Since news broke Sunday night that convicted murderer Malcolm Kysor escaped from the State Correctional Institution at Albion, Pa., the GoErie.com Web site has received more than 11,000 hits. Readership of the reports in the Erie Times-News about Kysor's daring escape has also been intense.

Twelve readers called me during the past two days to ask for "the latest information" about Kysor, who is still on the run. Stories such as this one are not easy to cover, especially when the warden refuses to comment on any aspect of the escape or on the ensuing investigation. But we reporters are a resourceful group, and coverage by Jim Carroll, Ed Palatella, Kara Rhodes and Sarah Weber has kept readers engaged -- at least according to my unscientific phone survey results.

To give a news story "legs" -- that is, keep it interesting and lively -- reporters must dig for fresh facts and story angles every day. After Weber broke the original story in Monday's editions, Carroll and Palattella followed up with stories detailing the escape, which had been captured on camera. Palattella also spoke at length with survivors of Kysor's victim. They live in Ashtabula, Ohio, which they pointed out is not too far from Albion. It was a surprise to the family that Kysor was serving his time at Albion, a medium security prison.

That Albion houses convicted murderers also surprised many local residents. And the ones who called me from the Albion area are angry that prison officials waited so long before sounding whistles and alarms designed to inform local folks that a prisoner has escaped.

In today's newspaper, Rhodes interviewed a local hog farmer, Charles Robertson, who inadvertently transported Kysor to freedom in a 40-gallon trash can. Robertson is used to hefting 200-pound containers, loaded with scraps for his hogs, onto his truck. What was different this time, as he discovered upon arriving at his Crawford County farm, was that one of the cans was empty.

Robertson, 57, who also picked up food scraps at the women's prison in nearby Cambridge Springs, proved to be an interesting interview subject. He lamented that he'd already been informed by Albion prison officials that he was no longer welcome to the prison's food scraps. It was a great concern to him, but other groups had already started calling him today to offer replacement scraps.

The Times-News has already published two editorials which criticized prison management for its handling of the escape -- not only Kysor's escape, but also the way it released information.

That's what we've learned about this particular story -- everyone wants every nugget of information.

-- Kevin Cuneo