MADISON, Ga. — The Georgia State Patrol is conducting an air search in Madison in the area of U.S. Highway 441 in the continued manhunt for prison escapees Ricky Dubose and Donnie Russell Rowe.

Officials wrapped up a press conference shortly before 1 p.m. where they briefed media on the status of the manhunt.

About 150 federal, state and local law enforcement officials are in the area as part of the search for the two prisoners, who overpowered a pair of corrections officers, Sgt. Curtis Billue, 58, and Sgt. Christopher Monica, 42, on a prison transport bus Tuesday in Putnam County.

The search for the two men has expanded and is now a nationwide manhunt.

The reward for their capture has increased to $130,000.

Georgia State Patrol is searching the area near a Rite Aid drug store off U.S. Highway 441 in Madison. The focus is a wooded area near Interstate 20 where a 2004 Honda Civic was discovered Wednesday afternoon.

Shortly after 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, Dubose and Rowe reportedly carjacked a Greensboro man, Phillip Beasley, at gunpoint, stealing his 2004 Honda Civic after he pulled up behind the prison transport bus because he thought it had broken down between Long Shoals Road and Texas Chapel Road along Georgia Route 16 in Putnam County. Beasley was not harmed.

The location GSP officials are searching is where the Honda was discovered Wednesday after the escapees ditched the vehicle.

The vehicle is being searched for evidence, but officials at Thursday’s press conference did not provide specifics about what they have found so far as it is a part of the ongoing investigation.

The escapees later stole a 2008 white-colored Ford F-250 pickup truck with the Georgia license plate BCX 5372.

The trailer hitch on the truck, in some manner, has been cut with a torch, according to officials.

Both escapees are considered by authorities to be armed with 9mm handguns, the ones taken from the corrections officers after they were shot to death on the bus.

Authorities said both men are considered extremely dangerous.

Digital billboards will be put up across the state later today urging the public’s input in apprehending the escapees. 

Any one with information on the case is urged to call the nearest law enforcement agency by dialing 911.