Brian Hagberg
YOUNGSVILLE, Pa. – Pennsylvania State Police have released video footage they believe shows Warren County Jail escapee Michael Burham walking by a residence somewhere “south of the City of Warren.”
The video was released during a media conference at the Youngsville Borough Office on Friday, July 14.
See the video:
“This is footage from a video doorbell,” Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens, Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the Pennsylvania State Police said. “What it depicts . . . is an individual we believe to be Burham walking past this residence just after 5 a.m. headed toward the woods.”
Bivens wouldn’t say specifically when or where the video was taken or when it was obtained by PSP other than within “the last couple of days.”
“I won’t tell you what day (the video was taken). I will tell you that it’s been just within the last couple of days,” Bivens said. “And it’s in an area south of the City of Warren. I really don’t want to get any more specific than that in the event that Burham is somehow able to access media reports and things. I don’t want him to know exactly where cameras are that we’ve received information from and could potentially receive more. And I don’t want him to know, again with the exact date and location and everything, he might know where he traveled.”
See the full media conference:
Bivens said the homeowners contacted police “within hours” of the video being taken which led investigators to conduct a review of the video and the scene. Those means, along with analysis of the video, are what led investigators to conclude that Burham is the person seen walking by the residence.
“There are a variety of things that we looked at,” Bivens said. “I mean we get a number of videos in and I would tell you that in many cases based on that analysis we don’t believe all of those are credible or there’s some question in our mind. Without going into a lot of detail, there are a lot of things that our people . . . they do a detailed analysis of the video, there are other things at the scene that they look for, and all of those factors together led us to a conclusion in this case that we believe that this is Michael Burham.”
Bivens said police are reviewing other videos and encouraged residents, property owners, and anyone else with any kind of video surveillance to check the footage regularly.
Another piece of information investigators believe the video shows is that Burham is possibly suffering from a leg or ankle injury that likely occurred during his escape on July 6.
“I think there is also a possibility that he may have a bit of an injury to his leg or ankle. You may not have seen it with the short duration of that video, but there may be a bit of a limp there as well,” Bivens said. “We believe that he did potentially have an injury during the escape.”
Police were not able to conclusively determine what clothing Burham was wearing based on the video, but Bivens again reiterated the belief that Burham has changed out of the prison attire he was last seen wearing.
“We are not able to make a firm determination on that clothing, we don’t believe it was prison attire,” Bivens said. “Goes back to what I’ve been saying all along we believe that he has changed clothing.”
Bivens refused to comment on whether investigators have found Burham’s prison attire.
Bivens did say the video speaks to Burham’s travel preferences, and that his apparent lack of urgency may have more to do with the time of day, and his circumstances since escaping than anything else.
“I think what it tells us is that he does prefer to travel at night,” Bivens said. “It’s difficult to travel at night, it’s difficult to travel quickly at night. Given his circumstances, the amount of time that he’s been out potentially in the elements, and with potentially limited food and so forth, that is not a surprise to me at all that he’s moving at that pace.”
There have been no confirmed sightings of Burham by investigators to this point.
“We have not had a confirmed sighting by a member of our team,” Bivens said. “We have had sightings that warranted further investigation, but nothing that was substantiated.”
Bivens did confirm that investigators believe the bag in the photo released on Thursday was placed by Burham during his run in May.
“We believe that particular one probably was from when he was on the run the first time,” Bivens said. “We believe he may have been able to access that this time. I’m not going to go into more detail about why we believe that. We’ve done a lot of investigation into the bag, the contents, and that’s our conclusion at this point.”
Three separate agencies have offered rewards for information leading to Burham’s capture, totaling $22,000. PA Crime Stoppers and the U.S. Marshals are each offering $10,000, and Warren County Crime Stoppers is offering $2,000.
Anyone with information is asked to call 717-265-9650.
Police do consider Burham to be armed and dangerous and cautioned against approaching Burham if he is seen, and instead to call 911 immediately.
