Escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante is now in custody, police in Pennsylvania say. He’s seen here in images taken on the night of Sept. 9 from a door camera.
Mark Makela/Getty Images
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Mark Makela/Getty Images
Escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante is now in custody, police in Pennsylvania say. He’s seen here in images taken on the night of Sept. 9 from a door camera.
Mark Makela/Getty Images
After eluding a manhunt for some two weeks, convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante has been captured, the Pennsylvania State Police announced Wednesday morning.
The police agency didn’t provide immediate details. A news conference was scheduled for 9:30 a.m ET — we’ll update this page as that event takes place.
Since Cavalcante escaped from the Chester County jail on Aug. 31, encounters with the armed and dangerous man repeatedly raised alarms, as he stole a vehicle, a weapon and other items while on the run from authorities.
As of Tuesday night, police said they believed the escaped inmate was in an area of South Coventry Township (northwest of Philadelphia), where he had been spotted “shirtless and wearing blue pants, carrying a stolen .22 rifle with a flashlight.”
Cavalcante famously escaped by “crab-walking” the walls of a narrow passageway — a scene that was captured on video. He broke out of the Chester County jail as he was poised to be moved to a state prison, where he is to serve a life sentence for killing his ex-girlfriend.
Capture ends a ‘nightmare,’ commissioners say
“The capture of Cavalcante ends the nightmare of the past two weeks,” Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline said in a joint statement, as they thanked law enforcement officials.
The search for Cavalcante disrupted life for residents in areas where he was believed to be hiding, from school closures to roadside checkpoints — and the fear that he might break into homes or resort to more violence.
As they welcomed news of his capture, the commissioners also noted that the Chester County Prison has made changes to bolster security, including bringing in security contractors “to make permanent changes to the exercise yards,” along with other improvements.
