Inmate caught after escaping from Volusia hospital

DELAND, Fla.,None — Investigators caught an escaped inmate in Volusia County on Tuesday.

The state prisoner, 23-year-old Michael Burke, had been taken to Florida Hospital DeLand for treatment, where he managed to get away.

WFTV's Blaine Tolison found out more about the prisoner and how he escaped.

Burke was shackled, but still able to make it all the way out of the hospital, across the street and into the woods behind a building.

Police said he even broke into a house where he grabbed a knife.

When DeLand police pulled Burke from the woods, he was wearing boxers and had a chain between his ankles and sensors from a heart monitor still covering his body.

Officials said Burke had been in the custody of Volusia County corrections officers at the hospital.

Burke slipped away somehow when he went to use the bathroom. Police said officers received a call around 12:45 p.m. about a man walking through a nearby parking lot wearing shackles and a hospital gown.

A short time later, police found Burke in the garage of a vacant home on Plymouth. They said he broke in and armed himself with a knife.

Burke, who appeared to be in a daze, gave up. He was taken by ambulance back to the hospital where he has been since Sunday.

The Volusia County Department of Corrections is conducting an investigation into exactly how he got away.

Burke does have a prior criminal history. He's facing charges of forgery, grand theft, and dealing in stolen property and is now charged with escape and burglary.

WFTV