Authorities credit resources, tip in ending manhunt for escapee Burham in Warren County

When a barking dog and a man's claim of camping ultimately led to the apprehension in Warren County of prison escapee and possible homicide suspect Michael C. Burham late Saturday afternoon, there was a likely collective sigh of relief among residents of the rural county where authorities had searched for the suspect for nine days.

For those in law enforcement who were searching for Burham, who was considered to be possibly armed and dangerous, it was the end of a massive operation that wrapped up in the best way possible.

"The main goal for everyone in law enforcement is that no other civilian gets hurt or is victimized in general," Capt. Kirk Reese, commander of Pennsylvania State Police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township, said Monday.

"In the end, no one else was a victim. Not even the escapee getting hurt. It was the perfect ending," Reese said.

An escape and search

Burham, 34, had been on the run since the late evening of July 6, when authorities accused him of escaping from the Warren County Prison by climbing on a pullup exercise machine in the prison's exercise yard, climbing onto the roof and using bedsheets tied together to climb down from the roof.

Burham was in prison on $1 million bond at the time. He was charged by state police in Warren on May 21 with offenses including felony counts of kidnapping, burglary and aggravated assault on allegations he kidnapped an older couple in Sheffield, Warren County, on May 20, stole their sport-utility vehicle and forced the couple to travel with him to South Carolina. The couple was found unharmed in a cemetery in South Carolina, and authorities there apprehended Burham May 24.

More: State police: Escapee Michael C. Burham taken into custody in Warren County

Burham was also wanted at the time on a charge that he raped a woman in Jamestown, New York, and he was a prime suspect in the fatal shooting of the woman, 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin, on May 11, according to authorities and court records.

Burham was arraigned in Warren County on charges in the kidnapping June 19 and was placed in the Warren County Prison.

Reese said the Warren Police Department initially handled the command post in the search for Burham after his escape. But when it became apparent the search could turn into a long-term operation that would exceed the city police department's resources and capabilities, state police offered to take over and assume command of the operation, Reese said.

The first command post was set up at the state police barracks in Warren. Days later, the post moved to the Youngsville Volunteer Fire Department when it outgrew the Warren station because of the number of agencies and resources that joined the search, Reese said.

"There was great interagency and internal cooperation," he said.

State police launched a massive search for Burham that covered areas of Warren County and into the neighboring Allegheny National Forest, a 514,000-acre wilderness managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Federal and local agencies assisted in the search.

Warren County Sheriff Brian Zeybel said his agency assisted state police in any way it could during the search, including using some of his department's all-terrain vehicles to help cover a lot of ground.

The biggest challenge in searching for Burham to Zeybel was "we really had no direction" in terms of where Burham headed after escaping from prison.

"Truly the world was his oyster when he left here," Zeybel said. "You can go in every compass direction. You had to come up with resources to literally search in every direction."

Zeybel, a retired state police trooper, credited the state police for the way the agency coordinated and ran the search operation.

"State police is very capable and very well-developed when it comes to mass call-outs or large-scale searches," he said. "It really has a handle on that, the incident command system, the resources to bring it. Working with them on (the search for fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips in 2006) and here, it's impressive how they keep 200 people organized, fed, right down to providing them water. Through both events, state police did a wonderful job managing resources, managing the totality for the people present, and managing them well."

More: Search for escapee Michael Burham continues as police investigate possible sightings

Burham search similar to hunt for 'Bucky' Phillips

The search for Burham ended when, according to authorities, residents on Jackson Run Road in Conewango Township, Warren County, reported a suspicious individual shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday. A resident who checked to see why his dog was barking encountered a person later determined to be Burham. The resident said he had a brief conversation with Burham, who said something about camping, Lt. Col. George Bivens, state police deputy commissioner of operations, said during a news conference Saturday.

Law enforcement set up a large perimeter around the area, and Burham was tracked through the woods and eventually approached from behind by state police and members of the U.S. Marshals Service and Border Patrol, according to Bivens.

The search and apprehension were similar to the hunt during the spring and summer of 2006 for Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, who escaped from the Erie County Correctional Facility near Buffalo and shot three New York State Police troopers, killing one, before he was eventually apprehended in Pine Grove Township, Warren County, five months after his escape.

More: Search for escapee Michael Burham echoes 2006 'Bucky' Phillips manhunt: GoErie archive

The New York State Police coordinated the search for Phillips, but it involved numerous other law enforcement agencies including the Pennsylvania State Police.

Richard Neiswonger, a retired Pennsylvania State Police trooper, was among those who took Phillips into custody on Sept. 8, 2006.

Neiswonger, who was stationed in the Corry barracks at the time, said the search for Burham seemed similar to the hunt for Phillips in that authorities were sent to investigate a number of possible sightings, but most didn't pan out.

"We were just following up on everything, and we sent as many as we could to follow up on everything," Neiswonger said of the search for Phillips.

On the day Phillips was apprehended, Neiswonger said he was paired up with Trooper Scott Callahan. There was a reported sighting of Phillips near Russell in Warren County, and authorities cordoned off a large area, he said.

Neiswonger and Callahan were assigned to be the rapid response car, to drive around the perimeter and to check out any reported sightings, he said. Someone had seen something pop up in a field near a fence line, and although authorities didn't know if it was a person or an animal, they went to check it out, Neiswonger said.

A helicopter also flew over the area, and as it circled lower Phillips stood up with his hands up "to all of our shock," Neiswonger said. Authorities approached Phillips and took him into custody without incident.

"It was one of those sighting that you thought was not going to pan out like the rest of them, but it actually did pan out," Neiswonger said.

Phillips, like Burham, was not armed when he was apprehended. He would later plead guilty killing the New York State Police trooper and was sentenced to life in prison.

In addition to the charges related to the kidnapping, Burham faces in Warren County a felony count of escape for breaking out of the Warren County Prison. He had not been arraigned on the charge as of Monday morning.

State police said following Burham's arrest that they are continuing to investigate whether anyone helped Burham in his escape or during his time on the run. Anyone found to have aided Burham will be charged accordingly, the agency reported.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Authorities credit resources, tip in ending manhunt in Warren County