A manhunt was underway for a “dangerous” inmate with survivalist skills who recently escaped from a prison in Pennsylvania, police said on Saturday July 8, 2023. (Dreamstime/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — A manhunt was underway on Saturday for a “dangerous” inmate with survivalist skills who recently escaped from a prison in Pennsylvania, police said.
Michael Burham, 34, was being held in the Warren County Jail — about 11 miles from the state’s northern border with southwest New York — on arson and burglary charges, and he is also a suspect in a homicide and rape case in Jamestown, New York, according to local authorities.
Prison staff discovered he was missing from his cell early Friday morning,
Burham allegedly escaped from the recreation yard by “elevating himself” on top of exercise equipment and exiting through a metal-grated roof, Warren County spokesperson Cecile Stelter told ABC News. He was last seen on Thursday around 11:20 p.m. wearing an orange-and-white-striped jumpsuit, a denim jacket and Crocs, police said.
Burham had been in Warren County Jail for less than a month, following his capture in South Carolina on May 24 after a multistate manhunt.
During the early morning hours of May 11, police in Jamestown responded to the fatal shooting of Kayla Hodgkin, who in April told authorities that Burham had raped her, according to documents obtained by the Post and Courier.
After the shooting, Burham allegedly set fire to a car owned by another woman.
During his efforts to dodge law enforcement, Burham is also accused of kidnapping an elderly couple at gunpoint on May 20 in Sheffield, Pennsylvania, and then driving them to North Charleston, South Carolina, according to the FBI. He was charged with kidnapping and a warrant was issued for his arrest out of Warren County, Pennsylvania.
“He is considered very dangerous, and the public is asked to be vigilant and report anything out of the ordinary,” according to police, who also urged residents in the area to keep their doors locked.
“We have no indication that he’s being assisted by anyone at this point, but he is familiar with the area and … he is a survivalist and has survivalist skills,” spokesperson Stelter added.
Authorities have said there is “no particular search radius,” but they are using all-terrain vehicles, utility terrain vehicles, drones and an aircraft in addition to searching on foot and with K9 units.
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