Danelo Cavalcante, a killer who has put communities in southeast Pennsylvania on high alert, has been located just south of the original search area, state police announced Tuesday. As a result, the manhunt for him has been refocused.
Authorities started searching a densely wooded area in Pocopson Township and Chester County, which is located 2 miles from the prison and is located in a rural region about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, after Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison on Thursday morning.
Security footage from Monday night showed Cavalcante at a well-known botanical garden that is almost 3 miles away from the jail facility. As a result, law enforcement has now widened the search area.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens stated, “We believe he is just south of that (original search) radius and that’s why, again, we’ve shifted that perimeter now to include that area.”
At 8:21 on Monday night, Cavalcante was captured on a surveillance camera at Longwood Gardens. At 9:33 p.m., he was seen again, this time walking south after having been seen before traveling north.
Bivens claimed that Cavalcante had acquired certain goods, including a backpack, a “duffel-sling type pack,” and a hooded sweater, despite the fact that Cavalcante’s look remained unaltered. A 5-foot, 120-pound man with light skin, shaggy black hair, and brown eyes is characterized as Cavalcante.
Longwood Gardens is home to more than 200 acres of “lush, formal gardens, open meadows, and winding paths.” Tuesday, when the temperature was in the low 90s, the attraction was closed while police searched the building and its surroundings. According to officials, the gardens will be closed on Wednesday as well.
On August 16, Cavalcante, 34, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2021 murder of Deborah Brando, 33, who was his ex-girlfriend. He received a life without parole sentence.
Within the prior search area, there had been five “credible sightings” of Cavalcante, according to Bivens.
Both the approximately 5-mile-away Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the about 9-mile-away Kennett Consolidated School District were closed on Tuesday.
The Kennett district announced its Wednesday closure in a message on its website.
After informing parents that five out of six schools will be open on Wednesday, the Unionville-Chadds Ford District suddenly altered its website to read: “We are aware that circumstances have changed since our last message went out. At 5:00 a.m., we will examine the situation and give an update.
Residents who lived within three miles of the place where Cavalcante was seen received a Reverse 911 call from the police on Tuesday morning. Authorities have warned homeowners that Cavalcante is exceedingly dangerous and have encouraged them to keep their homes and vehicles locked.
If his own house were close to the search area, according to Bivens, “even while I was in the house, I would have my doors locked.”
Although the new search area is more open than the densely forested area police were concentrating on, Bivens claimed that Cavalcante has lots of places to hide.
At any given time, there are between 200 and 250 individuals helping with the hunt. Police are applying pressure to the prisoner because they think he or she took advantage of a situation to escape from custody and is currently “winging it.”
You’re dealing with someone who is frightened of being discovered and is in a terrible situation, Bivens added.
Sightings following escape
In his home, Ryan Drummond of Pocopson Township told CNN affiliate WPVI that he thinks he spotted Cavalcante. Around 11:45 p.m. on Friday, Drummond claimed he heard a disturbance coming from the basement and got up to investigate.
The instant Drummond realized “this guy is down there,” he claimed, “I decided to turn the light switch on and off three, four, or five times, pause, and then he flipped the light switch from downstairs three, four times.”
Then, according to Drummond, he observed as Cavalcante left his house while bringing food with him. Sunday, US Marshals went back to the house and looked through the nearby woods, according to Drummond.
The Chester County District Attorney’s Office stated in a Facebook post on Saturday morning that Cavalcante was seen on a surveillance camera early on Saturday morning about 1.5 miles from the prison. The Facebook post also states that police were notified of an attempted burglary in the nearby Pocopson Township on Friday night.
At a news conference on Monday, Bivens revealed that a state policeman had also spotted Cavalcante nearby.
Aimee Young-Wilson, the owner of a hair salon, said on Tuesday that life must go on as usual. You would never know that only a few short hours earlier an escaped prisoner was found at the well-known botanical garden as automobiles sped past her place of employment on a busy main thoroughfare in Chester County.
Today is a fairly calm day for our book, Young-Wilson noted. It’s pretty bizarre. I’m really baffled by how someone can go missing for so long.
Young-Wilson claimed she is not afraid but is vigilant. Though her salon, Fa Shears, is closed on Sundays and Mondays, she hasn’t seen anything unusual. Tuesday was her first day back.
She explained that everyone was concerned since he was present, dangerous, and a lot of elderly people lived nearby. But we are unable to stop. We must continue living our lives.
vehicle searches by police
Living about 1.5 miles from Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township is Jennifer Briggs and her family.
Briggs has two children: a kindergartener who just started at Pocopson Elementary School last week and a four-year-old. The school district informed the family that courses would be held virtually on Tuesday at 5 a.m.
Briggs told CNN, “It’s a little unsettling.
Briggs noted that there are numerous walking routes in the woods, including one that loops around the prison, and that the forested area where officials had been searching backs up to the family’s neighborhood.
With small children, there has been a lot of helicopter activity, which is a little unsettling, according to Briggs. According to her, she has been keeping her children inside the house and allowing them to spend the night in her bedroom with the doors locked.
Police were stationed in the area for almost two days, searching cars after some of the nearby homes were burglarized. “A command post had been set up at the gate of our community. There is only one entrance and one exit, Briggs said.
Police allegedly searched Briggs’ car on Saturday afternoon.
Every time you left, they would check your car to make sure he wasn’t inside, she claimed. The most unnerving time was definitely when I had my kids in the van with me.
The staff at GuGu Asian Table, a restaurant in nearby Kennett Square, is also taking extra care, according to manager Nancy Sanchez.
“In order for the security camera to see, we’re letting our younger employees and women park close to the building rather than in the lot’s back. They aren’t afraid because of the illumination, Sanchez told CNN.
According to Sanchez, their basement’s back door, which they often leave open for deliveries, is suddenly shut.
Briggs claimed that part of the reason her family recently relocated from Atlanta to the Pocopson Township region was due to the area’s reputation for safety.
“How did he escape? That’s the big question I think everyone has right now,” Briggs remarked. “Could this occur once more? How did they miss catching him?
There were numerous people searching.
To aid with the hunt, hundreds of law enforcement agents from local, state, and other agencies—including the US Marshals—were sent in. The DA said on Tuesday that several federal agencies, such as the FBI and US Customs Border Patrol, had now dispatched personnel to the Chester County region.
According to Robert Clark, supervisory deputy US Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, authorities even tried broadcasting a message in Portuguese from Cavalcante’s mother encouraging him to surrender using a helicopter and patrol cars.
Additionally, Cavalcante is sought after in connection with a murder investigation that took place in Brazil in 2017, according to Clark. Authorities earlier stated that they were investigating if Cavalcante had inside assistance to flee.