BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Documents filed in the federal court case against escaped inmate Michael Burham, show he was familiar with Warren, Pennsylvania, before he escaped from the Warren County Jail last week.
According to the federal complaint, accusing Burham of traveling across state lines to avoid prosecution, investigators explain Burham had been in Warren sometime before May 11, 2023.
May 11 is when Kala Hodgkin was found shot and killed in her Jamestown home. Burham is the sole suspect in Hodgkin's death.
Here's the timeline, as explained in federal court documents:
- MAY 9: Prosecutors say Burham had a reservation at a hotel in Warren, PA. The check out date was May 11.
- SOMETIME BEFORE MAY 11: Burham rents a car from Enterprise-Rent-a-Car in Warren, PA.
- The rental was made by Burham, using the address of a home he used to own in Russell, PA.
- Prosecutors say that same rental was seen in the area when Hodgkin was killed.
- ON MAY 11: Burham returned the car to Enterprise in Warren.
- Documents explain, he walked out of the rental agency and checked out of a hotel in Warren.
- Law enforcement says, Burham rented that hotel room and gave the hotel his PA driver's license and a VISA credit card in his name.
- According to court documents, a car seen at the hotel that was "associated with Burham" was found in Warren.
- Burham goes missing for "several days" after, according to these documents, as Jamestown Police work find him for questioning.
- MAY 20: Pennsylvania State Police are called by a woman, concerned about her parents not showing up at her daughter's soccer game in Warren. They live in Sheffield, PA, about 20 minutes south of Warren.
- The woman says she checked her parents' house and they weren't there. She also told police there was no answer when she called and their car was missing.
- MAY 21: South Carolina Highway Patrol calls Pennsylvania State Police, explaining the woman's parents were found alive in a cemetery in North Charleston, South Carolina.
- The elderly couple told police, they had been kidnapped at gunpoint from their Pennsylvania home.
- They identified Burham as the kidnapper and knew who he was from media reporting.
- Police say the couple's car was found near the cemetery. That's where police say they found a note Burham wrote to his father.
Burham later appeared in a federal courtroom in Buffalo.
- MAY 25: In federal court documents, Burham signed a Financial Affidavit, that explains he had no job and had no money. Yet, he was financially supporting two people — $700/month in child support— and had $2,000 in loans.
Burham was sent to the Warren County Jail. He was facing charges of kidnapping and burglary.
Police say, Burham broke out of the jail, late July 6.
Meantime, prosecutors accuse Burham of raping Kala Hodgkin. They have an active warrant for his arrest on that charge. Prosecutors say the warrant was active when Hodgkin was killed.
Burham has been on the run for seven days. Police say he escaped from the roof of the jail, where the rec yard is, using bedsheets to scale the building.
He has not been seen since.
