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The manhunt for Michael Burham stretched for over a week. Authorities described him as a survivalist with military training, who could be armed and dangerous.
Local, state and federal authorities combed through the woods of northwest Pennsylvania for days after Burham escaped from a Warren County jail on July 6 as he awaited trial on charges including kidnapping and aggravated assault. They deployed police dogs and drones. The plan as the search dragged on, the Pennsylvania State Police said, was to push him until he made a mistake.
That mistake came Saturday when Burham was spotted by Tucker, a chocolate Labrador retriever, as Burham was walking by a creek on a family’s property.
“Tucker took off down through the backyard, barking like a crazy dog,” Cindy Ecklund, Tucker’s owner, told Spectrum News 1.
When Ecklund and her husband, Ron, went to investigate, they suddenly found themselves staring at the fugitive whose escape chilled Warren County.
The Ecklunds approached Burham and asked what he was doing, Spectrum News 1 reported. He responded that he was camping and began to put on a backpack, Cindy Ecklund told the news station.
The couple recognized Burham from images released by law enforcement. They called 911 as he headed back into the woods — relaying a tip that would allow authorities to recapture him that evening and conclude the manhunt, Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said in a Saturday news conference.
“Not what I thought we would be doing tonight,” Cindy Ecklund later wrote on Facebook. “But, it turned out okay!”
Ron and Cindy Ecklund and an attorney representing Burham did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday evening.
Burham had eluded authorities for over a week in May after fleeing from Jamestown, N.Y., to avoid being questioned regarding a homicide case, investigators alleged in a complaint. Investigators tracked Burham to Warren, Pa., after he returned a vehicle seen near the homicide scene to a rental company in Warren, but they were unable to find him for several days, the complaint states.
While on the run, Burham kidnapped a couple in Warren at gunpoint, the complaint alleged. Burham drove with the couple to North Charleston, S.C., before releasing them, authorities said. He was arrested in South Carolina on May 24 and extradited to New York, then Pennsylvania, where he was charged with kidnapping, burglary, aggravated assault and various other crimes.
Then Burham escaped from the Warren County jail on the evening of July 6, and a second manhunt began.
An official told ABC6 that Burham climbed “like a spider” through a hole in the jail’s caged rooftop exercise area and rappelled to the ground with a rope made from bedsheets.
As Burham evaded authorities, police asked residents to check their home security cameras. Some school events and extracurricular activities in Warren were canceled, YourErie reported.
Burham continued to elude capture until Tucker caught his scent around 4 p.m. Saturday. The Ecklunds were discussing the hunt for Burham that afternoon, Cindy Ecklund told Spectrum News 1. Authorities were set to search a nearby road, so they decided to take their chairs out to the patio and watch.
That’s when Tucker wandered down to the creek, leading his owners to follow. While talking with the man in their backyard, Ron Ecklund recognized a tattoo on his arm that matched photos of the escaped inmate shown on the news, he said. They quickly retreated and called 911. Burham fled back into the woods as the couple reported him, Bivens said.
Burham was arrested about two hours later, Bivens said. The escapee was in a disheveled state when authorities found him and was still wearing his prison pants, turned inside out, Bivens added.
Burham will be arraigned on an escape charge, and investigators will determine whether he should face any additional charges, Bivens said. He added that he was relieved that Burham had been detained without violence.
Cindy Ecklund told Spectrum News 1 that she and her husband did what anyone else might have done had they come across the fugitive.
“We’re just really thankful that we were able to help,” she said.
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Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/17/pennsylvania-escaped-inmate-captured-dog/