An illegal migrant who escaped from prison after being sentenced to life in prison for murdering his girlfriend has been captured after a two-week manhunt.
A tactical team of U.S. Border Patrol agents and Pennsylvania State Police captured escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante after a long two-week manhunt.
Cavalcante was caught in a wooded area near South Coventry Township in Pennsylvania.
Agents were able to spot Cavalcante crawling through some thorn bushes which caused a K-9 Unit to bite him and hold him down until agents were able to arrest him.
Just look at how many agents and state police were on the scene:
BREAKING: Escaped prisoner captured. The display of force is extraordinary. WATCHpic.twitter.com/9vUQ0NT50u
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) September 13, 2023
BREAKING: Danelo Cavalcante, the illegal immigrant who escaped prison 14 days ago, has been captured and is in police custody.
The illegal immigrant was captured around 8:15 a.m. eastern time in northern Chester County.
Just days before escaping, Cavalcante was sentenced to… pic.twitter.com/22ewbnJ63x
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 13, 2023
"He came here, he was fleeing his home country because he was charged with a murder in his home country, and he was able to illegally enter the United States."
Former acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan comments on the capture of escaped killer Danelo … pic.twitter.com/CkQOtsmtRL
— Brad Porcellato (@BradPorcellato) September 13, 2023
Per CBS Philadelphia:
A tactical team of Pennsylvania State Police and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol closed in on escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante as he lay in a wooded area of South Coventry Township on Wednesday morning.
The capture ended a manhunt for Cavalcante, a convicted killer who escaped from Chester County Prison at the end of August and had evaded hundreds of law enforcement personnel for two weeks.
Still armed with a .22 caliber rifle stolen from a homeowner’s garage this week, Cavalcante tried to crawl away through the brush and escape from the tactical units closing in, officials said in a news conference Wednesday. Then a K-9 unit bit him and held him down, and he was taken into custody.
Ryan first spoke of the escape nearly two weeks ago. At that time, it was a race to figure out how it happened.
The manhunt touched many lives on a deeply personal level, including Ryan, whose work during Cavalcante’s murder trial sent him to prison for the rest of his life.
Chester County Manhunt ENDS this morning around 8am after customs and border protection officers apprehended Danelo Cavalcante in a shed near a business called Littles #GoBirds pic.twitter.com/cAtq8d5XnE
— PhillyCrimeUpdate (@PhillyCrimeUpd) September 13, 2023
CNN provided a timeline:
Lt. Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police provided the following timeline on Danelo Cavalcante’s capture:
The law enforcement personnel were already in the perimeter established in northern Chester County when the events of the capture started to unfold shortly after midnight.
A burglar alarm: First, there was a burglar alarm within the perimeter. “Our people investigated that — did not find Cavalcante there or anyone else, but it started to bring some of our people into that area. We had been searching an area not far from there already with some tactical teams that night,” Bivens said, adding an aircraft overhead was also assisting with the search.
Aircraft picked up a heat signal: The aircraft picked up a heat signal around 1:00 a.m. ET, and personnel began to track that signal.
Weather system brought lightning which forced teams to hold: The aircraft that picked up the heat signal had to depart, and tactical teams secured the area and held it through a storm that rolled in. The team waited until they could bring additional resources in and bring aircraft back overhead “to ensure that we did not have an issue with an escape,” Bivens explained.
The search resumed in the morning: “Shortly after 8:00 a.m., tactical teams converged on the area where the heat source was. They were able to move in very quietly. They had the element of surprise. Cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded until that had occurred,” Bivens said.
Cavalcante tried to escape: “He tried to crawl through thick underbrush taking his rifle with him as he went,” Bivens said. One of the officials had a dog, which they released to subdue the inmate, Bivens said.
Cavalcate continued to resist: He “was forcibly taken into custody. No one was injured as a result of that. He did sustain a minor bite wound. We had medical personnel at the scene and they took a look at that,” Bivens said.
BREAKING: Danelo Cavalcante on his way back to prison.pic.twitter.com/S7Bq5VSVCV
— AlphaFo𝕏 (@Alphafox78) September 13, 2023
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