lyle Mitchell is going public with his side of the prison break story. Lyle is the husband of Joyce Mitchell, who also worked at the prison before she was charged with helping David Sweat and Richard Matt escape. Police say Joyce Mitchell gave the men small tools and planned on being the getaway driver.

In an interview that aired on NBC on Tuesday, Lyle said the inmates planned to kill him, and when Joyce found out, she said she wouldn’t go through with the scheme. Lyle said his wife "was in too deep" and "scared."

Previously: There were no major developments this morning in the search for the escaped prisoners. State police say more than 1,000 law enforcement officers are now scouring the forests and seasonal camps in the thickly wooded Mountain View area after investigators found a positive DNA match for Matt, Sweat, or both of the men in a nearby hunting camp.

Search teams are working today through heavy rain and thunderstorms. "The rain does make things a little more difficult and will pose some issues with scent," said Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill, but "law enforcement is holding up very well."

"We are all very motivated and we start each day thinking today is the day," he said.

"I’m convinced that it’s a very solid lead and I’m confident that we’re on the right track," said Clinton County Sheriff Dave Favro. "When you get concrete evidence that they are not out of the country, not hundreds of miles away, but they are within arm’s reach...you stay motivated," he said.

Investigators are dealing with terrain that is much more complex than what they encountered in Cadyville and Saranac. "Up there in the Malone, Owls Head area is several times more difficult. There’s serious ravines and drop-offs, there’s rock ledges. The terrain is just unimaginable to be able to navigate through," Favro said.

He added that he has not heard of any confirmed sightings in the area. "You’ll see matted down grass, you’ll see mud that’s been distorted, you’ll see prints. Something concrete that will tie the sighting in to make it a legitimate, confirmed sighting. Right now we don’t have that."

Investigators believe they are hot on the trail of the two convicted murderers who escaped from Clinton-Dannemora prison. Yesterday, police said they picked up the first confirmed trace of the inmates in the swampy woods to the west of Dannemora, near the Franklin and Clinton county line.

Search teams spent more than a week scouring Cadyville and villages close to the prison, but officials never confirmed a tangible link to Richard Matt or David Sweat until now. “We have developed evidence that the suspects may have spent time in a cabin in this area,” said Major Charles Guess of the New York State Police at the old Cadyville Elementary School. He said investigators “have recovered specific items” from a house in the remote hamlet of Owls Head, N.Y., where there are a lot of hunting camps and seasonal residences.

Because of the ongoing investigation, Guess declined to say what the items are, how much time he believes the inmates spent in the cabin, or how recently. But he said investigators reached a “conclusive determination” about what they found. The material gave police more to go on than some of the sightings that have been reported. Guess said, “It’s a confirmed lead for us. It has generated a massive law enforcement response as you can see. And we’re going to run this to ground.”

A source immediately involved in the search confirmed to North Country Public Radio that investigators found a positive DNA match for Sweat, Matt, or both of the men, which sparked the intensified police presence in Owls Head.

Yesterday, hundreds of law enforcement officers from local, state, and federal agencies swarmed the hamlet. There were roadblocks, helicopters flew overhead, and camouflaged ATV’s zipped by. Meanwhile, state prison officials placed a male corrections officer at Clinton Dannemora on administrative leave. Guess and other officials have not confirmed the identity of the officer. Guess said, “He is part of the ongoing investigation, and I will not comment on how productive or fruitful that investigation has been regarding that particular CO.”

Only one person has been arrested so far — Joyce Mitchell, a former prison tailor shop instructor accused of helping the men escape. Over the weekend, New York’s North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said she is keeping a close eye on the investigation. Stefanik said, “I’m obviously very concerned that something like this could occur as we’re continuing to get information that’s made public. As we’re looking into some of the potential things that may have led to this. Whether it was people who were working at the prison.”

In Elizabethtown, Stefanik said she has been in touch with people in Willsboro, which was a law enforcement hotspot during the first week of the manhunt. She said, “I was actually on the phone with one of my friends who lives right along Middle Road where they literally — that was the center of the search efforts. And people were — people were scared. It was a very scary time, particularly if you think about some of the elderly members of the community.”

Back in Cadyville, Major Charles Guess said the region around Dannemora is now the primary focus. Guess encouraged people, especially residents of Owls Head, to report anything that is even remotely suspicious. He asked people with trail cameras to check to see if they recorded anything out of place. “No lead is too small for us to investigate,” he said.