Danelo Cavalcante caught! Inside the 13-day, 500-agent manhunt for the fugitive killer
CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: The two-week-long manhunt for Danelo Cavalcante, 34 a killer fugitive finally came to an end with his capture on Wednesday, September 13 morning after escaping Chester County prison on August 31 by carb walking the prison wall.
Cavalcante who is originally from Brazil was sentenced to life for killing his ex-girlfriend for fear that she would expose his earlier murder in Brazil to the authorities.
How was Danelo Cavalcante caught?
The murderer who was being tracked down by 500 law enforcement officers was captured by a SWAT search team around 8 am on Wednesday.
Cavalcante who had managed to illegally enter the US after making his first kill in Brazil was captured in a wooded area area near South Coventry Township.
The authorities reportedly used thermal imaging from aircraft which picked up heat signals and pinpointed the armed fugitive's location, as per State Police Lt Col George Bivens.
Reports said that after locating Cavalcante, 25 officers from the tactical team captured him, who had formed a new parameter around the spot where the head signal had been picked.
"They were able to move in very quietly they had the element of surprise," Bivens said, as per CBS News.
Did Danelo Cavalcante try to break free after capture?
However, he managed to break free for a brief time and tried to escape by crawling through the tall grass with the rifle he had stolen days after making the escape, Daily Mail reported.
The officers then released a police dog to capture him who bit Cavalcante as according to one report he was "forcibly taken into custody" and also treated for the injury at the scene.
The images of capture showed Cavalcante bloodied, however, the bite wound, as per Bivens, was minor and there were no other injuries.
The escapee was then transported to Avondale police station for questioning before officers posed with him for photos. He will be transported to state prison later.
Timeline of events since Danelo Cavalcante was sentenced and his escape till capture
It was on August 16 that Cavalcante was convicted of the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao who he killed in April 2021.
The crime carries a mandatory life sentence without parole in Pennsylvania. Awaiting transfer to state prison, Cavalcante escaped Chester County prison by "crab walking" the wall.
He then ran across the roof managing to hide from the tower guard who was later fired, and scaled a fence and pushed his way through razor wire to escape as per prison warden, Howard Holland.
Cavalcante had a one-hour head start as for one hour his escape went unnoticed, it was after headcounts were taken that the escape was detected.
Danelo Cavalcante sighted for the first time after the escape
It was on September 1, a day after Ryan Drummond claimed he saw the killer fugitive inside his home in Pocopson Township when they were getting ready to bed.
"What I decided to do was flip the switch three or four or five times, paused, and then he flipped a light switch from downstairs. This was the moment of, 'Oh my God this guy is down there,'" said Drummond.
Drummond then saw Cavalcante “walking methodically” out of his house.
"Peaches, apples, green snap peas were missing. We have a bunch of little steak knives and he could have taken one of those," said Drummond, as per 6ABC.
Danelo Cavalcante was seen with a backpack and a hooded sweatshirt
On September 2, he was spotted on a residential surveillance camera, about 1.5 miles from the prison.
The police initially narrowed the search to a two-mile radius near the prison where they believed he may be hiding in the woods.
Two days later, he was captured on cameras in Longwood Gardens, several miles from Chester County prison, twice.
This forced the parameter to be shifted. By that time, he had obtained which included a backpack, a duffel sling bag and a hooded sweatshirt.
Cavalcante was again spotted on September 5 at a property near Ennsbury Township, Bivens said. However, he managed to escape before the police arrived.
On September 6, he was again seen on trail camera along Longwood Gardens, but police learned about it late. On September 8, there were two more sightings of Cavalcante within the search parameter.
Cavalcante manages to escape search parameter stealing a van
On September 9, Cavalcante slipped the parameter and stole a delivery van, of a local dairy farm which had keys inside.
Cavalcante fleed 20 miles to East Pikeland Township before abandoning the van reported to be short on fuel. The van was located on September 10.
He then tried to contact acquaintances, as per CNN. The person was not home, but the ring doorbell camera captured him clean-shaven.
He then went to contact another acquaintance nearby Phoenixville. The person was not home either.
Searches escalate after discarded prison boots are found as Cavalcante steals a rifle
On Monday, September 11, he was spotted by a woman crawling a wood line near Coventry Township.
The patrol tactical team saw footprints in the mud identical to the prison shoes Cavalcante was wearing.
They were soon found discarded as at the same time a resident reported that a pair of workboots had been stolen from the porch outside of his home.
Police then received a call from a resident on Coventryville Road to inform them that his .22 calibre rifle was stolen after a shirtless Cavalcante entered his garage.
The man shot several rounds from his pistol at Cavalcante who fled the scene. The police who arrived at the spot found a green sweatshirt and a white t-shirt in the driveway.
On September 13, the manhunt finally comes to an end.
Chester County commissioners told Daily Mail in a statement that "The capture of Cavalcante ends the nightmare of the past two weeks."
He added, "We thank every single law enforcement official at the regional, state and federal level that was out in all weather conditions, all day and night – as well as everyone in the incident command center, our County Department of Emergency Services and County Sheriff’s Office – for their immense efforts."