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, according to the Erie Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Bivens said authorities mobilized resources, including a significant number of personnel on the ground, aviation assets and K-9s, 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 Office, 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. He characterized Burham 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 and that a determination will be made on where he will be housed following his arraignment.
Who is Michael Burham?:Search underway for Pennsylvania inmate who escaped prison using bed sheets
Further investigation on potential accomplices, firearms
Bivens said investigators will continue to see whether Burham received any assistance during the past nine days and that discussions will occur with the Warren County District Attorney’s Office on whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone else.
Bivens added Burham potentially accessed some survival equipment and that during the manhunt, police recovered bags 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.”
Who is Michael Burham?
Burham is considered a suspect in the murder case of Kala Hodgkin, according to court records. Hodgkin, 34, was found shot to death on May 11 in Jamestown, New York, according to a criminal complaint the FBI in Buffalo filed against Burham in the kidnapping case.
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.
On May 20, Pennsylvania State Police received a report that an elderly couple from Sheffield, near Warren, was missing, and their Honda SUV was gone from their residence, according to the FBI.
On May 21, the couple was found unhurt in a cemetery in North Charleston, South Carolina. The FBI said the couple identified Burham as their kidnapper and said he had abducted them at gunpoint at their home.
In a news conference last week, Bivens said Burham is a “self-taught survivalist with military experience and could be potentially holed up in a wooded area,” The Associated Press reported.
Burham was placed in the Warren County Prison on $1 million bond on June 19.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Francisco Guzman, USA TODAY; Ed Palattella, Erie (Pa.) Times-News