CNN
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Escaped Michael Burham may still be in the area around a northwest Pennsylvania prison and may be asking for help as he tries to elude 200 law enforcement officers who are searching for him, Pennsylvania State Police said. Lt. Col. George Bivens at a news conference on Tuesday.
Burham on Thursday allegedly climbed on exercise equipment to get off the roof and held onto a rope of sheets to escape from the Warren County Jail, court documents revealed with new details of the day that he escaped from prison.
Surveillance footage shows Burham and other inmates walking in and out of his jail cell, according to a criminal complaint filed in the city of Warren on Friday.
The search continued Tuesday for Burham, who authorities described as “armed and dangerous” and has survivalist skills and military reserve experience. They said that he escaped from prison while being detained in a case of arson and burglary and a suspect in a homicide.
Warren police said Burham “was also involved in an earlier carjacking and kidnapping of a local couple while trying to elude capture.”
Bivens said the evidence leads him to believe Burham is still around.
“We continue to find things. Those lead me to believe that there is a possibility that he is here,” he told reporters, without giving details. Some of the items were found in the last 24 hours, he said. “I also looked at the absence of proof that he went anywhere.”
WICU
Law enforcement searches for escaped inmate Michael Burham in Warren County, Pennsylvania, on July 11, 2023.
Among the tips that come in “on a regular basis” are reports Monday night and throughout the night of seeing Burham, but Bivens said that none of those investigations have been achieved.
Investigators used rapid DNA tests at the cabins and other sites where the break-ins occurred but none matched Burham — although some results are pending, according to Bivens.
Bivens told reporters that the pace and scope of the search had increased significantly and that he believed Burham would be caught.
“We are not going away. We will absolutely jail you again. Just a moment,” he said addressing the escapee.
He also has a message for anyone helping Burham, saying they will be prosecuted.
Burham was seen walking around the grounds of the jail gym at about 10:41 p.m. while three other inmates sat on the ground talking, according to the complaint.
At about 11:26 p.m., Burham was “observed standing on a pull up machine” in the prison’s gym and exited through a metal gated roof, the complaint reads.
After escaping from the gym, Burham “tied a rope made up of many sheets tied together. (He) then tied that rope from the roof and hung it from the portico,” the complaint said.
Burham continued to slide down the rope, “landed on the portico, and jumped from the portico to the ground” after which he fled the area on foot, according to the complaint.
CNN also obtained court documents detailing the alleged kidnapping that landed Burham in jail in May.
Burham kidnapped an elderly couple – David and Jessica Anundson – at gunpoint from their home in Sheffield, Pennsylvania, on May 20, according to a criminal complaint from Warren County.
Burham forced the couple into their car and drove them to the North Charleston, South Carolina, area, where he forced them out of a cemetery and drove them away, the complaint said.
The complaint also says the Anundsons “fear serious bodily harm or death.”
Law enforcement believes Burham “remained on the property or nearby and kept watch” at the couple’s residence for about a week, based on information provided by the couple.