JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — A Chautauqua County man was indicted and arraigned in court Wednesday on charges connected to the death of Kala Hodgkin last year.
Michael C. Burham, 35, is Murder in the First Degree, Murder in the Second Degree, and Arson in the Third Degree. He was arraigned in Chautauqua County Court on Wednesday.
He is accused of shooting Hodgkin on May 11, 2023 in Jamestown. He led state police and federal agents on a 13-day manhunt.
Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said in a release, “Ms. Hodgkin was gunned down while asleep in her home with her three children and dog. At the time of her murder, she had accused Mr. Burham, her ex-boyfriend and father to one of her children, of forcibly raping her, leading Jamestown Police to charge him with Rape in the First Degree and Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree. Those charges then resulted in the issuance of a Jamestown City Court warrant for Mr. Burham’s arrest two weeks earlier. The arrest warrant was outstanding when Ms. Hodgkin was killed
While police were searching for him, Burham admitted to kidnapping an elderly Pennsylvania couple back in May at gunpoint and driving them to South Carolina after he escaped from the Warren County Jail. The woman he kidnapped previously told a judge that she saw Burham in her garage with a large pistol. She says he then forced her back into her house, where he changed into her husband's clothes before making them both drive 18 hours with him to South Carolina. Burham was arrested by police in South Carolina.
“Within minutes after they were alerted of the shooting, members of Jamestown Police Department, the Chautauqua County Forensics Investigation Team and District Attorney’s Office were on scene developing and securing evidence, leading to a massive manhunt for Mr. Burham conducted by multiple state and federal law enforcement agencies which spread across several states until he was eventually taken into custody two weeks later in South Carolina.
Burham was sentenced to 25-50 years in prison on the Pennsylvania charges.
Burham is currently in the Chautauqua County Jail. Chautauqua County officials are holding a press conference on Friday to provide more information on the investigation.