By: Stephen Sibley '25
Convicted Killer, Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was captured after an almost two-week-long manhunt after he escaped from a Pennsylvania prison after being charged on account of murder for stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, multiple times.
On August 31, Cavalcante escaped from prison by “crab-walking” up two walls and got on top of the prison roof. Cavalcante then ran across the roof, scaled a fence, and ducked under some razor wire while avoiding the guards.
The first reported sighting was only a day later, where Cavalcante was seen inside of Ryan Drummond's home in Pocopson township. Drummond reported he heard a noise coming from somewhere in his house and when he noticed the door slightly ajar, “That's when my stomach dropped,” he said. Drummond told his wife to call 911, as he watched Cavalcante leave his house through the living room door.
The next day, Cavalcante was reported seen surprisingly closer to the prison, only 1.5 miles away from Chester County prison. From September 3 through 8, Cavalcante was spotted multiple times within the search perimeter from different security camera footage from homeowners' cameras.
Cavalcante managed to slip past the search perimeter and stole a van almost a mile outside the perimeter, according to the owners of the van, they had left the keys inside the van which allowed Cavalcante to flee twenty miles north to East Pikeland Township.
There, Cavalcante attempted to contact an acquaintance he knew in the area, but when he tried to make contact, he found out his acquaintance was not home. Cavalcante then went to the nearby town of Phoenixville to contact a different acquaintance, but they also were not home at the time. Footage from a Ring camera captured him attempting to contact them.
The stolen van was recovered from behind a barn, and identified as a 2020 Ford Transit van. One day later, Cavalcante managed to break into a homeowner's garage and steal a .22 caliber scoped rifle.
The resident heard the commotion in the garage and fired shots from his own personal carry pistol, but Cavalcante was reportedly not injured from this encounter.
“Cavalcante was always considered dangerous, but from this point, he was now armed and extremely dangerous,” Police Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens said.
The manhunt ended on September 13th, when a police helicopter located a heat signature in the woods, and identified it as Cavalcante sleeping in the brush. Border patrol and tactical units swarmed his location. and when Cavalcante attempted to run, they released K9 units on him which finally subdued Cavalcante, ending the two-week pursuit. Now back in custody, Cavalcante is awaiting transfer to a correctional facility to serve the rest of his life in prison “Good work by all of the officers and community members to bring a safe conclusion to the chase.” says NHS school resource officer Officer Stephanie McDermott.
Cavalcante was officially sentenced to life at Chester County prison without parole after stabbing his ex-girlfriend on August 16th.
As the victim’s sister, Sarah Brandao, said, Cavalcante was kind at first to Brandao and her two young children, but he was extremely jealous, and an entirely different person when he drank. This led to Brandao filing an abuse order against Cavalcante in 2020.
Cavalcante confronted Brandao and stabbed her 38 times in front of her two children. The children are now under the care of her sister. Cavalcante is also wanted in Brazil for a homicide he committed in 2017, and fled to the United States illegally. In the court statement on August 23rd, it was determined that the motive for the murder of Brandao was she was threatening to expose Cavalcante for the Homicide he committed in Brazil.
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