Robert Garrow, the convicted killer of a Schenectady youth in Hamilton County who was shot down near Fishkill late yesterday after a baffling prison escape from a wheelchair, may have had help, the state corrections commissioner said early this morning.

"He may have had a passkey to the gate," Richard Hongisto said just hours after Garrow was killed in a shootout with officers in a wooded area near the Fishkill Correctional Facility.

The Associated Press reported that the comment was elicited from Hongisto after he told reporters that officials still believe that Garrow -- believed to have been partially paralyzed due to wounds received during a 1973 Adirondack manhunt for him -- probably could not walk when he made his getaway from the medium-security prison early Saturday.

"It appears the best he could do was drag himself," Hongisto said.

Garrow's escape shocked and terrified residents throughout New York state, who recalled the numerous headlines during the past few years about the man who had eluded authorities for 11 days in a wooded area of northern New York after the various killings.

Upon Garrow's escape, a controversy arose as to why he was in the medium-security facility in Dutchess County. He had been transferred in February from the maximum-security prison in Auburn to Fishkill but that fact did not surface until his incredible escape.

At Fishkill, Garrow was confined to the area of the facility which housed handicapped and elderly criminals. He was believed to have been paralyzed on his left side from wounds received during his initial capture following the Adirondack manhunt. An 18-foot, chain-link fence topped by barbed wire surrounded the compound Garrow escaped from.

Hongisto said there was evidence that the guard on duty at the time of Garrow's escape had been guilty of "gross negligence" and that he had on at least one prior occasion been cited for sleeping on the job. The guard, Paul Diefendorf, was suspended soon after officials discovered Garrow missing Saturday morning.

Hongisto said guards must make half-hour checks throughout the night. He said the guard had signed the log saying he did so. But Hongisto said that officers must check each inmate "to see flesh and see breathing."

"He signed the log but he was looking at a dummy," said Hongisto of the ruse used by Garrow.

William Gard, deputy commissioner for facilities operations in the state Department of Correctional Services, said he did not know how Garrow managed to escape or how he secured the pistol which he used during the shootout.

Garrow was cornered in a wooded area just outside the compound at about 6 p.m. Monday, two hours after officers had found his transistor radio in an area nearby.

Using bloodhounds and helicopters, the special teams of orange jump-suited guards moved through the woods, until they encountered Garrow.

"The shouted, 'Stay where you are,' and he opened fire with a pistol he had," Hongisto said. "Our officers opened fire and killed him on the spot."

Garrow was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed in a body bag a short time later, with only the crepe-soled shoes visible.