Search continues for 'very dangerous' jail escapee; stockpiles, campsites found

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities searching for an inmate described by police as “very dangerous” who used bed sheets to escape from a northwestern Pennsylvania jail say they believe he is still in the area and have found stockpiles or campsites in the woods he may have been using.

Michael Burham, 34, who fled the Warren County Prison late Thursday by climbing on exercise equipment and using bed sheets to escape through a window, was a suspect in a homicide investigation and had been held on $1 million bail on kidnapping, burglary and other charges, authorities said.

“We have located small stockpiles or campsites in wooded areas in the general vicinity of Warren, and we believe that at least some of those may be associated with Burham,” Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police told reporters Sunday afternoon at Youngsville Fire Hall.

District Attorney Jason Schmidt of Chautauqua County, New York, said last month that Burham is the “prime suspect” in the May 11 killing of Kala Hodgkin, 34, and a related arson in Jamestown. Authorities also accuse him of abducting an elderly couple in Pennsylvania while trying to escape capture before his arrest in South Carolina. Warren city police referenced the “prior carjacking and kidnapping of a local couple” in saying Burham “is considered very dangerous.”

The search by local, multistate and federal authorities has included numerous residences, abandoned structures and wooded areas using K-9 units and aerial resources such as drones and aircraft, authorities said.

Bivens said officials “have no reason to believe he has left the area,” but he noted that authorities are “constantly re-evaluating” that conclusion.

Bivens told WGRZ-TV that Burham has “self-taught survival training” as well as military reserve training....