An escaped murder suspect who used sheets to escape jail was discovered and recaptured after a couple in northwestern Pennsylvania went to see what had upset their dog.
The couple reportedly took their golf cart to the back of their property, where the dog barked continuously on Saturday, and discovered Michael Burham, 34, who had escaped from Warren County Jail nine days earlier.
The man recognized Burham during their brief conversation, though he lied and said he was camping, said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.
“The owner of the property recognized him, put his wife back in the golf cart (which they were using) and drove off from there so he could contact us immediately when Burham fled into the woods,” Bivens said Saturday night.
The incident occurred in an area that was the main focus of their search efforts.
“That has been our strategy all along, to push him hard, to make him make a mistake – he finally did,” added Bivens.
After rushing back into the woods, Burham was apprehended at gunpoint nearly two hours later, when he accidentally ran into troopers who had set up a perimeter on the surrounding roads.
Bivens said he looked “tired and worn, like we thought he might,” wearing the same prison-issued pants turned inside out, looking wet and dirty from his days on the run.
Burham escaped late at night on July 6 by climbing onto exercise equipment in the prison and exiting through a window before pulling down a rope of prison sheets.
He had been charged with kidnapping, burglary and other counts, and had served time in jail on $1 million bail.
After arraignment, authorities say he will be transferred to a different prison while the investigation continues to determine how Burham escaped from Warren County.
With News Wire Services
