Escaped inmate Michael Durham arrested ‘at gunpoint’ after nine-day manhunt

Escaped Pennsylvania inmate Michael Burham was taken into custody “at gunpoint” by state police on Saturday night concluding a massive nine-day manhunt for the homicide and arson suspect, authorities said.

Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens told reporters at a press conference that police were alerted to a “suspicious individual” in Cnewango Township in Warren County shortly before 4 p.m., Fox News reported.

A homeowner heard his dog barking and when he went to investigate why, spotted Burnham in the backyard of his property, according to police.

During a brief conversation between the two, Burnham told the homeowner that he was on a “camping trip,” Bivens said.

The homeowner, who immediately recognized the escaped prisoner, phoned police and told them about the encounter.

State and local authorities coordinated to create a large perimeter around the location that included air and K-9 officer support, police said. 

Police tracked him as he moved through the woods, where he tried to hide. He was surrounded and taken into custody around 5:50 p.m.

Burham looked “tired” and “worn out” after he was arrested, Bevins said. He was still wearing his orange prison jumpsuit, although they had been turned inside-out.

It has yet to be determined where he will be housed, but police said Burnham will not be returning to the Warren County Jail he busted out of more than a week ago.

Burham, 34, escaped from the detention center on July 6 by rappelling from the facility’s roof using a rope he had fashioned by tying bedsheets together, according to an affidavit.

The army veteran and self-taught “survivalist” was considered “armed and dangerous” as more than 200 federal, state and local officers from 15 agencies searched for him.

Burnham was being held on 26 counts related to arson, kidnapping and burglary when he escaped. 

He is also under investigation for raping and killing the mother of his child in Jamestown, New York, according to police there. He also set the woman’s car on fire.

The charges in New York sparked an interstate crime spree that ended in his arrest in South Carolina after 11 days on lam in May.

Police have not yet said if he will face additional charges for the escape.