An escaped murderer who captured international headlines for “crab-walking” out of a Pennsylvania jail is still at large 11 days later.
Danelo Souza Cavalcante, 34, escaped from the Chester County Prison while awaiting transfer to state prison on Aug. 31 after being sentenced to life for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in 2021. Prosecutors say he wanted to stop her from telling police that he’s wanted for homicide in his home country of Brazil.
Cavalcante made the brazen escape by scaling a wall, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof in a prison break that wasn’t noticed by guards until a headcount was conducted a full hour later, authorities said.
On Monday, state police warned local residents in Chester County to be on the lookout and keep vehicles and homes locked as the manhunt for Cavalcante continues.
Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said Friday that about 400 law enforcement officers were participating in a perimeter search around the Chester County Prison for the escaped inmate. But even with aircraft, tracking dogs and officers on horseback joining the search, Cavalcante was still somehow able to slip past the police perimeter.
On Sunday, Bivens told reporters that Cavalcante stole a 2020 Ford Transit van that had been parked at a dairy farm about 1.2 kilometres north of the search area. The unlocked delivery van, which had the keys inside, was stolen Saturday between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., Baily’s Dairy said on its Facebook page.
The dairy farm wrote that it was “just as disappointed as everyone that he broke through the perimeter.”
Bivens vowed to “aggressively continue” the search and said he is confident the fugitive will be captured.
He declined to say how he thought Cavalcante slipped through the perimeter, but said it had weaknesses, such as underground tunnels and huge drainage ditches, and that no perimeter is 100 per cent secure.
Using the stolen dairy van, Cavalcante travelled north to the East Pikeland Township and later to nearby Phoenixville, where he attempted to contact acquaintances for help.
Shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday, he showed up at the East Pikeland home of a person he had worked with several years ago and asked to meet with him, police said.
The man wasn’t home but he did speak to Cavalcante though a doorbell camera, the BBC reported.
Images from the doorbell camera showed Cavalcante, who had a beard and moustache when he escaped prison, now clean-shaven. In the footage, Cavalcante is wearing a yellow or green hooded sweatshirt, black baseball cap, green prison pants and white shoes, police said.
Cavalcante attempted to contact another old acquaintance in Phoenixville, but that person also wasn’t home, Bivens said.
“He is absolutely looking for support,” Bivens said of Cavalcante’s actions. “He needs that support — he doesn’t have it.”
The stolen dairy van was eventually found Sunday night in a field behind a barn in East Nantmeal Township, about 24 kilometres west of Phoenixville. Law enforcement have broadened their search to the area around where the stolen van was found, CNN reported.
Bivens said he believed Cavalcante abandoned the vehicle at least in part because it was low on fuel and he expects the escapee to try to find another vehicle.
“I do not have a report of a stolen vehicle; I anticipate that we will,” he said.
If state police are able to track Cavalcante down, they are authorized to use deadly force if he doesn’t actively surrender, Bivens said Monday. Other agencies involved in the search may have their own rules, he noted.
Cavalcante’s escape and the subsequent search for him has become big news in Brazil, where prosecutors in Tocantins state say he’s accused of the 2017 slaying of Válter Júnior Moreira dos Reis in Figueirópolis, which they allege was over a debt the victim owed him in connection with a vehicle repair.
Bivens reports that Cavalcante’s sister has been arrested by authorities for “immigration issues,” but declined to provide further details.
Authorities have described Cavalcante as extremely dangerous. Police are asking anyone with information to call 911. A US$20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his capture.
Authorities on Friday announced the firing of the prison tower guard on duty who failed to notice Cavalcante’s prison break.
— With files from the Associated Press