Michael Charles Burham (Warren County, Pennsylvania and Berkley County South Carolina)
Law enforcement authorities in the northeast are once again searching for a man suspected of committing a spate of violent crimes in multiple states who they say escaped from a Pennsylvania prison late Thursday night or early Friday morning.
The escaped inmate, Michael Charles Burham, was being held in the Warren County Prison — about 11 miles from the state’s northern border with New York — on charges of kidnapping, arson, and burglary and is also wanted as a suspect in cases involving homicide, rape, false imprisonment, and arson in Jamestown, New York, which is less than 10 miles from the state’s southern border with Pennsylvania. His escape occurred just a few weeks after he was the subject of a previous multi-state manhunt in which it took local and federal authorities several days to find Burham and take him into custody.
He was being held on $1 million bond since he was extradited back to Pennsylvania on June 19.
Prosecutors in Warren County on Friday morning charged Burham with an additional count of escape, a level three felony, court records show.
According to a press release from the Jamestown Police Department, prison officials on Friday morning discovered that Burham had somehow escaped from the Warren County Prison. They say he was last seen at about 11:20 p.m. Thursday evening wearing an orange and white striped jumpsuit along with a denim jacket that reads “Warren County Jail” across the back and a pair of Crocs. He is considered “very dangerous,” and the authorities are asking the public to “be vigilant and report anything out of the ordinary.”
According to a report from ABC News, Warren County Public Information Officer Cecile Stelter said that Burham was able to escape the detention facility by climbing on top of some of the prison’s exercise equipment, leaving the prison yard through a metal grate in the roof, then using a makeshift rope comprised of several bed sheets tied to lower himself to the ground. He then fled into the woods on foot.
Stelter reportedly noted that Burham would typically be kept in restraints while he moved through the jail, but that would not be the case when he is in the recreation yard.
“Federal, state and local resources are working cooperatively on this developing incident. Current law enforcement resources assigned to this incident include: Warren City Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Warren County EMA, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Border Patrol, Warren County Sheriff, Chautauqua County Sheriff, Jamestown (NY) Police, Bradford City Police, and Pennsylvania Game Commission,” police said in the press release. “These cooperators are using available resources including ground assets (foot, K-9, motorized) and aerial resources (drones and aircraft).”
According to a report from The Post-Journal, Burham has not been charged, but is the main suspect in the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin, who on March 13 was gunned down inside of her home located on William Street in Jamestown, New York. After the shooting, authorities allege that Burham intentionally set fire to a car owned by another woman.
After a warrant was issued for his arrest in the Hodgkin’s shooting, Burham on May 20 was reportedly trying to evade authorities when he allegedly kidnapped an elderly couple in Warren County, Pennsylvania, at gunpoint, then used their car to drive down to Charleston, South Carolina. Law enforcement authorities were able to locate the couple unharmed and took Burham into custody a few days later after a homeowner spotted him prowling around in their backyard, ABC News reported.
In Warren County, Burnham has been formally charged with numerous felonies, including two counts each of kidnapping and aggravated assault, as well as one count each of burglary, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and criminal trespass. He was also charged with 15 misdemeanor counts, court records show.
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