Warren, Pa. – An accused murder suspect escaped from the Warren County Jail Thursday night using a technique commonly seen in movies.
He tied the sheets together to make a rope and used the rope to slide down from the roof In prisonLocated next to the county courthouse in Warren County, Warren County, east of Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Michael C. Details of Parham’s escape were provided in a criminal complaint filed against him Friday morning by Warren police. The police have accused him of absconding and he is absconding As of Saturday morning.
“The public is asked to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious. Parham is considered dangerous and should not be approached.” Warren City Police wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.
Parham, 34, is wanted in connection with the May 11 killing of a woman in Jamestown, New York, north of Warren. He was accused of fleeing the area after his death. Arrested May 24 in South Carolina.
Although he has not been charged with murder, Barham is accused of kidnapping an elderly Warren County couple and stealing their SUV at gunpoint on May 20 to drive to South Carolina. BarhamThe man, who last lived in Russell, Pennsylvania, near Warren, was booked into the Warren County Jail on a $1 million bond in the June 19 kidnapping case.
Warren and Jamestown police notified the public of Barham’s escape Facebook posts After midnight on Friday. Parham was “last seen around 1120 p.m. wearing a blue denim jacket,” according to records that refer to Parham’s prison uniform. “All citizens are asked to lock their doors and remain vigilant.”
Local and state police are involved in the search, said Lt. Mark Weindorf, crime division supervisor for Troop E of the Pennsylvania State Police, which is based in Lawrence Park and covers Erie, Warren, Crawford and Venango counties.
Suspect ‘slips on rope’
According to a criminal complaint filed Friday morning, Parham’s escape from jail was reported to Warren County dispatchers Thursday at 11:26 p.m. Another inmate notified prison staff that Barham had escaped, according to the complaint and its probable cause affidavit.
And according to the complaint and affidavit:
A review of surveillance video shows Parham and three other inmates gathered in the Warren County Jail gym at 10:41 p.m. Thursday. Barham was seen walking around.
At 11:26 p.m., Barham is seen standing on an exercise machine to do pullups. Barham “then left the yard”.
“After escaping the yard,” according to the complaint, “defendant tied a rope with several sheets of paper tied together. Defendant then tied the rope from the roof and let it hang over the portico.
“The defendant slipped down the rope, landed on the portico, jumped from the portico to the floor. He then went on foot.”
A murder, an arson, a kidnapping and a manhunt
Although Parham has not been charged in the Jamestown murder, he is considered a suspect, according to court records.
In that case, a woman, Kala Hodgkin, 34, was shot and killed the morning of May 11 at a home in the 100 block of William Street, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Buffalo FBI against Barham in the kidnapping case. In that case the FBI charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, which allowed the FBI to become involved in the search for Parham in South Carolina and elsewhere.
At the time of Hodgkin’s murder, Barham was facing a charge of raping her, and an arrest warrant was still active in that case, according to the FBI.
On May 20, according to the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police received a report that an elderly couple from Sheffield, near Warren, was missing and their Honda SUV was gone from their home.
The couple was found unharmed in a cemetery in North Charleston, South Carolina on May 21. The FBI said the couple identified Barham as their abductor and abducted them at gunpoint from their home in Sheffield.
With the help of other law enforcement agencies, the FBI arrested Parham on May 24 northeast of New Charleston. Huger, South Carolina, in Francis Marion National Forest. Authorities credited a Berkeley County, South Carolina, resident with calling 911 after spotting Parham near her home. The FBI said. The FBI said law enforcement agencies used K-9 dogs to track Barham and he was arrested without incident.
Contact Ed Palatella [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
