Submitted photos Pictured are Cindy and Ron Ecklund of Conewango Township. The couple on Saturday came across Michael Burham near Jackson Run Creek and called 911.

Cindy and Ron Ecklund knew right away the man who claimed to be camping next to a creek behind their residence was Michael Burham. Shirtless and with his pant legs rolled up to his knees, the man’s face had been in the news for months — though way more in the last nine days after he escaped from Warren County Jail.

“There was no doubt that that was him,” said Cindy Ecklund, whose actions Saturday with her husband and dog, Tucker, resulted in Burham’s apprehension.

Cindy and Ron Ecklund had no idea their quiet Saturday afternoon would help bookend one of Warren County’s largest manhunts in recent memory. The pair had been sitting on the patio outside their Jackson Run Road home in Conewango Township when Tucker took off barking toward Jackson Run Creek situated behind their home.

“He wouldn’t come back. Usually he comes back when we call him, but he was bound and determined to go to the creek,” Cindy Ecklund told the Times Observer. “We were thinking it was probably a fisherman and thought we’ll go down and make sure he doesn’t bother him.”

She and her husband got into their golf cart and headed toward the creek. That’s when they came face-to-face with Burham, who had with him a camouflage-colored backpack.

Pictured is Tucker, the chocolate lab mix who alerted his owners to someone near the creek Saturday.

“My husband asked what he was doing and he told us he was camping. And we’re like, OK,” Cindy Ecklund recounted. “(We) hopped on the golf cart and came back up, and before we even got out of the tree cover, I had my phone out dialing 911 and emphatically said you people need to be here now. He’s right there, no doubt about it. A couple hours later, he was in jail.”

After their encounter, Burham — the prime suspect in the death of a Jamestown woman and facing kidnapping charges in Warren — took off toward the woods.

The prospect of Burham coming through the Ecklunds’ neck of the woods did cross their mind. “The jail is right up over on the other side of the mountain from our house, so the likelihood of him at least passing through here was pretty great,” she said.

After making the 911 call just before 4 p.m., two officers came by and walked down toward the creek. Shortly after, two detectives arrived.

After that, “all hell broke loose,” Cindy Ecklund said. “Everybody was here then — the dogs, the helicopters, everything.”

Within two hours, Burham was in custody.

Cindy and Ron Ecklund praised the efforts of police who took their tip seriously and turned out Saturday. The two also are relieved for the week-long ordeal involving Burham to be over.

“I’m just glad that we were able to help,” Cindy Ecklund said. “We didn’t do anything that anyone else who would have seen or heard what we did would have done. Tucker is the real hero here.”

Regarding Tucker, she added, “He’s always treated very well, but yeah, he’s getting spoiled.”