Charles E. Guess

Charles Guess, author of "Relentless Pursuit," is a retired New York State Police major and was the Incident Commander for the 2015 escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. With overall responsibility for the manhunt for escaped Inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat, he oversaw all agencies and personnel involved in the search, including the Department of Corrections, NYS Forest Rangers and Conservation Officers, FBI, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other federal, state, and local partners. In addition to leading a coalition of agencies, he coordinated strategic, tactical, and operational decisions on the ground and oversaw a team of investigators from the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who investigated more than 3,400 leads; ultimately culminating in the apprehension of both escaped inmates. Guess credits the tenacity of his outstanding troopers, law enforcement colleagues, and members of the community with this success.

Guess, a former Army officer, attended Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, and Northern Warfare training and U.S. Army Flight School. After joining the New York State Police, Guess worked as a trooper on patrol and as a member, and later leader, of the Special Operations Response Team (SWAT) and SCUBA Unit.

Guess’ considerable training made him uniquely qualified to assist at the sites of some of our nation’s most devastating events. Following the 1996 crash of TWA 800, he spent weeks SCUBA diving as part of the unified recovery op. After 9/11, as the operations sergeant on the Mobile Response Team, he and his teammates worked tirelessly at Ground Zero. After graduating from the FBI National Academy training program in Quantico, Guess continued his work in Emergency Management directly supervising the Special Operations Response Team, SCUBA, K-9, Bomb Disposal, and HAZMAT units.