One of the most compelling and dramatic chapters in Chester County history came to an end on the morning of Sept. 13, when escaped fugitive and convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante was apprehended without incident by about two dozen fully armored members of a U.S. Customs Border Control Tactical Unit from El Paso, Tx. and the Pennsylvania State Police, as well as the assistance of a search canine, shortly after 8:00 a.m.

Cavalcante was arraigned on a felony escape charge and denied bail and is now being held in a Pennsylvania maximum security prison where he will serve a life sentence. He is scheduled to next appear in court on Sept. 27 for a preliminary hearing.

“Today is a great day here in Chester County,” said Chester County Attorney Deb Ryan at a press conference held at the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company two hours after Cavalcante’s capture. “Our nightmare is finally over, and the good guys won. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of the first responders for their tireless and dedicated efforts in bringing this fugitive to justice. They worked around the clock, and we are deeply grateful to all of them.

“Our community can finally regain its normalcy and breathe a sigh of relief.”

“I want to say, ‘Thank you’ to the dedicated law enforcement professionals from every level who each and every day leave their homes and their oved ones to keep us safe,” said Gov. Josh Shapiro, who spoke at the press conference. “The public, over the past 13 days, has had a chance to see what excellence in law enforcement means – what true, dedicated professionalism is all about.

“While they did extraordinary work, we had a tremendous assist from the public here in Chester County. Thank you for their diligence. That you for the constructive tips that they shared. Thank you [to them] for remaining on guard.”

Area residents’ reactions to Cavalcalde ranged from “ecstatic” to “relieved.”

“When I heard the news, I finally took the chair away from the kitchen door where it had been for the last two weeks, as well as a 22 rifle that I didn’t load up because I was afraid that I would shoot myself in the foot,” said a Unionville resident. “Even though he was in northern Chester County, I still took all precautions at my house. It was very frightening, but the fact that it ended as peacefully as it did says a lot for the State Police and the Border Patrol that got him.”

Another resident who lives along Folly Hill Road -- the scene of a major hunt for Cavalcante near Longwood Gardens on Sept. 7 and 8 -- said she was emotional when she heard the news that the fugitive had been captured.
“This is just such a relief that I feel like crying,” she said. “I am so happy that I can actually sleep now. I have been up every night for the last two weeks watching every source of media, trying to find out where he is. I am happy it is over.” 

Forward-Looking Infrared Technology

Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens – who headed the investigation -- said that authorities established a perimeter in the vicinity of South Coventry Township in the early morning hours of Sept. 13 that set off a series of events, beginning with a burglary alarm that sounded at a residence near Prizer Road, which is within the search perimeter.

The alarm put investigative focus to the area as tactical teams – joined by a fixed-wing aircraft piloted by the Drug Enforcement Administration that used Forward-Looking Infrared Technology -- began to converge and comb the location.

At around 1:00 a.m., helicopters were alerted to a heat signature located west of Route 100 and north of Prizer Road and began to track its location. While a storm that produced lightning forced the aerial investigation to be abandoned throughout the early morning hours of Sept. 13, tactical teams held the search area until the storm subsided.

“There are always things we have to contend with – everything isn’t scripted and doesn’t go perfectly,” Bivens said of the need to down the aircraft. “We secured that inner perimeter while always keeping our outer perimeter secure, so that if he did manage to escape the inner perimeter, we would be able to box him in yet again.” 

At 8:00 a.m. – with aerial resources back in use overhead – the teams moved closer to the heat source until they found Cavalcante, who attempted to escape by crawling through thick underbrush, carrying the rifle he stole in the area on Sept. 11, which he did not engage during his escape attempt.

The Border Police released the canine search dog – a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois named Yoda from the Border Patrol team -- who quickly disabled Cavalcante, and with assistance from the Pa. State Police, they moved in to capture the fugitive, who sustained a minor bite wound from the search canine. Bivens said that had authorities not been able to contain Cavalcante during his apprehension, they would have had the authorization to use deadly force.

“Canines play a very important role, not only for tracking, but in a circumstance like this, it is better to release a patrol dog than have to use lethal force,” Bivens said.

After being taken into custody, Cavalcante was transported to the Pennsylvania State Police Avondale station for further processing and interviewing. He will then be transferred to an as-of-yet-unnamed state correctional institution, where he will begin to serve a life sentence for killing his former girlfriend Deborah Brandao in front of her children in 2021. Ryan said that one of the first calls made by the authorities was to the Brandao family.

“As you can imagine, they had been living in a complete nightmare,” Ryan said. “They are so grateful to the men and women who helped with this capture. They can now finally sleep again.”

Throughout the entirety of the two-week manhunt for Cavalcante, there was not only evidence that the fugitive sought assistance but speculation that he did indeed receive help in his desire to escape authorities. 

“There were people who were intent and intended to assist him,” said Bevins, who said that Cavalcante’s sister was trying to help her brother. “We have been successful in preventing that assistance from reaching him.”

Bivens said that Cavalcante’s sister is currently in deportation proceedings.

Capture avoided potential car-jacking

After being apprehended, Cavalcante was placed in an armored vehicle and driven to the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Avondale, where he then submitted to a lengthy interview with authorities who were involved in capturing him. According to reports, Cavalcante revealed many of the details involved in his two-week journey, which began on Aug. 31 when he escaped from the Chester County Prison. He spent the first few days of his escape surviving on water from nearby streams and did not eat until his third day, when he stole a watermelon from a farm and cracked it open with his head.

Cavalcante told authorities that during the day, he borrowed himself deep into thick shrubbery and at times, lay as near as six to seven yards from law enforcement units who were searching for him. As part of a two-week-long cat-and-mouse game between Cavalcante and authorities, he said he began to learn the diameter of the search perimeter and on Sept. 9, he punctured one perimeter and stole a vehicle from Bailys Dairy on Lenape-Unionville Road, that had only a quarter tank of gas remaining. Cavalcante then drove the vehicle to East Nantmeal Township, where it was found abandoned behind a barn. 

Cavalcante told authorities that during the time he was in East Nantmeal and South Coventry townships, he planned to carjack someone in the area and attempt to flee in the direction of the U.S.-Canada border but was apprehended before he was to pursue the plan.

Prison, authorities expected to be under fire at town halls

On the heels of the successful capture of Cavalcante, an unanswered black hole in this investigation continues to draw a rash of public criticism in the community: Chester County Prison’s failure to properly contain not only Cavalcante but prisoner Igor Bolte, who escaped by similar means from the prison in May before being quickly captured. On several social media outlets, the prison’s procedures have been excoriated over the past two weeks for what posts deem is a lack of internal controls, leading to fear that a third escapee may flee the prison in the near future.

“[Chester County officials] will answer those questions as to what occurred and what changes are ultimately going to be made,” Gov. Shapiro said. “Certainly, the State Department of Corrections will be here to assist in any other work that they need done to make sure that that facility is secure.

“They obviously have a lot of work to do there, and I am confident that under the leadership Chairwoman [Marian] Moskowitz, District Attorney Ryan and other leaders in the county, that they’ll get that done.”

One area resident, who said she lives two miles from the search area near Longwood Gardens, said she is very upset with how the prison allowed Cavalcante – and Bolte -- to escape.

“I am only five miles from the prison, and the fact that this happened in May and then again in August says that something needs to be done,” she said. “I hope it is taken care of.”

To address – and perhaps quell the public outcry over the effectiveness of the Chester County Prison -- the Chester County Commissioners hosted a town hall meeting with residents on Sept. 18 that provided information on security enhancements at the prison. A second meeting will be held on Sept. 20 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Pocopson Elementary School, 1105 Pocopson Road in West Chester.

Attending the meetings with the Commissioners will be Chester County Acting Warden Howard Holland, Chester County Director of Emergency Services Bill Messerschmidt, and a team from the Chester County Disaster Crisis Outreach Referral Team (DCORT), who will offer trauma-informed counseling support at the meetings and information on further counseling services.