Officers are pictured May 11 outside the home of Kala Hodgkin on William Street in Jamestown. A suspect in the case is expected to be brought back to Pennsylanvia to face charges including kidnapping. P-J file photo by Eric Tichy

Chautauqua County’s top prosecutor indicated this week he will delay charging a former area resident with the murder of a Jamestown woman last month.

The move, Jason Schmidt said, will afford the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office more time to establish its case against Michael Burham and to allow Warren County to move forward with its own case.

“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 Thursday. “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.”

For the first time publicly, Schmidt directly linked Burham to the death of 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin inside her William Street home in Jamestown. Officers were called to her residence after receiving reports of shots fired.

Nine days after Hodgkin was killed, Burham is alleged to have kidnapped a Warren County couple before driving them to South Carolina. The two were later found safe, and Burham was eventually taken into custody after a prolonged manhunt.

On Wednesday, Burham appeared in federal court where an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution charge was dismissed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A warrant on the federal charge was issued while Burham was still on the run.

U.S. Marshals brought the 34-year-old Burham back to New York this week. It marked the first time he was in the state since the homicide, though his exact movements following Hodgkin’s death are not yet clear.

Burham had been wanted on charges of rape from a separate incident, though it also involved Hodgkin, and arson for allegedly torching another woman’s car moments after police were called to Hodgkin’s home the morning of May 11. On Thursday, Schmidt indicated that the rape charge has been dropped while the arson charge has been withdrawn for now.

“At this point I think it’s clear to everyone who has followed these awful events that Mr. Burham is the prime suspect in the killing of Kala Hodgkin and a related arson committed on May 11 in the City of Jamestown,” the DA said in a statement. “It also seems apparent that, after committing these horrific acts, Mr. Burham fled the State, entered into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, abducted an elderly couple, and then traveled south where he was eventually apprehended in South Carolina on May 24.”

He added, “The day will come in fairly short order when Mr. Burham will be held to answer for his conduct here in New York.”

By removing the detainers against Burham locally, and with the dismissal of the federal charge, Schmidt said it “paves the way for Pennsylvania to go forward with the prosecution of kidnapping charges filed by Pennsylvania State Police and District Attorney Greene’s office. As a predicate to that, our State Court is already engaged in the necessary extradition process so that Mr. Burham will be transported to Pennsylvania.”

As of Thursday morning, Burham was listed as an inmate at the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo.

When he’s finally returned, Burham faces eight felonies among 26 charges in Warren County, including two counts each of kidnapping and aggravated assault, and individual counts of burglary, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass.

According to a police affidavit, the kidnapping victims were able to identify Burham based on media reports “as well as conversations they had with Burham while they were being held by him against their will.”

Rob Greene, Warren County district attorney, declined to comment on the case when reached Thursday by the Warren Times Observer.