The fugitive killer was captured after an intensive manhunt in the northeastern United States, survived by eating watermelons and planned to flee to Canada or Puerto Rico, police said.
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Danelo Cavalcante, a 34-year-old Brazilian, evaded for two weeks hundreds of Pennsylvania police officers backed by the FBI and U.S. Marshals who were responsible for searching for fugitives.
AFP
Despite roadblocks, drones and helicopters, Cavalcante remained elusive by moving around at night, taking shelter in thick bushes and burying his excrement to avoid leaving traces.
But he was spotted Wednesday morning by a plane equipped with thermal imaging cameras and then caught by a police dog, a four-year-old Malinois German Shepherd named Yoda, who bit him on the skull, causing him to bleed profusely.
“He said he found watermelons on a farm, drank water from a stream and only traveled at night,” U.S. Marshal Robert Clark said Wednesday night on NBC.
“His ultimate goal was to steal someone’s car (…) and then drive north,” with his final destination being “Canada or Puerto Rico.” “That was his plan for the next 24 hours, so we arrived just in time to locate and arrest him.”
The rather petite escapee, about 5 feet tall and weighing 110 pounds, managed to escape from the Chester County Jail on August 31st. His escape, revealed by prison camera video released by authorities, was as spectacular as it was embarrassing for the prison, police and judicial authorities.
We saw the prisoner hide in a niche in the courtyard, then nimbly climb up Spider-Man style, his body horizontal between two walls, and disappear onto the roof.
Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison in August for stabbing his former girlfriend to death in front of the victim’s child in 2021. Authorities considered him extremely “dangerous.”
He was transferred to a maximum security prison in Montgomery County, still in Pennsylvania.