The manhunt for convicted killer Danelo Cavalcante has expanded, as Pennsylvania State Police revealed Tuesday new trail cam photos proved he slipped through their previously-established perimeter.<\/p>\n
Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison last Thursday, setting off a desperate search for the man convicted earlier this summer of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend in 2021. According to prosecutors, the 33-year-old stabbed Deborah Brandao 38 times after she learned he was wanted for another murder in Brazil; he allegedly killed her in front of her two young children.<\/p>\n
While authorities initially set up a search area within two miles of the prison, they’ve since expanded the grid<\/strong> after a trail camera south of the initial perimeter picked up images of Cavalcante on Monday night.<\/p>\n “He’s trying to escape and that’s what he managed to do,” Lt. Col George Bevins of the PA State Police said during a press conference Tuesday<\/strong>. “He found a point that he could squeeze through that perimeter and he traveled south.”<\/p>\n “You’re dealing with someone who is desperate and doesn\u2019t want to get caught,” added Bevins. “He\u2019s a bad guy. He needs to be in custody and we’re determined to capture him.”<\/p>\n “Obviously I wish we would have been able to capture him without him getting through that perimeter but it’s also not shocking,” he said<\/strong>. “It’s dark, it’s a large area. Not to make excuses, it’s just difficult terrain.”<\/p>\n Cavalcante was spotted on a trail camera first at 8:21pm on Monday night, walking north at Longwood Gardens without a shirt on; He was seen carrying a duffel bag and wearing long pants and backpack. He was spotted again on the same camera, this time walking south, about an hour later at 9:33pm, wearing a sweatshirt.<\/p>\n The botanical gardens have since been closed for the day, as authorities continue to search the area with 200-250 reportedly helping with search efforts on the ground. Residents in a 3-mile radius of where he was last spotted were also warned to keep their homes and cars locked, while two nearby school districts — Kennett Consolidated School District and Unionville-Chadds Ford School District — closed for the day.<\/p>\n The latter said they’d “operate on a Flexible Instructional Day.”<\/p>\n Unable to render YouTube Video.<\/strong><\/p>\n