Photo by Eric Tichy Police officers are pictured the morning of May 11 on William Street in Jamestown.

JAMESTOWN — The escape of Michael Burham from custody in Warren is not slowing the ongoing investigation into a Jamestown woman’s death.

A multi-agency search for Burham entered its fourth full day Monday. The former Chautauqua County resident had been jailed in Warren on a host of kidnapping-related charges that all stem from the May 11 shooting death of Kala Hodgkin inside her William Street home in Jamestown.

Jason Schmidt, Chautauqua County district attorney, said Burham’s escape has not yet hindered his office from moving forward in building its case in New York. In addition to possible murder charges, Burham also is accused of setting another woman’s car on fire the morning Hodgkin was killed.

Burham was seen on video surveillance attempting to get into the woman’s home before her car was set ablaze.

“On the face of things I would say that they run concurrent with one another and they don’t necessarily impact our development of evidence at all,” Schmidt said of the ongoing search, which began in earnest late Thursday when it became clear Burham had used bed sheets tied together to escape custody.

Schmidt acknowledged the timeline that led to Burham being moved to Warren County on June 19.

“It certainly isn’t a good thing here for any of us on our side,” he said. “I sort of arranged for this to go as it did with us removing all the legal detainers on him in New York state and asking Pennsylvania to proceed on its side since they seemed to me more prepared to go forward since the elderly couple that was abducted was alive and well.”

He added, “For him to then escape, we weren’t anticipating that.”

Police believe Burham, a prime suspect in Hodgkin’s death, fled to Warren County on May 11 in a rented vehicle.

On May 20, the Pennsylvania State Police was notified a Sheffield couple in Warren County was missing and that their sport utility vehicle was gone as well. The elderly couple was found uninjured the following day in North Charleston, S.C.

The couple identified Burham as their kidnapper and stated that he abducted them at gunpoint.

With the help of K-9 units scouring the woods in South Carolina, Burham was eventually taken into custody May 24. He was extradited to New York and brought before a U.S. District Court judge for an appearance on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. That charge was dismissed, and Burham was moved to Warren County to face numerous charges related to the couple’s kidnapping.

“Letting Pennsylvania go first provides us with further time to continue to develop the evidence just as we have been doing since the early morning hours of May 11,” Schmidt said at the time. “Understand that once we charge any crime, the right to counsel attaches, limiting our ability to interview the suspect, and our ongoing investigation is also further complicated by New York’s discovery laws applicable in criminal proceedings.”

On Monday, Schmidt said his office was still working to “develop new evidence” in Hodgkin’s death and that evidence already collected was being processed for DNA. He said he’s trying to link both crime scenes — where Hodgkin was killed and where the woman’s car was set on fire — together with evidence.

“Obviously, we need him in custody,” the DA said. “We want to be able to bring him back in New York state when the time is appropriate.”