BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD/WIVB) – After a manhunt spanning multiple states and multiple days, a man wanted for questioning in the death of a New York mother earlier this month has been captured in South Carolina.
Michael Burham, 34, was wanted for questioning in the May 11 homicide of 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin in Jamestown, New York, Nexstar’s WIVB reported. Burham has several active warrants, including sexual assault, unlawful imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child, and arson, according to police.
As authorities searched for Burham, Jamestown police confirmed Sunday they were working with police in North Charleston, South Carolina after an elderly couple reported being kidnapped from their Pennsylvania home and driven to the city by Burham.
Late Tuesday, Burham was reportedly spotted near Broomstraw Hill Road following an hourslong search in the Francis Marion National Forest near Huger in Berkeley County, Kevin Wheeler, a South Carolina spokesman for the FBI, said.
Deputies with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office responded to Halfway Creek Road after receiving a report that a man matching Burham’s description had been spotted in the area. As they were speaking with the man, deputies said he became “real evasive,” Sheriff Duane Lewis said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
“At that point, they determined he was the suspect that all the law enforcement agencies in the Lowcountry [were] looking for,” said Sheriff Lewis. But, as they were reviewing Burham’s information, officials say he fled and managed to evade officers..
He was believed to be within a 10-mile radius of a wooded area near Halfway Creek Road and South Hampton Drive. Law enforcement saturated the surrounding areas on Wednesday amid their search.
Berkeley County officials said they received a tip Wednesday afternoon that a man matching Burham’s description had been spotted behind a home on United Drive, the same area where officials had searched Tuesday.
Law enforcement officials quickly moved search efforts back to Berkeley County, where Burham was taken into custody. Additional details about his arrest have yet to be released.
The FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Burham’s arrest. It’s not clear if that reward prompted Wednesday’s tip.
Authorities haven’t said why Burham arrived in the Charleston area, or what, if any, relationship he had with Hodgkin.
Family described Hodgkin as a caring person and loving mother of three children ages 8, 11 and 14.