Homicide suspect Michael Burham pleads guilty to charges in escape and kidnapping case
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA/AP) -- A homicide suspect who escaped from a northern Pennsylvania prison in July and spurred a massive nine-day manhunt has pleaded guilty.
Michael Burham pleaded guilty to charges in both a kidnapping case and his escape, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General announced on Thursday.
Burham was in the Warren County Prison after authorities said he kidnapped an older couple in Pennsylvania and drove them to South Carolina as he tried to evade a homicide investigation in New York.
District Attorney Jason Schmidt of Chautauqua County, New York, said in June that Burham was the prime suspect in the May 11 killing of Kala Hodgkin, 34, and a related arson in Jamestown, New York.
On July 6, officials said Burham climbed to the top of exercise equipment and exited the prison yard through a grated metal roof, sliding down a rope made of bedsheets. Officials called him a "dangerous" inmate with survivalist skills.
During the manhunt, more than 200 state, federal and local officers took part in the search and up to $22,000 in reward money was posted. People in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York were asked to regularly review doorbell and surveillance camera footage and to make sure vehicles, structures and anything else useful to a fugitive was secured.
Burham was on the run for days until he was caught on July 15 after a dog alerted a couple to his presence on their property.
The Pennsylvania attorney general's office is prosecuting Burham for the prison escape, and the Warren County district attorney is prosecuting the kidnapping case.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 5.