Escaped fugitive Danelo Cavalcante caught after two-week manhunt
Convicted killer and escaped fugitive Danelo Cavalcante was captured Wednesday morning when a K-9 officer sniffed him out in the Pennsylvania woods — following two weeks of him eluding search teams by breaking into suburban homes for food and hiding out in the wilderness.
Cavalcante — who escaped from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31 — was apprehended without incident shortly after 8 a.m. when the K-9 revealed him lying flat under a pile of leaves and wood, Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said at a press conference.
Additional charges for the double murderer are pending discussions with the district attorney’s office, he added.
The escapee attempted to evade capture by crawling on his stomach with a rifle, but was ultimately bitten by the K-9 and was arrested without a chance to fire a shot at the tactical team of officers from Border Patrol and the state police.
The rifle is believed to be the same .22 that Cavalcante stole during a confrontation with a homeowner in South Coventry Township on Monday night.
“Cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded until he was,” Bivens said of the covert effort, which closed in around 1 a.m. Wednesday when a DEA aircraft detected a heat signature in the wooded underbrush.
When lightning forced the aircraft to land, a tactical unit on the ground held position and waited for the right moment to move in, Bivens said.
Cavalcante was finally found west of PA 100 and north of Prizer Road, where police were alerted to a burglar alarm Tuesday night, Bivens said.
“I believe he was taken by surprise,” Bivens said of the prisoner.
In the moments after his arrest, Cavalcante was seen wearing a gray Philadelphia Eagles hoodie, which was cut off him to check for weapons and confirm his identity via distinctive tattoos, CBS Philadelphia reported.
In a lighthearted moment, Gov. Josh Shapiro pledged at the press conference to replace the hoodie, which was presumably stolen during Cavalcante’s 14 days on the lam.
The fugitive’s face was also partly obscured by blood, which Bivens said was from a minor scalp wound from a K-9 bite.
Shortly before the morning press conference, Cavalcante was seen arriving at the Avondale State Police Barracks via motorcade while relieved residents looked on, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
He will be processed and examined, and will likely be interviewed with the help of an interpreter, Bivens told reporters.
“I don’t know that he was particularly skilled, he was desperate,” Bivens said of Cavalcante’s escape plan.
“There were people who were intent and intended to assist him, [but] we had been successful in preventing it,” he added, noting that one of Cavalcante’s would-be helpers was his sister, who is in custody with immigration.
Bivens also defended a post-manhunt photo op of the SWAT team with Cavalcante, which some critics blasted as tasteless.
“Those men and women worked amazingly hard. I’m not bothered at all,” Bivens shrugged.
“They’re proud of their work.”
Shapiro also took a moment to praise the “extraordinary” efforts by local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as the Chester County community.
“This has been a concerning and trying time [for the area],” Shapiro acknowledged.
District Attorney Deb Ryan added that “today is a great day” in Chester County, which is home to less than 540,000 people.
“Our nightmare is finally over, and the good guys won,” the relieved official beamed.
Ryan also praised the extensive use of innovative technology and other strategies during the search, which even used a broadcast message from Cavalvante’s mother in which she begged her son to surrender.
Cavalcante — who is originally from Brazil — was sentenced to life without parole last month for the fatal April 2021 stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandão.
He was awaiting transfer to state prison when he crab-walked up the walls of the Chester County facility on Aug. 31.
He escaped from the prison by wandering to a secluded area of the yard, scaling a wall and climbing over razor wire before jumping from a roof to elude guards.
In her remarks on Wednesday, Ryan said the victim’s family was one of the first to be alerted that Cavalcante was back in custody.
Almost immediately after the news broke, Brandão’s sister, Sarah, posted “They caught him” in Portuguese on her Facebook profile, followed by several sobbing emojis.
Locals were also informed of the capture via reverse 911 call, CBS Philadelphia said.
Less than 24 hours before Cavalcante was found, the Pennsylvania State Police announced he was “armed and extremely dangerous” after he made off with the .22 rifle from the garage of an unnamed resident, who fired seven shots at the escapee in the brief Monday scuffle.
Investigators descended on the location of the confirmed sighting and found shoes they believe may belong to Cavalcante, according to the local report.
SWAT officers in armored trucks with hundreds of police officers on Tuesday searched the neighborhood after a helicopter caught a glimpse of the escapee.
Two state police helicopters were hovering around the French Creek Elementary School area for most of the morning — near where the homeowner reported firing at the person who entered his home.
State police were authorized to use lethal force if he did not surrender, Bivens confirmed Wednesday.
Some nearby school districts closed on Tuesday, and residents were warned to lock down their homes, vehicles and outbuildings.
An unidentified 18-year-veteran correctional officer on duty at the observation tower when Cavalcante escaped was fired last week, a Chester County spokesperson confirmed to The Post.
