By Aditi Sangal and Leinz Vales, CNN
From CNN's Danny Freeman
Captured Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante will be with Pennsylvania State Police “for a while” and will be “medically assessed” before being taken to a state correctional facility, according to Pennsylvania State Department of Corrections spokesperson Maria Bivens.
From CNN's Brian Todd
Escaped Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante was apprehended by authorities shortly after 8 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to a law enforcement source.
He was handcuffed, his shirt was cut and then he was put in a van to be transported.
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
Law enforcement personnel cut captured Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante's clothes before taking him into custody.
Here's why this was done, according to CNN analysts:
To ensure he is not hiding weapons or tools: "He is a very dangerous, desperate person, been on the run for 14 days, armed himself. It's well-known that prisoners before they are taken back into custody often hide things on their bodies to enable them to hurt officers later or to get out of their handcuffs. So you definitely want to take those clothes off when you have an opportunity to do so safely," CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe explained.
To do a quick body inspection: "He might be injured from this time out on the run, and you want to make sure you document his physical condition before you take custody of him inside of a car where he's locked in essentially with only two officers. You want to make it very clear if he has been bruised or battered or injured in some way, those things happened before he came into custody," McCabe added.
To help identify him: "Right there they don't have the ability to run those prints or take DNA," CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller explained "But they do know from his prison records all of his tattoos ... that they are able to do a visual inspection because particularly, if somebody is saying, 'I'm not that guy,' you know, you're going to be able to pretty quickly find out. These are unique markings that are unique to him."
From CNN’s Danny Freeman
In a statement Wednesday morning, Chester County commissioners said Danelo Cavalcante’s capture “ends the nightmare of the past two weeks,” and thanked law enforcement for their work.
Prison officials have made some “immediate changes” to improve prison security, a statement from Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline reads.
“Chester County Prison officials have made some immediate changes to bolster security in the prison, have brought in security contractors to make permanent changes to the exercise yards, and are reviewing and - where needed - changing procedures for both security measures and communication to residents who live close to the prison,” the statement reads.
The commissioners also thanked community partners, businesses, school districts, and the public for their help.
From CNN staff
Video showed law enforcement cutting up the shirt of handcuffed Danelo Cavalcante after he was captured.
He was then put into a police van to be transported.
Watch the moment:
From CNN’s Aaron Cooper
Pennsylvania officials sent a reverse 911 call to local residents saying escaped inmate Danelo Cavalcante is in custody Wednesday morning.
“This is a message from Pennsylvania State Police. The search for Danelo Cavalcante is over. The subject is now in custody,” the public safety communication said.
Pennsylvania State Police will hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. ET to share "details of the capture."
From CNN's Dakin Andone
A convicted murderer’s escape from a Pennsylvania prison outside Philadelphia kicked off a manhunt that dramatically evolved in recent days.
About 500 law enforcement officers searched for Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who escaped August 31 from Chester County Prison. A law enforcement official close to the investigation said Wednesday he is now in custody.
Here’s a timeline of his escape and the search:
August 16: A jury convicted Cavalcante of first-degree murder in Deborah Brandão’s killing – a crime that in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory life sentence without parole, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
Cavalcante is also wanted in his native Brazil in a 2017 homicide case, according to the US Marshals Service. When Brandão learned of the case, she threatened to expose Cavalcante to police, the district attorney’s office said in a statement on August 23, after he was formally sentenced. That was his motive for the murder, according to prosecutors.
August 31: Cavalcante fled the prison within days in an escape that was partially captured on camera. Surveillance footage showed him in a narrow space between two walls in an exercise yard, placing his hands and feet on either side and “crab-walking” up, out of view. He then ran across a roof, scaled a fence and pushed his way through razor wire to escape, the prison’s acting warden, Howard Holland, later said.
September 1: The first known sighting of Cavalcante after his escape occurred the next day, when Ryan Drummond says he saw the fugitive inside his home in Pocopson Township, not far from the prison.
September 2: Cavalcante was spotted early the next morning around 12:30 a.m. on a residential surveillance camera about 1.5 miles from the prison, the district attorney’s office said on Facebook. Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police, which is leading the search, said later that a state trooper also saw Cavalcante in the area.
September 4: A security camera captured the fugitive in the evening two days later at Longwood Gardens, a botanical garden that sits several miles from Chester County Prison and would soon become the epicenter of the search effort. The camera captured the fugitive twice, once walking north and then about an hour later going south. By that time, Cavalcante had obtained several items, Bivens said, including a backpack, a duffle sling bag and a hooded sweatshirt.
September 5: The next night, Cavalcante was spotted by a resident in a creek bed on the resident’s property in Pennsbury Township, Bivens said, a few miles southeast of the prison. He fled into the woods before police could capture him.
September 6: A trail camera image showed Cavalcante in or around Longwood Gardens but officials learned about this sighting Thursday evening, according to Bivens.
September 8: Authorities reported two sightings of Cavalcante within the perimeter of their search area, which encompassed Longwood Gardens.
September 9: The manhunt shifted significantly over the weekend after authorities said Cavalcante managed to escape their search perimeter and steal a van about three-quarters of a mile away. According to Bivens, the owners – who identified themselves as a local dairy farm – had left the keys inside their delivery van, which Cavalcante used to flee some 20 miles north to East Pikeland Township.
There, Cavalcante attempted to contact an acquaintance he’d known years prior, Bivens said. He spoke with the acquaintance on a Ring doorbell camera, which captured his new clean-shaven look, but the person wasn’t home and did not respond to meet Cavalcante, Bivens said.
The fugitive then went to nearby Phoenixville to contact another acquaintance. That person was also not home but called police after a female resident saw the escaped inmate.
September 10: State police didn’t learn about the sightings until about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Bivens said, giving them their first indication Cavalcante had gotten out from under them and changed his appearance.
Additionally, the second sighting that night indicated he was using a white vehicle, which investigators eventually narrowed down to the dairy’s stolen 2020 Ford Transit van.
They located the stolen van later in a field that morning, around 10:40 a.m., abandoned behind a barn in East Nantmeal Township, slightly west of the sightings the evening prior. Bivens said it had run out of gas.
The search then shifted to this area, in the northern part of Chester County.
September 11: The next spotting occurred in Chester County’s South Coventry Township, around 8 p.m. Monday, when a motorist told police she saw a man crouched at a wood line on Fairview Road, Bivens said in a news conference Tuesday morning. She went back, but the man was gone.
Then, police received another call from a resident on Coventry Road, Bivens said, reporting a short, Hispanic male who was not wearing a shirt had entered his garage while the resident was inside and stole a .22 caliber rifle. The resident drew a pistol and fired at the man as he fled. Cavalcante’s sweatshirt was found near the edge of the driveway.
September 13: A law enforcement official close to the investigation said Cavalcante is now in custody. Police will hold a 9:30 a.m. ET news conference.
From CNN staff
Pennsylvania State Police announced a 9:30 a.m. ET news conference to share details on the capture of escaped inmate Danelo Cavalvante, according to a social media post.
This comes 14 days following the inmates escape from Chester County prison.
From CNN's Dakin Andone
A jury convicted Danelo Cavalcante of first-degree murder in Deborah Brandão’s killing – a crime that in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory life sentence without parole, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
The two were neighbors and dated for about a year and a half, the victim’s sister, Sarah Brandão, told CNN. He was kind at first to Brandão and her children, Sarah said, but that changed over time. Sarah said her sister told her he was “extremely jealous” and “became a different person” when he drank.
A probable cause affidavit indicates Brandão filed a protection from abuse order against Cavalcante in 2020. But Cavalcante murdered Brandão in April 2021, prosecutors said, stabbing her 38 times in front of her two young children. They are now in Sarah’s care.
Cavalcante is also wanted in his native Brazil in a 2017 homicide case, according to the US Marshals Service. When Brandão learned of the case, she threatened to expose Cavalcante to police, the district attorney’s office said in a statement on August 23, after he was formally sentenced. That was his motive for the murder, according to prosecutors.
Captured Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante will be with Pennsylvania State Police “for a while” and will be “medically assessed” before being taken to a state correctional facility, according to Pennsylvania State Department of Corrections spokesperson Maria Bivens.
Escaped Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante was apprehended by authorities shortly after 8 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to a law enforcement source.
He was handcuffed, his shirt was cut and then he was put in a van to be transported.
Law enforcement personnel cut captured Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante's clothes before taking him into custody.
Here's why this was done, according to CNN analysts:
To ensure he is not hiding weapons or tools: "He is a very dangerous, desperate person, been on the run for 14 days, armed himself. It's well-known that prisoners before they are taken back into custody often hide things on their bodies to enable them to hurt officers later or to get out of their handcuffs. So you definitely want to take those clothes off when you have an opportunity to do so safely," CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe explained.
To do a quick body inspection: "He might be injured from this time out on the run, and you want to make sure you document his physical condition before you take custody of him inside of a car where he's locked in essentially with only two officers. You want to make it very clear if he has been bruised or battered or injured in some way, those things happened before he came into custody," McCabe added.
To help identify him: "Right there they don't have the ability to run those prints or take DNA," CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller explained "But they do know from his prison records all of his tattoos ... that they are able to do a visual inspection because particularly, if somebody is saying, 'I'm not that guy,' you know, you're going to be able to pretty quickly find out. These are unique markings that are unique to him."
In a statement Wednesday morning, Chester County commissioners said Danelo Cavalcante’s capture “ends the nightmare of the past two weeks,” and thanked law enforcement for their work.
Prison officials have made some “immediate changes” to improve prison security, a statement from Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline reads.
“Chester County Prison officials have made some immediate changes to bolster security in the prison, have brought in security contractors to make permanent changes to the exercise yards, and are reviewing and - where needed - changing procedures for both security measures and communication to residents who live close to the prison,” the statement reads.
The commissioners also thanked community partners, businesses, school districts, and the public for their help.
Video showed law enforcement cutting up the shirt of handcuffed Danelo Cavalcante after he was captured.
He was then put into a police van to be transported.
Watch the moment:
Pennsylvania officials sent a reverse 911 call to local residents saying escaped inmate Danelo Cavalcante is in custody Wednesday morning.
“This is a message from Pennsylvania State Police. The search for Danelo Cavalcante is over. The subject is now in custody,” the public safety communication said.
Pennsylvania State Police will hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. ET to share "details of the capture."
A convicted murderer’s escape from a Pennsylvania prison outside Philadelphia kicked off a manhunt that dramatically evolved in recent days.
About 500 law enforcement officers searched for Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who escaped August 31 from Chester County Prison. A law enforcement official close to the investigation said Wednesday he is now in custody.
Here’s a timeline of his escape and the search:
August 16: A jury convicted Cavalcante of first-degree murder in Deborah Brandão’s killing – a crime that in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory life sentence without parole, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
Cavalcante is also wanted in his native Brazil in a 2017 homicide case, according to the US Marshals Service. When Brandão learned of the case, she threatened to expose Cavalcante to police, the district attorney’s office said in a statement on August 23, after he was formally sentenced. That was his motive for the murder, according to prosecutors.
August 31: Cavalcante fled the prison within days in an escape that was partially captured on camera. Surveillance footage showed him in a narrow space between two walls in an exercise yard, placing his hands and feet on either side and “crab-walking” up, out of view. He then ran across a roof, scaled a fence and pushed his way through razor wire to escape, the prison’s acting warden, Howard Holland, later said.
September 1: The first known sighting of Cavalcante after his escape occurred the next day, when Ryan Drummond says he saw the fugitive inside his home in Pocopson Township, not far from the prison.
September 2: Cavalcante was spotted early the next morning around 12:30 a.m. on a residential surveillance camera about 1.5 miles from the prison, the district attorney’s office said on Facebook. Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police, which is leading the search, said later that a state trooper also saw Cavalcante in the area.
September 4: A security camera captured the fugitive in the evening two days later at Longwood Gardens, a botanical garden that sits several miles from Chester County Prison and would soon become the epicenter of the search effort. The camera captured the fugitive twice, once walking north and then about an hour later going south. By that time, Cavalcante had obtained several items, Bivens said, including a backpack, a duffle sling bag and a hooded sweatshirt.
September 5: The next night, Cavalcante was spotted by a resident in a creek bed on the resident’s property in Pennsbury Township, Bivens said, a few miles southeast of the prison. He fled into the woods before police could capture him.
September 6: A trail camera image showed Cavalcante in or around Longwood Gardens but officials learned about this sighting Thursday evening, according to Bivens.
September 8: Authorities reported two sightings of Cavalcante within the perimeter of their search area, which encompassed Longwood Gardens.
September 9: The manhunt shifted significantly over the weekend after authorities said Cavalcante managed to escape their search perimeter and steal a van about three-quarters of a mile away. According to Bivens, the owners – who identified themselves as a local dairy farm – had left the keys inside their delivery van, which Cavalcante used to flee some 20 miles north to East Pikeland Township.
There, Cavalcante attempted to contact an acquaintance he’d known years prior, Bivens said. He spoke with the acquaintance on a Ring doorbell camera, which captured his new clean-shaven look, but the person wasn’t home and did not respond to meet Cavalcante, Bivens said.
The fugitive then went to nearby Phoenixville to contact another acquaintance. That person was also not home but called police after a female resident saw the escaped inmate.
September 10: State police didn’t learn about the sightings until about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Bivens said, giving them their first indication Cavalcante had gotten out from under them and changed his appearance.
Additionally, the second sighting that night indicated he was using a white vehicle, which investigators eventually narrowed down to the dairy’s stolen 2020 Ford Transit van.
They located the stolen van later in a field that morning, around 10:40 a.m., abandoned behind a barn in East Nantmeal Township, slightly west of the sightings the evening prior. Bivens said it had run out of gas.
The search then shifted to this area, in the northern part of Chester County.
September 11: The next spotting occurred in Chester County’s South Coventry Township, around 8 p.m. Monday, when a motorist told police she saw a man crouched at a wood line on Fairview Road, Bivens said in a news conference Tuesday morning. She went back, but the man was gone.
Then, police received another call from a resident on Coventry Road, Bivens said, reporting a short, Hispanic male who was not wearing a shirt had entered his garage while the resident was inside and stole a .22 caliber rifle. The resident drew a pistol and fired at the man as he fled. Cavalcante’s sweatshirt was found near the edge of the driveway.
September 13: A law enforcement official close to the investigation said Cavalcante is now in custody. Police will hold a 9:30 a.m. ET news conference.
Pennsylvania State Police announced a 9:30 a.m. ET news conference to share details on the capture of escaped inmate Danelo Cavalvante, according to a social media post.
This comes 14 days following the inmates escape from Chester County prison.
A jury convicted Danelo Cavalcante of first-degree murder in Deborah Brandão’s killing – a crime that in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory life sentence without parole, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
The two were neighbors and dated for about a year and a half, the victim’s sister, Sarah Brandão, told CNN. He was kind at first to Brandão and her children, Sarah said, but that changed over time. Sarah said her sister told her he was “extremely jealous” and “became a different person” when he drank.
A probable cause affidavit indicates Brandão filed a protection from abuse order against Cavalcante in 2020. But Cavalcante murdered Brandão in April 2021, prosecutors said, stabbing her 38 times in front of her two young children. They are now in Sarah’s care.
Cavalcante is also wanted in his native Brazil in a 2017 homicide case, according to the US Marshals Service. When Brandão learned of the case, she threatened to expose Cavalcante to police, the district attorney’s office said in a statement on August 23, after he was formally sentenced. That was his motive for the murder, according to prosecutors.
