A video screen grab shows Elizabeth Hensley-Sieber, a former girlfriend of Michael Burham, who she says served in the military for more than a decade. (YouTube)
(Tribune News Service) — An Upstate New York homicide suspect who escaped from a northwestern Pennsylvania jail last week could be on the run for months, according to notorious criminal Ralph “Bucky” Phillips.
Michael Burham, 34, escaped from the Warren County Prison in Warren, Pa., on Thursday, July 6, and has been on the run for more than a week now. Authorities say he used exercise equipment to gain access to the jail roof and then climbed down using bedsheets tied into a rope; police agencies have searched the nearby area, including the Alleghany National Forest, and recently found a hidden cache of clothes, food and other items in a wooded area.
Burham, described as a “self-taught survivalist with military training,” was being held on $1 million bail as he faced multiple charges in a three-state crime spree. The Associated Press reports he’s accused of raping and killing Kala Hodgkin, 34, and setting a vehicle on fire in Jamestown, N.Y., near where he lived in Chautauqua County; he’s also accused of kidnapping an elderly couple in Pennsylvania and forcing them at gunpoint to drive him to South Carolina, where he was arrested May 24.
According to reports quoting Elizabeth Hensley-Sieber, a former girlfriend, Burham served in the Army for more than a decade.
Police consider Burham “very dangerous” and say he may be armed.
Michael Charles Burham is seen in a wanted poster. (Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)
Phillips, who escaped from Erie County Correctional Facility in 2006 and sparked a five-month-long manhunt, was also described as a survivalist. He is currently serving a life sentence for shooting three New York State Police troopers, killing one.
In a new phone interview with Buffalo TV station WIVB, Phillips said he resents comparisons to Burham because he never physically harmed any “civilians.”
“I heard something about he kidnapped an old couple and held them?” Phillips said. “That’s not my character whatsoever... And people should already know by the fact that I was out there for five months and I never harmed any civilians whatsoever. Yeah, that ain’t cool.”
Phillips did, however, similarly hide out in the woods along the New York-Pennsylvania border and is familiar with the area where Burham is believed to be. Phillips told WIVB that it’s unlikely “foot soldiers out of the city” will be able to find Burham in the vast wilderness, where Burham may be able to find enough food to survive for months and avoid being spotted if he restricts movement to nighttime.
“If he stays in the woods the chances of being apprehended are slim... as long as he stays away from people,” Phillips told WIVB. “By the way he sounds, if he sees someone, he’s probably going to end up making sure that they don’t say nothing.”
Phillips was captured just across the state line in Pennsylvania in September 2006 after police received multiple tips from area residents.
State police say more than 200 state, federal and local law enforcement officers are involved in the manhunt for Burham. The large search area includes difficult terrain and cabins, oil and gas sheds, and shacks affording a fugitive a place to hide, according to the AP.
A reward for information leading to Burham’s capture was recently increased to $19,500. Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said more than 500 tips have already come in since the manhunt began.
Law enforcement say they are investigating multiple leads, including a drone that was spotted near the jail at the time of Burham’s escape and any potential accomplices.
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