Police say person seen in doorbell video was not Pennsylvania inmate escapee
By Brian Todd and Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN
(CNN) — Police in Pennsylvania said they erroneously identified a person seen in recently released doorbell footage as prison escapee Michael Burham, who was taken into custody Saturday, according to authorities.
Law enforcement on Friday released video they say was taken sometime within “the last couple of days” that they initially believed to show Burham, the escaped inmate who had been on the run for a week before his capture Saturday afternoon.
The video from authorities showed a person walking toward a wooded area past a home located south of the city of Warren in northern Pennsylvania.
“We received several other tips that are still being vetted, but we can now also say with relative certainty that, thanks to the public response from that area, the individual depicted in that video is not Burham,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens told reporters Saturday, hours before authorities announced they located the inmate.
Burham broke out of Warren County Prison in northwestern Pennsylvania shortly before midnight on July 6 using tied-up bedsheets and elevating himself on exercise equipment, according to a county spokesperson.
Authorities had described him as a “dangerous” inmate with military experience and survivalist knowledge after his escape from the 140-capacity facility that holds inmates awaiting trial or who are sentenced to two years or less behind bars.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
This story and photo have been updated, and a photo and video removed, to reflect new information from Pennsylvania State Police.