OMG! #Socialites, get into this! As we reported yesterday, the man who escaped a Pennsylvania prison by crab-walking between two walls has been captured after a 14-day manhunt. Since reentering custody, he’s now told investigators how he survived on watermelon and concealed his feces to keep alive and remain undetected during the massive 2-week manhunt.
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As a quick refresher, Danelo Cavalcante, a 34-year-old convicted murderer, escaped the Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township on August 31. Prior to his escape, the man was convicted of first-degree murder on August 16 in the 2021 killing of his former girlfriend, 33-year-old Deborah Brandão. He was sentenced to life without parole for his crime. He is also wanted in a 2017 homicide case in Brazil, which is his native country.
During his escape in August, the man was captured on camera stretching his arms and legs across brick and cinderblock walls, pushing himself upwards from the ground to the roof, where he eventually made his way out of custody successfully.
After the escape, the acting warden at the Pennsylvania prison, Howard Holland, explained how Cavalcante was first discovered missing and how the tower guards who were supposed to be watching over the prison had been fired for the man’s escape.
After a massive manhunt that lasted 14 days, Cavalcante was finally captured. On Wednesday (September 13), Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) said the man was found and re-apprehended, without any shots being fired during the morning capture, despite being armed with a stolen .22 caliber rifle.
With the help of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration aircraft picking up heat signals, and the El Paso Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) securing the area and searching on foot, team members from both BORTAC and the PSP moved in and captured the missing man, ending the manhunt. PSP said they apprehended him after a BORTAC dog charged him and pinned him down.
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Since being remanded to officials’ custody, Cavalcante was interviewed by investigators and told them what had transpired during his 14-day escape. Authorities say he kept himself alive and under the radar by surviving on stolen watermelon from a nearby farm, drinking water from the local creeks, and concealing his feces to avoid detection.
Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshall Robert Clark, who was involved in the manhunt, said Cavalcante stayed out of sight by moving around at night and burying himself under the brush. He said he also had concealed his feces with leaves and foliage and survived on stolen watermelon. It was also revealed, “His end game was to carjack somebody, that’s why he held onto that rifle. He wanted to head north either towards Canada, or he intended to get to Puerto Rico.”
Speaking with NBC News, Clark said although Cavalcante had done a good job and concealed his feces and stayed out of the sight, he had a few close calls with running into officers, almost even getting stepped on by them while he was hiding under the brush. He also said that on three occasions, the tactical teams were only about 7-to-8 yards away from where the escaped man was.
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