BUFFALO, N.Y. — After a two-week-long manhunt, Michael Burham is now in custody beginning the search for justice in a long list of crimes spanning three states.
The 34-year-old appeared in Charleston County Court Thursday afternoon and waived his extradition hearing. He is facing charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Burham spent Wednesday night in a detention center in Charleston County after Anthony Phillips alerted authorities that he saw him in his backyard.
Phillips said he spotted the then-fugitive peaking around the corner of his shed and confronted him.
“He stood up and said, 'I’m not going to hurt anybody,' ” Phillips said. “I’m just going to leave.”
Burham then made a break toward a path in the forest behind Phillips' house, where authorities later apprehended him.
“Thank God that he got caught,” Phillips said.
Federal documents also revealed the timeline and new details of the 34-year-old’s list of alleged crimes.
The crimes started at the beginning of the 13-day manhunt in Jamestown where Burham allegedly raped and murdered 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin before setting a vehicle on fire.
Then days later, he kidnapped and forced an elderly couple at gunpoint in Pennsylvania to drive him to South Carolina.
It was there that investigators found a letter from Burham, intended for his father, in which the suspect said he is “sorry for all the problems I caused the family,” but “I’m not sorry for what I did.”
A spokesperson for the FBI also told 2 On Your Side that Burham will be extradited back to Jamestown, where he will face his charges.