This is a very good article from June 12th, with a lot of good info about Sweat's and Matt's background. Matt is very familiar with hopping trains and he has crossed from the U.S. into Canada before going across the Niagara River via a railroad bridge.
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While Sweats acquaintances feared the murderer would return to Broome County to hide out, early reports suggested the men had their eyes on Canada. Police in Ontario and Quebec were on alert Sundaya day after corrections officers realized the inmates were gone. Canada became a constant destination for Matt before his prison years. In a series of road trips prior to killing William Rickerson, Matt routinely hopped into his friends Chevy Lumina (the killer hitched rides because he never had a car) to zip over the border to the Great North. Hed gawk at girls at a strip club known as Pure Platinumespecially one dancer who went by Karena.
The girls were pretty but inside itself was kind of shoddy, said the woman whom Matt had threatened. It could be popular with a lot going on, especially on a Friday.
Matt had struck up a romance with the dancer and the two were planning to wed, according to Matts criminal trial documents.
Things went south after Matt copped to the killing of Rickerson, ripped off Karena of her hard-earned dancing wages, and awkwardly offered his victims ring to his would-be wife before she flushed it down the toilet.
When he didnt make it to the Great North legitimately, Matt managed to try his luck riding the rails. When it first happened that he escaped we told the cops to check the railroad bridge that crosses the Niagara River, the threatened woman told The Daily Beast. He has gotten into Canada that way before and managed to do it without the cameras picking up anything, she said.
Canadian border officials confirmed that the Whirlpool Bridge, which crosses the Niagara, is train-only.
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More at link:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/12/escaped-killer-richard-matt-almost-murdered-me.html