Killer Danelo Cavalante escaped Pennsylvania prison with daring climb between two walls onto roof
The convicted killer currently on the run after breaking out of a Pennsylvania prison last week had escaped by climbing between two walls to reach the roof, according to shocking new video.
Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who was serving a life sentence at Chester County Prison, was caught on camera walking to a secluded area in the jail yard and positioning himself in between two walls described to be about five feet apart.
The five-foot-tall murderer then appeared to check if anyone was watching before placing his hands on one wall and his feet against the other, propping his body up.
The prisoner then walked backward up the wall, disappearing from view as he made it up to the roof to mount his daring escape.
While there doesn’t seem to be any additional video of Cavalcante performing such a feat, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Biven told reporters Wednesday that the inmate had likely been practicing for the vertical climb.
Howard Holland, the acting warden of the prison, added that the guard at the observation tower who could have spotted Cavalcante on the roof has since been put on administrative leave.
Biven told reporters that police have increased the search area for Cavalcante yet again as the killer remains elusive after six days on the run.
Cavalcante, a Brazilian immigrant who entered the US illegally, received a life sentence last month for the 2021 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in front of her two children.
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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.
Prosecutors claimed he did so because Brandao was going to alert police to an active warrant for his arrest for another alleged murder in Brazil in 2017.
After escaping from prison last Thursday, nearly 200 law enforcement personnel are combing through an area of eastern Pennsylvania in an effort to “stress” Cavalcante out of hiding.
Biven suggested Wednesday that the escaped inmate is now lost and is likely heading south to elude law enforcement.
He added that state police are continuing to broadcast a message from Cavalcante’s mother, in which she pleads for her son to turn himself in.
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.
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.
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.
Pennsylvania law enforcement officials and the US Marshals Service are now offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to Cavalcante’s arrest.
