Burham taken into custody in Warren County
A barking dog led to the capture of jail escapee Michael Burham.
Lt. Col. George Bivens with the Pennsylvania State Police said a call was received from residents at a Jackson Run Rd. residence at 3:57 p.m. regarding a suspicious individual after they checked why their dog was barking.
A brief conversation ensued and Burham said something about camping.
“We mobilized resources as we have done many times,” he said, including personnel on the ground, aviation assets and K-9 resources to establish a “very large perimeter.”
By 5:50 p.m., Burham was in custody.
“He had been tracked through the woods as he approached Logan Road,” Bivens said. “He encountered the perimeter and troopers there (and) attempted to prone out and hide.”
He had been approached from behind by law enforcement and taken into custody.
U.S. Marshalls, Border Patrol and the Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team were involved.
Bivens said Burham is currently at the State Police barracks in Starbrick for processing and that a “determination will be made where he will ultimately be held following his arraignment.
“It will not be in the Warren County facility,” he added. “We are still determining where he will go.”
Bivens thanked county residents “for their patience through all of this. (I) know they were nervous, scared (but) remained gracious for all of our people.
“We ended this without anyone else getting hurt.”
It’s unclear as of Saturday night when arraignment will occur.
From earlier:
Michael Burham’s escape July 6 from the Warren County Jail sparked a massive manhunt involving numerous local, state and federal agencies. A citizen’s call to authorities Saturday evening reportedly led to his capture.
Police confirmed Burham was taken into custody, the ninth day of a search that primarily focused on Warren County but also included spotchecks elsewhere, including Chautauqua County in New York where he is the suspect in the May 11 shooting death of a Jamestown woman.
Police say Burham was located off Jackson Run Road, the result of a tip to investigators.
His escape and re-capture are the latest chapters in what has become a months-long saga. He is accused of killing 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin inside her William Street home in Jamestown. Afterward, the former Chautauqua County resident is accused of setting fire to another woman’s car in Jamestown.
More than a week after Hodgkin’s death, Burham allegedly kidnapped a Warren County couple from their Sheffield home at gunpoint. Using their vehicle, he drove the pair to South Carolina.
The couple was found safe, and Burham was eventually taken into custody after eluding police for days by running through the woods. In June, he was extradited back to New York state where he went before a federal judge in Buffalo.
Burham had been moved to Warren County on June 19.
Burham was last seen on cameras at the county jail at 11:23 p.m. on July 6. City of Warren officers were dispatched at approximately 11:25 and on scene by 11:27 p.m.
The city’s police chief say there was an “approximately four- to five-minute delay” from the last time Burnham was “observed on camera in the yard until the first officers were on scene.”
Burham reportedly climbed out of the top of the recreation yard at the jail, went across the roof of the courthouse, and used bed sheets tied together to climb down to the ground.
Stockpiles and small campsites that were believed to be associated with Burham were located during the ongoing search.