Cops trying to ‘stress’ out escaped Pa. killer in game of ‘hide and seek’
Pennsylvania authorities say they are trying to “stress” out an escaped killer who busted out of prison in a “dangerous game of tactical hide and seek” — as they revealed that he made his prison break last week by climbing onto a roof.
Danelo Souza Cavalcante, 34, was still on the lam Wednesday, nearly a week after he escaped from Chester County Prison, where he was serving a life sentence for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend in front of her two young children.
“This is a dangerous game of tactical hide and seek,” Robert Clark, the supervisory deputy US Marshal for Pennsylvania’s eastern district, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday night.
“And it takes time.”
Nearly 200 law enforcement personnel — including local, state and even federal officers — are combing through an area of eastern Pennsylvania in an effort to “stress” Cavalcante out of hiding.
He said the plan now is to inundate the area with law enforcement personnel, aided by resources from the FBI and the US Border Patrol.
“We are going to get boots in the woods. We are going to let him know we are there,” Clark said.
“We are going to leave no rock unturned. We are going to check every little hiding spot. And should we miss him, we are going to go back in again the next day.”
The Pennsylvania State Police are broadcasting a message from Cavalcante’s mother, in which she pleads for her son to turn himself in.
“We plan to stress him. We plan to move him,” Clark continued, echoing the words of Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens at a news conference Tuesday.
Everything to know about the hunt for prison escapee Danelo Cavalcante
Convicted killer and escaped fugitive Danelo Cavalcante was captured when a K9 officer sniffed him out in the Pennsylvania woods
Cavalcante, 34, infamously crab-walked up two walls at Chester County Prison to escape Aug. 31.
The 5-foot-tall killer was originally behind bars in the US for fatally stabbing his girlfriend in 2021.
Previously, in November 2017, Cavalcante allegedly confronted a friend in the middle of town in Brazil over money and gunned him down.
He eventually made his way to the US using a fake identity, slaying his partner four years later in front of her young son and daughter.
A week after being sentenced to life in August, Cavalcante escaped.
Police said the diminutive perp was “armed and extremely dangerous” after he was spotted stealing a rifle out of a Pennsylvania homeowner’s garage.
“We plan to have him make mistakes — which he already made now. He has appeared on camera two times.”
The ramped-up search efforts come as it was revealed that he climbed onto the roof of a building at the prison from one of the facility’s exercise yards around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, according to a source at the prison who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Cavalcante then ran across the roof and dropped down to a less-secure area, where he was able to flee the prison, the source said.
On Saturday, the escaped murderer was seen on a residential surveillance camera around 12:30 a.m. in the 1800 block of Lenape Road, about a mile and a half from the prison, authorities have said.
Then on Monday night, Cavalcante was also recorded passing by a trail camera in Longwood Gardens twice within one hour — when he was heading north at 8:21 p.m. and when he returned south at 9:33 p.m.
He was still wearing his prison-issued pants and light-colored T-shirt — though he was somehow able to acquire a dark backpack, prosecutors said.
Bivens said it was likely he lost his bearings and backtracked to continue southward.
“That pressure we put on him is working,” the Pennsylvania State Police official said at a news conference Tuesday. “We squeezed him hard enough in a period of a few days where he couldn’t get some relief and he squeezed out.
“I wish we could’ve got him, but it’s a large, dark area with a difficult terrain,” he added.
Several residents and law enforcement officials have also reported sightings of the escaped murderer, with one Pocopson Township man saying he saw Cavalcante break into his kitchen around 11:45 p.m. Friday.
“I woke up my wife and said, ‘I think there might be someone downstairs,’” Ryan Drummond recounted to 6ABC.
He said that after he heard some rustling, he rushed to the upstairs landing.
“What I decided to do was flip the switch three or four times, paused, and then he flipped a light switch from downstairs,” Drummond claimed. “This was the moment of ‘Oh my God, this guy is down there.’”
Another sighting came Sunday afternoon when a state trooper spotted Cavalcante from a distance and chased after him, Bivens said, but the trooper was unable to capture the fugitive due to the terrain and other obstacles.
Bivens said Cavalcante looked a little worn and tired during the “very brief sighting.”
Around 6 p.m. Monday, authorities received another report of a possible sighting of Cavalcante — but he was nowhere to be found when police arrived.
The ongoing search efforts have forced two local school districts to close for two consecutive days.
“It’s just tiring. It’s exhausting. And just your nerves are on edge and you just second-guess everything,” resident Jo-Ann Shiley told CBS News.
Bivens said his team recognizes it is stressful for the local community, adding his assurances that the state and local police, in concert with federal authorities, are working to bring the manhunt to a conclusion as soon as possible.
Prosecutors are also urging residents to remain indoors and lock their vehicles, as well as review any surveillance footage for possible sightings of Cavalcante.
“Danelo Cavalcante is considered an extremely dangerous man,” the notice from the DA’s office says. “Please remain vigilant in assisting with this search.
“If you see this individual, do not approach him. Call 911 immediately.”
Cavalcante was convicted on Aug. 16 of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, 38 times in front of her two young children in 2021.
At the time, Bivens said, there was an active warrant for his arrest for another alleged murder in his home country of Brazil in 2017.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole last week, and was set to be transferred to a state correctional facility in four weeks, according to 6ABC.
Pennsylvania law enforcement officials and the US Marshals Service are offering a $10,000 reward for Cavalcante.
