Police say homicide suspect escaped from Warren County Prison using sheets tied together

WARREN, Pa. — A homicide suspect accused of escaping from the Warren County Prison late Thursday night got away using a technique often seen in the movies.

Police said he made a rope by tying sheets together and used the rope to slide off the roof of the prison, located next to the county courthouse in downtown Warren in Warren County, east of Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Details of the escape of the inmate, Michael C. Burham, are provided in the criminal complaint that Warren police filed against him on Friday morning. The police charged him with escape, and he remains at large.

Burham, 34, is wanted in connection with the killing of a woman in Jamestown, New York, north of Warren, on May 11. He is accused of fleeing the area after her death, leading to a multi-agency manhunt that ended with his arrest in South Carolina on May 24.

Though he has not been charged in the homicide, Burham has been charged with kidnapping an elderly Warren County couple and stealing their SUV at gunpoint on May 20 to drive to South Carolina. Burham, last known to live in Russell, Pennsylvania, near Warren, had been held at the Warren County Prison on a $1 million bond in the kidnapping case since June 19.

Warren and Jamestown police notified the public about Burham's escape on Facebook posts shortly after midnight on Friday. Burham "was last seen at approximately 1120pm wearing a blue denim jacket," according to the posts, referring to Burham's prison uniform. "All citizens are urged to lock their doors and stay vigilant."

Local and state police are involved in the search, said Lt. Mark Weindorf, crime section supervisor for the Pennsylvania State Police's Troop E, which is based in Lawrence Park and covers Erie, Warren, Crawford and Venango counties.

'The Defendant slid down the rope'

Burham's escape from the prison was reported to Warren County dispatchers at 11:26 p.m. on Thursday, according to the criminal complaint filed Friday morning. Another inmate notified the prison staff that Burham had escaped, according to the complaint and its affidavit of probable cause.

Also according to the complaint and affidavit:

A review of surveillance video showed that Burham and three other inmates gathered in the gym of the Warren County Prison at 10:41 p.m. on Thursday. Burham was seen walking around.

At 11:26 p.m., Burham is seen standing on an exercise machine for doing pullups. Burham "then exited the yard" through a metal-gated roof.

"After escaping from the yard," according to the complaint, "the Defendant tied a rope which consisted of multiple sheets tied together. The Defendant then tied said rope from the roof and allowed it to hang on a portico.

"The Defendant slid down the rope, landing on the portico, and jumped from the portico to the ground. He then took off on foot."

A homicide, an arson, a kidnapping and a manhunt

Though Burham has not been charged in the homicide case in Jamestown, he is considered a suspect, according to court records.

In that case, a woman, Kala Hodgkin, 34, was found shot to death the morning of May 11 at a residence in the 100 block of William Street, according to a criminal complaint the FBI in Buffalo filed against Burham in the kidnapping case. The FBI in that case charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, which allowed the FBI to get involved in the search for Burham in South Carolina and elsewhere.

At the time Hodgkin was killed, Burham was facing a charge that he raped her, and the arrest warrant in that case was still active, according to the FBI. Also on May 11, according to the FBI, Burham's former girlfriend, identified as N.O. in the FBI's criminal complaint, reported to police that Burham that morning had tried to break into her house, on Fulton Street in Jamestown, and that he set her car on fire.

The Jamestown police released multiple reports to the media following Hodgkin's death. "However, there were no reported sightings of Burham for several days," according to the FBI's complaint.

On May 20, according to the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police received a report that an elderly couple from Sheffield, near Warren, was missing, and that their Honda SUV was gone from their residence.

The couple was found unhurt in a cemetery in North Charleston, South Carolina, on May 21. The FBI said the couple identified Burham as their kidnapper, and said he had abducted them at gunpoint from their home in Sheffield.

With help from other law enforcement agencies, the FBI arrested Burham on May 24 northeast of New Charleston in Huger, South Carolina, in the Francis Marion National Forest. The authorities credited a resident of Berkeley County, South Carolina, of spotting Burham near his house and calling 911, the FBI said. The FBI said law enforcement agencies used K-9 dogs to track Burham, and he was arrested without incident.

Evidence against Burham includes note found in SUV

State police in Warren filed the kidnapping and related charges against Burham on May 20. After his arrest in South Carolina, he was extradited to New York and placed in a holding prison as he made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, where he was wanted on the federal flight charge.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo dismissed that charge on June 14 in light of Burham's arrest, and Burham was then moved on June 19 to the Warren County Prison, 407 Market St.

The evidence against Burham in the kidnapping case includes a note the FBI said authorities discovered in the stolen SUV that was found in South Carolina. Burham appears to have written the note, according to the FBI's criminal complaint.

According to the complaint, the note reads, in part:

Hey Dad, I'm safe for Now, I just left the area.

Sorry for all the problems I caused the family. I quit drinking since May 10th

I'm not sorry for what I Did, however, I do feel Terrible about the children. I would like (redacted) and (illegible) to adopt (redacted).

Talk to you soon.

Love Mike.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Police: Warren County Prison escapee used rope made of sheets