Police capture Michael Burham on Saturday, July 15, 2023
The Jamestown man who led police on a two manhunts has pleaded guilty to killing a Jamestown woman.
Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt announced that 37-year old Michael Burham pled guilty Tuesday to 1st Degree Murder in the shooting death of Kala Hodgkin on May 11, 2023. Ms. Hodgkin accused Mr. Burham of forcibly raping her two months before her death and was shot dead in her home by him after he was charged but before he was arrested.
Burham’s plea was made during a final conference before jury selection was scheduled to begin on January 13. Schmidt said Burham will be sentenced on March 2 and is expected to receive an indeterminate prison sentence of 25 years to life.
Schmidt said in a statement, “Two and one-half years after Kala was brutally executed in her home while she and her three kids slept during the early morning hours and not a single day has gone by that we haven’t thought about her and the children, preparing for this trial which was to take place next week, waiting to finally hold this monster accountable for his heinous, cowardly actions. Whether by trial or plea, Mr. Burham’s judgment day was coming and we now look forward to sending him off to state prison where I hope he spends the rest of his life reliving what he did, murdering an innocent young mother, destroying a local family, and traumatizing Kala’s surviving children. Our thoughts and prayers have been and remain with the children.”
Burham led police on two manhunts during the summer of 2023. The first one was after he was being sought in the death of Kala Hodgkin. He kidnapped an elderly couple in Pennsylvania and made them drive him to South Carolina, where he was later captured. Burham then escaped from the Warren County Jail, leading police on a nine-day manhunt.
Burham previously pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, theft and burglary in Pennsylvania. He also pleaded guilty to a single count of escape.
Burham was sentenced to 25 years, two months to 50 years in Pennsylvania.
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