Kala May Hodgkin, 34, was found dead in her Jamestown, New York, home at 125 William Street in the early morning of May 11, 2023, after a report of an unresponsive woman around 4:30 a.m. The Jamestown Police Department identified her death as a homicide. She was a mother of three.

Investigators quickly focused on Michael C. Burham, also 34, who had been in a relationship with Hodgkin and was the father of one of her children. Hodgkin had accused Burham of rape and unlawful imprisonment from an incident in March 2023, and an arrest warrant for those allegations had been issued about two weeks before her death. Two deliberate fires were set nearby shortly before the killing, which authorities say appeared intended to distract law enforcement.

Burham was the subject of a multi‑state manhunt lasting nearly two weeks; during that time he kidnapped an elderly Pennsylvania couple and drove them to South Carolina before releasing them. He was captured in a South Carolina backyard on May 24, 2023, and extradited to Chautauqua County to face charges related to Hodgkin’s death. A grand jury later indicted him on murder and arson charges, and he remains held awaiting trial. If anyone knew Kala, her movements, or had information about the period before May 11, please come forward.