(Reuters) – A convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania jail last month was recaptured on Wednesday after eluding an expanding manhunt for weeks and unnerving residents in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, state police said on social media.
Illegal immigrant Danelo Cavalcante, 34, broke out of Chester County Prison, about 30 miles (50 km) west of Philadelphia, on Aug. 31 by climbing between two walls that formed a narrow corridor in the jailhouse yard and scrambling onto the roof.
Authorities will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. (1300 GMT) to discuss his recapture, state police said in a post on the X social media platform.
He escaped while waiting to be transferred from the county lockup to a state correctional institution to begin serving a life sentence handed down after his conviction earlier in August for the brutal killing of a former girlfriend.
His escape unsettled many in the region. School districts canceled classes for a day after Cavalcante was seen on security camera video on a public garden trail. Police expanded their search and urged residents to keep their doors locked, but he was able to slip through an initial perimeter.
More than a week after his escape, he stole a van and drove about 25 miles (40 km) before abandoning the vehicle. By that time, he had shaved off his beard. He also stole a rile from a garage as the owner of the house fired several shots at him.
During his flight, Cavalcante tried to contact several people for their assistance, including his sister, but she did not help him, police said. She was later taken into custody for an immigration violation.
A jury found Cavalcante guilty of the April 2021 murder for stabbing his former girlfriend at her home in Schuylkill Township in front of her young children. After the killing, he fled the scene, according to authorities. Hours later, police arrested him in Virginia.
After he escaped from the county jail, authorities offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Cavalcante, a Brazilian national, is also a suspect in a 2017 murder in Brazil, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago)
