We’re learning new details tonight about a Jamestown, New York homicide suspect captured in South Carolina after a multi-day and multi-state manhunt.
Michael Burham, 34, made an initial court appearance in South Carolina federal court Thursday afternoon where he waived extradition to Chautauqua County.
We’re also learning about a note, Burham appears to have left for his father.
The search for Michael Burham intensified on May 11, when according to court paperwork, police found Kala Hodgkin shot to death in her Jamestown, New York home while investigating reports of shots fired in area.
At the time of Hodgkin’s murder, Jamestown police had an active arrest warrant charging Burham with Hodgkin’s rape.
While police were responding to Hodgkin’s home, they were dispatched to another home where Burham’s ex-girlfriend said he was trying to break into her home and set her car on fire.
Court records indicate 9 days later, an elderly couple from Warren County was reported missing, as was their car.
One day later, on May 21, police in South Carolina found the couple in a cemetery in north Charleston.
The couple told police they were kidnapped at gunpoint by Burham.
FBI agents said they found a note in the couple’s car, apparently written by Burham, reading in part:
“Hey dad, I’m safe for now. Just left the area. Sorry for all the problems I caused the family. I quit drinking since May 10th I’m not sorry for what I did, however I do feel terrible about the children .”
Burham was found Wednesday in a wooded area in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
