The prisoner who’s now the topic of an enormous manhunt after escaping from a Pennsylvania jail final week had killed his ex-girlfriend in a brutal 2021 stabbing in entrance of her two younger youngsters, authorities say.
Danelo Souza Cavalcante, a 34-year-old who was convicted simply final month within the killing, escaped from the Chester County Jail some 30 miles west of Philadelphia on Thursday morning, sparking a search involving tons of of officers.
Investigators imagine he escaped the ability by climbing onto the roof and fleeing from there, a legislation enforcement supply informed CNN.
The manhunt’s vary expanded Tuesday morning after he was noticed in path digital camera footage in Chester County, simply south of the perimeter authorities initially believed him to be in. Two college districts canceled courses amid the search.
Cavalcante is a Brazil native who’s roughly 5 ft tall with lengthy, curly black hair and brown eyes, authorities have mentioned. He’s extraordinarily harmful and determined to not get caught, officers have warned, they usually’ve urged residents in areas close to the jail to maintain their doorways locked, keep inside, test on one another and test their safety cameras.
Cavalcante additionally is needed in a 2017 murder case in Brazil, in response to the US Marshals Service.
Authorities are providing a $10,000 reward for info resulting in his arrest.
Right here’s what we learn about him.
This picture, supplied by the Chester County Jail, exhibits Danelo Cavalcante. – Chester County Jail/AP
The ugly homicide
Prosecutors say Deborah Brandão, Cavalcante’s ex-girlfriend, was exterior her residence together with her two youngsters on April 18, 2021.
Cavalcante arrived, grabbed her by her hair, “threw her to the bottom, and stabbed her 38 occasions in nearly each very important organ … inflicting her to bleed to demise,” the Chester County district lawyer’s workplace mentioned in a Fb submit.
Deborah Brandão is seen right here in an undated image. – Chester County District Legal professional’s Workplace
Brandão’s 7- and 4-year-old youngsters ran to neighbors asking for assist and Cavalcante fled, the district lawyer’s workplace mentioned.
The 7-year-old lady informed police that when Cavalcante started stabbing Brandão, he mentioned he was going to kill her, courtroom data present.
He was arrested a number of hours later in Virginia, prosecutors mentioned. Authorities imagine he was making an attempt to flee to Mexico with the intention of heading later to Brazil, District Legal professional Deb Ryan has mentioned.
Schuylkill Township police had been dispatched to the house at roughly 4:17 p.m. on the day of the killing, and located Brandão on the bottom “with a number of stab wounds to the chest,” the district lawyer’s workplace mentioned.
A neighbor tried lifesaving procedures on Brandão whereas they waited for emergency medical companies to reach, however she was pronounced lifeless at a hospital shortly after.
She was 33.
After the stabbing, Brandão’s 7-year-old daughter informed police Cavalcante confirmed up at their home and “mentioned he was going to do one thing dangerous to their lives and pulled two knives out from a black bag that was behind his again,” in response to a possible trigger affidavit.
The daughter mentioned she was screaming and Cavalcante threw a rock at her, hitting her leg, police wrote within the affidavit.
After working to the neighbor for assist, the lady regarded exterior and noticed Cavalcante go away in a black automobile, the paperwork mentioned.
Brandão’s sister, Sarah, mentioned the 2 had been greatest buddies, and that when she realized about Deborah’s homicide, her “world ended.”
Sarah informed CNN Cavalcante went from being a pleasant neighbor to a jealous boyfriend. Cavalcante and Deborah had been each Brazilian and dated for a couple of 12 months and a half, she mentioned.
Deborah informed her sister “he was good to her, he was good to her youngsters, that he helped her,” however issues modified over time, she mentioned.
“She stored saying that he was extraordinarily jealous, that when he drank he turned a special individual, that he stored going by her mobile phone,” Sarah mentioned.
Brandão had filed a safety from abuse order towards Cavalcante in December 2020, in response to the possible trigger affidavit. The order alleges he had a historical past of assaulting Brandão and beforehand pulled a knife on her.
“This was a mindless tragedy that has impacted numerous individuals as a result of defendant’s chilly, calculated, and heinous actions,” Ryan, who led Cavalcante’s prosecution, mentioned final month.
“Ms. Brandão’s youngsters at the moment are left motherless and she is going to by no means have the chance to observe her youngsters develop up, end college, or have households of their very own,” the district lawyer mentioned.
Brandão’s daughter testified within the case and “helped get hold of justice for her mom,” the district lawyer mentioned. The lady additionally recognized Cavalcante in {a photograph} shortly after the killing and informed police, “That’s him, that’s the man that killed my mother. Please get him and put him in jail,” the affidavit exhibits.
On August 16, 2023, Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree homicide and possessing an instrument of crime within the killing, in response to the district lawyer’s workplace. Simply days later, he was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole, the workplace mentioned.
Attorneys for Cavalcante informed jurors in the course of the trial that he was provoked and “snapped” when he attacked Brandão, and mentioned he acted within the warmth of ardour, in response to the Chester County newspaper Day by day Native.
Sarah mentioned she has been residing in worry since Cavalcante’s escape from jail and is frightened he’ll come after her.
“I haven’t slept for a lot of days. Since then, I’ve been waking up with fright at evening. I nap and get up with fright,” she mentioned.
Regardless of her fears, she believes the police will seize him.
‘Lock your doorways. Lock your vehicles’
Whereas officers continued their seek for Cavalcante over the weekend, authorities urged residents in Pocopson Township, which is subsequent to the jail, to remain of their properties.
Danelo Cavalcante is seen on this picture from surveillance footage launched by Pennsylvania State Police. – Pennsylvania State Police
“Lock your doorways. Lock your vehicles. He’s nonetheless thought-about a particularly harmful particular person,” Ryan, the district lawyer, mentioned in a Saturday information convention.
“Individuals should be on excessive alert. … He has killed somebody. He’s alleged to have killed one other individual. So individuals must take each precaution doable: Lock your doorways, hold your eyes in your children and hold your eyes in your neighbors and your folks,” Ryan had mentioned a day earlier. “Everybody must be on excessive alert.”
Since his escape, there have been “a number of credible sightings” of him in an space throughout the township, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens mentioned in a Tuesday morning information convention.
Surveillance footage on Monday additionally captured Cavalcante in Longwood Gardens, a preferred vacationer attraction simply south of the world authorities had been looking close to the jail, prompting the search space to shift, Bivens mentioned.
The escapee additionally appeared to have obtained some gadgets, together with a backpack, a “duffel-sling sort pack” and a hooded sweatshirt, Bivens mentioned.
Bivens added that residents within the space must be alert, use warning and pay attention to their environment.
“We’re asking them to lock their autos, in the event that they don’t ordinarily do this,” he added. “And take note of what’s occurring, take note of your neighbors, something that’s uncommon there. … However actually, it’s vigilance that we’re searching for from individuals proper now.”
“He’s clearly in escape mode, however he’s determined,” Bivens mentioned. “His historical past is that he’s a harmful particular person. … If we determine that he’s in a really particular space, my suggestion then can be, ‘Keep in your properties.’”
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Danny Freeman, Alessandra Freitas and Celina Tebor contributed to this report.
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