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Murder, rape suspect uses bedsheets to escape jail

WARREN COUNTY, PENN. — A homicide suspect arrested in South Carolina escaped from a Pennsylvania jail using bedsheets, police said.

Michael Burham, 34, is accused of murder and rape in Jamestown, New York, police said.

He was being held in the Warren County Jail in northern Pennsylvania on arson and burglary charges and was also associated with the carjacking and kidnapping of a Pennsylvania couple while trying to evade capture in May, according to Jamestown police.

Burham previously led authorities on a multi-state manhunt and had three warrants for his arrest by the time he was apprehended on May 24.

Burham was initially wanted after being charged with the rape and unlawful imprisonment of a woman for an incident in Jamestown on March 13, authorities said. Local police had issued a warrant for his arrest in that case on April 27.

Amid that manhunt, Burham allegedly kidnapped an elderly couple at gunpoint on May 20 in Sheffield, Pennsylvania, and drove them to North Charleston, South Carolina, according to the FBI. He was charged with kidnapping and a warrant was issued for his arrest out of Warren County, Pennsylvania.

Burham was eventually captured in South Carolina on May 24 after a resident spotted him in their backyard, police said.

He escaped the Warren County Jail late Thursday night by jumping on the roof and lowering himself down to the ground using bedsheets that were tied together.

He was last seen wearing an orange-and-white-striped jumpsuit.

Federal, state, and local resources are being utilized in the search.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Jamestown Police Department’s anonymous tip line at 716-483-8477.

ABC News contributed to this report.


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