We know something about the search for Danelo Cavalcante
Danelo Cavalcante’s Escape from the Chester County Prison: A “Grand Rapidity” Investigating a “Massive Manhunt” in Pennsylvania
The escape by the convicted murderer, who prompted a massive manhunt in Pennsylvania, was made by scaling a wall sideways, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof.
The timeline and details of Danelo Cavalcante’s escape — including that he got out using the same route another prisoner took in May — were released as police from various agencies flooded a search zone of increasingly worried residents. A tower guard on duty during the breakout was put on leave as part of the escape investigation.
The escape and search have attracted international attention and became big news in Cavalcante’s native Brazil. The main newspaper in Rio did a lengthy story on hide andseek.
Howard Holland, the acting warden of the Chester County Prison, showed a security video at the news conference. It shows the 34-year-old Cavalcante standing in a passageway next to the jail yard before bracing his hands on one wall and his feet on another then “crab-walking” up the walls out of the camera’s view.
“What was perhaps overlooked was the fact that addressing the single point of physical countermeasures should have been bolstered by additional means. Holland said that they are addressing that. He said that the prison was full when Cavalcante broke out.
The prison is considering adding officers to the yard during recreation times, as well as caging in the top of those yards, Holland said. He said that the escape investigation had been taken over by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office.
Holland declined to say why the guard, whose name has not been made public, had not noticed Cavalcante hopping from the roof and heading away from the prison’s perimeter.
The search for the escaped killer of his girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in Pocopson, Pennsylvania, remained closed Monday night and Tuesday night
Cavalcante received a life sentence last month for killing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in front of her kids, and escaped while awaiting transfer to state prison. He killed her to stop her from telling police about his suspected involvement in a killing in Brazil.
Two of the Philadelphia area’s school districts remained shuttered and one of the nation’s premier botanical gardens remained closed as authorities continued to search for the person who committed the crime.
Since he escaped, Cavalcante has been seen six times, the most recently being on Tuesday night when he was seen in a residential area. He had been spotted Monday night at Longwood Gardens, where trail surveillance video captured him walking through the garden’s grounds.
After finding that Cavalcante had likely escaped through the original perimeter, officials moved the search area further south.
Authorities have urged residents to keep their homes and vehicles locked, to check the properties of vacationing neighbors and to look out for missing cars, bicycles or other transportation Cavalcante might use.
It’s disturbing to know that I can’t join my dogs in the backyard. Danielle Lawrence lives near the county’s jail in Pocopson and says it is just an uneasy feeling if her husband has to come outside with her.
Ryan Drummond, whose Pocopson home was broken into late Friday by a man believed to be Cavalcante, voiced similar views. Cavalcante likely came in through French doors that were broken, and his family may have been nearby when they locked up the house that night.
The Drummond and Cavalcante Search for a Broken Doorway to Longwood Gardens, a South Carolina Botanical Center
The kids are off school because we are still operating in a half-normal life. Parents are trying to do the COVID balance of working and managing their children,” Drummond said Wednesday.
The man left with an apple and a peach, as well as a white hat, that he soon lost, after he fled past a nearby neighbor’s yard.
“Everybody wants this to be over,” said Drummond, who said his frustration lies not with the search efforts but with the prison. How is it going at the present time?
The same route was used by another prisoner in May, according to Holland. Within minutes, the prisoner was returned after a tower guard sounded an alarm.
The night before, a trail surveillance camera captured him twice walking through Longwood Gardens, a botanical center located about three miles away from the prison. At that point, he was carrying a duffel bag, a backpack and a hoodie.
Drummond, who said his wife and kids are trying to balance a busy life of work and school, said his home’s French doors had a broken lock, and that Cavalcante may have overheard a conversation about that lock as the family was checking doors that evening.
Authorities have sent reverse 9-1-1 alert calls to residents as recently as Wednesday, and are still asking residents to keep their homes locked and to be on the lookout for missing cars, bicycles or transportation.
The Hunt for Cavalcante in Pocopson, Pennsylvania, with the Wilkinson Photon Detector (WHYY)
A combination of the thick brush and scorching temperatures have complicated the search, according to NPR member station WHYY. Excessive heat has rendered thermal cameras unusable and led to the hospitalization of one tactical search dog.
The Pocopson area is around seven square miles in size and is 25 miles west of Philadelphia. There is support from the Pennsylvania State Police, FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
There’s no reason to suspect Cavalcante’s appearance has changed since he fled, according to Bevins. He stands 5 feet tall, has 120 pounds on him and sports a beard and mustache.
