State police: Escapee Michael C. Burham taken into custody in Warren County
WARREN, Pa. ― Escaped homicide suspect Michael C. Burham has been taken into custody, the Pennsylvania State Police confirmed Saturday evening, ending a nine-day manhunt that began July 6, when Burham escaped the Warren County Prison using a rope made of bedsheets tied together.
"At 3:57 p.m., our tip line received a call from some residents on Jackson Run Road in Conewango Township, Warren County, about a suspicious individual," said Lt. Col. George Bivens, the state police's deputy commissioner of operations, at a Saturday news conference.
Bivens said authorities mobilized resources, including a significant number of personnel on the ground, aviation assets and K9s, and formed a large perimeter around that area.
Bivens said Burham was tracked through the woods and attempted to hide when he approached perimeter troopers near Logan Road. Burham was approached from behind by members of the U.S. Marshals Service, the Border Patrol and state police.
By 5:50 p.m., Burham was in custody, police said.
Bivens said Burham was not armed when he was apprehended and characterized him as looking "tired and worn out," and wearing his prison pants inside-out.
Burham, 34, was taken to the Pennsylvania State Police station in Warren where he will be processed. Bivens said Burham will not be housed in the Warren County Prison. He is at the Erie County Prison, state police said on Sunday.
Further investigation on potential accomplices, firearms
Bivens said the investigators will continue to see if Burham received any assistance during the past nine days and that discussions will occur in the future with the Warren County District Attorney's Office on whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone.
Bivens added that Burham potentially accessed some survival equipment and that police recovered bags during the manhunt that were ultimately linked to Burham using DNA tests. Some of those bags contained ammunition which led to concerns that Burham was armed.
Tip came from resident responding to his barking dog
The tip came from a Warren County resident, who, while checking to see why his dog was barking at the rear of his property, encountered Burham. Bivens said a brief conversation ensued, in which Burham said "something about camping." The property owner recognized Burham and contacted authorities as Burham fled into the woods.
Bivens said Burham's mistake was that he "came out into the open and was spotted by an individual."
"That's been our strategy all along is to push him hard, to have him make a mistake," Bivens said. "He finally did and it was spotted by an individual."
Why was Michael Burham wanted?
Burham was wanted in connection with the May 11 fatal shooting of Kala Hodgkin, 34, of Jamestown, in Chautauqua County, New York, north of Warren. Though he has yet to be charged in that case, Burham is a "prime suspect" in the killing, the U.S. Marshals Service said. At the time of Hodgkin's death, Burham was wanted on a charge that he had raped her, according to court records.
Burham fled the area after Hodgkin's death. He is accused of kidnapping an elderly couple in Sheffield, in Warren County, on May 20, and stealing their SUV, which he used to drive to South Carolina. He was captured there on May 24 after a multi-agency manhunt. The couple was found unharmed in a cemetery in South Carolina.
Burham was eventually returned to Warren. He was placed in the Warren County Prison on $1 million bond on June 19.
A.J. Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNRao.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Escaped homicide suspect Michael C. Burham in custody in Warren County
