Chester County Prison fugitive escaped using similar method as an inmate who fled in May, source says

The convicted murderer who escaped from the Chester County Prison last week used a similar method to leave the facility as another inmate who fled from it for a second time in May, a source said Tuesday.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, climbed onto the roof of a building at the prison in Pocopson Township early Thursday from one of the facility’s exercise yards, according to a source at the prison who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Cavalcante then ran across the roof and dropped down to a less-secure area, fleeing the prison grounds from there, the source said.

» READ MORE: Escaped killer Danelo Cavalcante spotted on Longwood Gardens camera as manhunt continues

His apparent escape method is nearly identical to one used by Igor Bolte, 30, who escaped from the county prison on May 19 but was caught nearby minutes later.

A spokesperson for Chester County District Attorney Deborah Ryan declined to comment on how Cavalcante escaped, saying that the matter remains under investigation and that the focus is on capturing him. County spokesperson Rebecca Brain also declined to comment, citing the active investigation.

The hunt for Cavalcante, a convicted murderer and undocumented immigrant from Brazil, reached a new intensity Tuesday, with resources from the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol boosting the already-sizable effort.

At a news conference Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said that Cavalcante had escaped from the original search perimeter set up to catch him in Pocopson Township.

Cavalcante was recorded on a private trail camera in Longwood Gardens twice within about an hour Monday: Once heading north at 8:21 p.m. and again returning south at 9:33 p.m., Bivens said. It was likely that Cavalcante had lost his bearings and backtracked to continue his trek southward.

”That pressure we put on him is working. We squeezed him hard enough in a period of a few days where he couldn’t get some relief, and he squeezed out,” Bivens said. “I wished we could’ve got him, but it’s a large, dark area, with difficult terrain.”

The pictures from the trail cameras depicted Cavalcante with a backpack, duffel bag, and hooded sweatshirt. He likely obtained these items along his travels, Bivens said; there was no evidence that he has any outside help or hidden caches of supplies stashed in the area.

”You’re dealing with someone who’s desperate and doesn’t want to be caught,” Bivens said. “If he can find some clothing, shelter, or some food, he’s going to take advantage of whatever he can find.”

Ryan Drummond, who lives on Waterglen Drive, not far from the prison, said he came nearly face-to-face with Cavalcante late Friday, when the fugitive broke into his home through an unlocked door.

Drummond heard a noise coming from his kitchen at about 11:40 p.m., as he and his wife were sleeping upstairs, he said in an interview Tuesday.

He checked on his two daughters, then slowly crept to a landing on the second floor.

“I decided not to confront him and thought it was a better move to flick the light switch,” Drummond, 42, said. “And he flicked it back at me, which was terrifying, so I told my wife to call 911.”

» READ MORE: West Chester man says escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante took food from his home

Cavalcante walked out of Drummond’s home wearing a baseball cap that belonged to Drummond. He slipped out through a French door in Drummond’s living room that he says doesn’t lock properly.

Later, as Drummond was taking stock of his home, he noticed that some produce purchased at a local farmstand was missing, including apples, peaches, and snap peas.

“The last few days have been surreal. It’s tough,” Drummond said. “We’re all jumpy, and I could see this has taken a psychological toll on my kids. If they’re in the room by themselves, they’re calling for us.”

Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison Aug. 22 for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in front of her children in 2021. He fled the Chester County Prison on Thursday, and was reported missing just before 9 that morning, according to investigators.

He is also wanted in Toncantins, a state in northern Brazil, for allegedly shooting Valter Júnior Moreira dos Reis in November 2017 inside a cafeteria in the municipality of Figueirópolis, according to reports from the Brazilian media outlet G1.

Unlike Cavalcante, Bolte, the inmate who previously escaped, was apprehended relatively quickly, court records show.

Bolte was in custody for violating his probation in a 2019 aggravated assault case for punching a police officer when he scaled a narrow outdoor hallway in one of the prison’s exercise yards, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for his arrest on the escape. He was filmed doing so on the prison’s security cameras, placing his feet on one wall, his hands on the other, and climbing the walls “in a horizontal position,” until he reached the roof, the affidavit said.

He then climbed down from the roof and was seen running past a security station near the prison’s front entrance.

An officer posted near the exercise yard saw Bolte and notified the other guards that he had escaped, the affidavit said.

Officers patrolled the area and found Bolte about five minutes later outside of a home about a half mile from the prison, the affidavit said. He was “soaking wet,” and told the officers he had jumped into the home’s pool in an attempt to avoid them. Bolte later told police his plan was to run back toward West Chester, where he knew he could find aid.

Bolte’s criminal case on the escape is pending.

But it wasn’t his first time trying to flee custody.

In July 2019, a month after pleading guilty in the aggravated assault case, Bolte escaped from a lower-security work-release center located near the main prison, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed for his arrest. Bolte ran out of an unlocked door and scaled a fence.

He escaped, his attorney wrote in a presentencing memorandum, because his fellow inmates’ taunting and “roughhousing” made him feel threatened — Bolte, a native Russian adopted by a Pennsylvania family when he was 10 years old, suffers from PTSD due to childhood trauma, his attorney, Michael Skinner, wrote.

Bolte ran into a wooded area near the prison, leading state police and county detectives on an hours-long chase, the affidavit said. He eventually surrendered, waving his arms to a police helicopter overhead to signal them.

For that escape, Bolte was sentenced to nine to 23 months in prison and one year probation, court records show.

Newsroom researcher Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.