Chester County man convicted of first-degree murder in killing of his ex-girlfriend

>>Update: Danelo Cavalcante escaped from Chester County prison Thursday morning. Click here to read more.

It took a Chester County jury just 15 minutes of deliberation to reach a first-degree murder verdict against a man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in front of her children.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, had been charged with first- and third-degree murder in the April 2021 death of Deborah Brandao, 33, whom he had dated for two years.

Prosecutors, led by Chester County District Attorney Deborah Ryan, presented evidence that Cavalcante had left a barbecue at his home in King of Prussia to confront Brandao, bringing with him a kitchen knife he had been using to slice meat for the party.

In her closing argument Wednesday afternoon, Ryan said the two had been engaged in an abusive relationship with a history of domestic violence, in which Cavalcante was “an angry and jealous boyfriend who needed to be in control.”

The motive for the attack remained unclear. However, Ryan presented evidence that Brandao had discovered Cavalcante was wanted for murder in his native Brazil. The day before, she had threatened to bring that information to the police after Cavalcante hacked into her Instagram account to spy on her, Ryan said.

“He couldn’t have that,” Ryan told the jurors, urging them to convict him of first-degree murder. “So he had to silence her. And that’s what he did.”

Leandro Cardozo Patricio, who attended the party on the day of the murder, told prosecutors through an interpreter that Cavalcante had said he had “to go get [his] woman.”

Outside of Brandao’s home in Schuylkill Township, as her two children were nearby playing, Cavalcante confronted her. He told Brandao he was “going to do something bad to [their] lives” and threatened to kill her, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

He then attacked Brandao, knocking her to the ground and stabbing her more than 30 times in her neck, chest and back, according to testimony during this week’s trial. Brandao’s children screamed at him to stop, as they watched, helpless, nearby.

» READ MORE: Chester County man stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death while her children watched, DA says

Cavalcante fled the scene. Brandao was taken by medics to Paoli Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Cavalcante’s lawyer, Sameer Barkawi, said the killing came at the height of an argument, when Cavalcante “snapped” and gave into the rage he was feeling. He brought the knife with him, Barkawi said, because during previous arguments, threatening Brandao with a weapon had gotten her to cave to his demands.

“This was a volatile — and that’s probably putting it lightly — relationship, Barkawi said. “It’s important to understand the toxicity of this relationship.”

After the murder, Cavalcante called his mother and sister to confess, something, Barkawi said, that showed the attack was not premeditated, but rather something done in the heat of the moment.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to these stabs,” Barkawi said. “That’s the intense passion, that’s what happened when this relationship boiled over.”

But the jurors were not swayed.

Two of Cavalcante’s friends, Francisco Lima and Michael Scahill, testified that afterward, Cavalcante drove to a business where the three parked rented construction trailers. There, the two helped Cavalcante wash Brandao’s blood off his hands, which were cut and bleeding from the brutal assault.

They then gave Cavalcante a change of clothes, put gas in his car and told him to “disappear,” Scahill testified during the trial. Neither he nor Lima called the police. They later agreed to testify against their friend in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Scahill, a construction superintendent from Phoenixville, said he knew Cavalcante had had an argument with Brandao, but had no idea she was dead until later that evening. Still, he admitted to disposing of Cavalcante’s blood-soaked clothes from the assault because he was scared.

Hours after the stabbing, Cavalcante was arrested in Virginia by a state trooper who had received a bulletin about the murder and Cavalcante’s status as a fugitive.

In a recorded statement played during the trial, Cavalcante told Chester County detectives “there was no reason” for the stabbing — the two simply started arguing, he said, and “it went from there.” Cavalcante told the detectives he was sorry for killing her, and wrote a letter to Brandao’s children, asking for their forgiveness.

The attack outside of Brandao’s apartment was the final assault in a long history of domestic violence against her, according to prosecutors.

Officers in Upper Providence Township were called to the apartment the two shared in Royersford in June 2020 for reports of a disturbance. There, Brandao told the officers that Cavalcante had attacked her during an argument, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood and chasing her and her children out of the apartment.

Police issued a warrant for simple assault, and Cavalcante, through his sister, promised to turn himself in. He never did, according to Upper Providence Police Officer Mark Minnick. After a second attack in December 2020, in which Cavalcante chased her with a knife, Brandao filed for and received a temporary protection from abuse order against Cavalcante.

However, that order was dismissed in March 2021 when Brandao failed to appear for a hearing in Family Court concerning the attack.

After the verdict was read, Brandao’s family, assembled in the courtroom, gathered in a tearful embrace.

Ryan said she was thrilled with the jury’s decision.

“Today, Deborah Brandao and her family got the justice they deserve,” she said.

Cavalcante will be sentenced in the coming weeks. A first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.