Pics of heroic K-9 that tracked down escaped murderer emerge as Danelo Cavalcante is seen barefoot and bloodied
Murderer Danelo Cavalcante was led out of a Pennsylvania State Police station Wednesday with blood drips visible across his hospital gown — while new images emerged showing the heroic K-9 that finally captured him hours before.
Cavalcante, who led police on a dramatic two-week chase after crab-walking up walls and out of Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, was escorted out of the Pottstown station in the hands of heavily armed cops, who loaded him into an armored car and took him away.
The 34-year-old Brazilian’s face was still battered and bloodied after being routed out from a woodpile this morning, and he walked with his wrists and ankles cuffed and his feet bare on the pavement.
Citizens stood by, filming and cheering as the killer was led away. Cavalcante was captured Wednesday morning after K9 units sniffed him out and discovered him lying in hiding with a stolen .22 caliber rifle at his side.
He tried to crawl away from police, Lt. Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said in a press conference, but was stopped after the police dog bit him.
Photos from the moment of capture showed the K-9, who it was later revealed is named Yoda, sitting with its front paws wrapped around Cavalcante’s feet and its mouth poised over his calves, as officers in camouflaged tactical gear pinned his bloody body to the ground and cuffed him.
Yoda is a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois dog who serves with the U.S. Border Patrol Border Patrol Tactical K9 unit, who were drafted in to help track down Cavalcante.
The killer was wearing an Philadelphia Eagles hoodie when he was captured, and his forehead was streaked with blood where the K9 bit his scalp.
Police arrested him without firing a single shot.
“Cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded until he was,” Bivens said of the covert capture, which began around 1 a.m. Wednesday when a DEA aircraft detected a heat signal in the underbrush, reportedly behind a tractor supply store in South Coventry Township.
Additional charges on top of his murder conviction for killing his ex-girlfriend are now pending with the District Attorney’s Office, Bevin said.
Early morning lighting forced tactical aircraft to land, leading to ground units laying in wait for the right moment to strike.
He was finally found west of PA 100 and north of Prizer Road, near where a burglar alarm was tripped Tuesday night.
Police cut the hoodie off of him to check for weapons.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro jokingly pledged to replace the hoodie at the press conference, as Cavalcante presumably stole it from somebody during his 14 days at large.
After the capture, SWAT teams took a group photo, posing with their catch.
Some critics called the photo-op tasteless, but Bevins shrugged those opinions off at the press conference and praised the officers who assisted in the capture.
“Those men and women worked amazingly hard. I’m not bothered at all,” Bivens said, shrugging.
“They’re proud of their work.”
Cavalcante sprang himself from prison shortly after being sentenced to life for the April 2021 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandão.
He is also suspected of shooting a friend to death over car payments in his home country of Brazil in 2017.
After that killing, he hid out for weeks in the Brazilian countryside before making his way illegally to the United States.
The search for the 5-foot-tall assailant involved hundreds of officers across southeastern Pennsylvania, and resulted in several school closures as residents locked their homes up tight.
