Danelo Cavalcante captured in Chester County after a two-week manhunt

The escaped murderer who thrust a rural corner of Chester County into chaos and uncertainty for two weeks was captured early Wednesday, dragged out of thick underbrush he had been hiding in by a team of heavily armed police officers.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, had led hundreds of Pennsylvania State Police troopers, U.S. Marshals, and agents from the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol on a protracted search after scaling a wall in the Chester County Prison on Aug. 31.

In announcing the arrest Wednesday morning at the operation’s makeshift command center in Unionville, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Cavalcante’s capture proved that the Pennsylvania State Police are the “finest law enforcement agency in the United States of America.”

“The public over the last 13 days has had a chance to see what excellence in law enforcement means, what true, dedicated professionalism is all about,” Shapiro said. “I couldn’t be more proud to be standing up here today with these professionals from every level.”

» READ MORE: Danelo Cavalcante captured: Live updates

Cavalcante had eluded law enforcement for two weeks by moving only at night through dense forest, choosing “paths of least resistance” along creek beds, clearings in the woods and other areas, according to State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens. When he could, he committed furtive crimes of opportunity, breaking into homes and other buildings to steal food, clothing and supplies.

At one point, authorities said, he stole a van from a dairy near Longwood Gardens, escaping about 20 miles north to the area where state police eventually closed in on him.

But, in the end, the Brazilian national was defeated by law enforcement — about 500 officers teamed up with tracking dogs, mounted patrols, helicopters, drones and infrared technology. After a burglar alarm late Tuesday within the search perimeter in South Coventry Township alerted police, an airplane from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency spotted Cavalcante through thermal imaging.

After being briefly grounded by a lightning storm, the plane located Cavalcante again hours later, and a team of dozens of officers quietly surrounded him about 8 a.m. in the woods behind Little’s, a farm tractor dealership on Pottstown Pike.

Cavalcante had no idea he was surrounded, Bivens said, until it was too late. A Border Patrol dog named Yoda grabbed Cavalcante, who “forcefully resisted” arrest before being subdued, he said.

Photos circulated in the aftermath showing Cavalcante, bloodied by the dog bite, in handcuffs and wearing an Eagles jersey that investigators said he stole from a home in the area while on the run. Shapiro jokingly offered to replace that hoodie with a new one in the team’s latest signature kelly green motif.

At the time of his capture, Cavalcante was armed with a .22-caliber Ruger rifle that authorities say he had stolen late Monday from a home in nearby East Nantmeal Township. But no shots were fired as he was taken into custody — a fact that Bivens heralded.

» READ MORE: ‘We will actively hunt until we find him’: Police close in on Danelo Cavalcante, who stole a rifle

“He was desperate, and I’ve said that all along,” Bivens said. “You have an individual whose choice is go back to prison and spend the rest of your life in a place you don’t want to be, or continue to try and evade capture. He chose to evade capture.”

Phoenixville resident Maryanne Yackel happened to be near Little’s early Wednesday, and had a front-row seat to Cavalcante’s capture.

“He came out wet,” Yackel said, pointing to a grassy area behind the dealership next to a tall, dark thicket of woods.

Yackel said she first saw Cavalcante emerge from behind a pile of wood, led by officers who had just captured him in a wooded area north of Prizer Road and west of Route 100.

In the dealership’s parking lot, Yackel watched officers place Cavalcante into the back of an armored tactical vehicle.

Yackel, 57, who is often in the area looking for rental property, pulled into Little’s Wednesday morning after dropping off her children at school. She’d hung out around the dealership Tuesday out of curiosity, she said, knowing police were searching for the armed convict nearby.

“My kids get annoyed because I get interested in things like this,” Yackel said with a smile. “I’ve been looking for a rental nearby, so I know the area well. I kept saying, it would be perfect if this is where he is.”

With Cavalcante in custody, Bivens released some additional details about the fugitive’s 14-day run from authorities. He confirmed that multiple people “were intent and intended to assist” Cavalcante, but were successfully stopped by state police.

» READ MORE: A step-by-step look at the Chester County Prison escape

Bivens dispelled rumors that Cavalcante had a cell phone or other means to be in touch with would-be accomplices, but declined to provide details about the people who tried to help him, saying they may face criminal charges in the coming weeks.

Among them, he said, was Calvacante’s sister, Eleni, who had stayed in the country for years illegally on an expired visa and is being deported to Brazil.

Cavalcante was arraigned Wednesday and charged with escape, a felony, court records show. Magisterial District Court Judge Albert Iacocca denied him bail.

After being interviewed by state police at their barracks in Avondale, Cavalcante was later taken to SCI Phoenix, a state prison in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, to begin a life sentence for first-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend.

Just two weeks before Cavalcante escaped, he was convicted of killing Deborah Brandao outside of her home in Schuylkill Township in 2021, stabbing her nearly 40 times as her two children watched.

It took a jury just 15 minutes to convict him, one of the fastest verdicts Chester County District Attorney Deborah Ryan said she had ever seen.

Ryan said Wednesday that the Brandao family had been living a “complete nightmare” while Cavalcante was on the run, and they were the first to be notified that he had been taken into custody.

In a statement Wednesday, Sarah Brandao, Deborah Brandao’s sister and the guardian of her son and daughter, said she was “deeply grateful for the support and hard work put in by law enforcement throughout these past days.”

“The past two weeks have been extremely painful and terrifying as it brought back all the feelings from losing my sister and the thought of the perpetrator hurting us again,” she said.

Learning on Wednesday morning that Cavalcante was in custody allowed the Brandao family to breathe a sigh of relief, according to Ryan

“Today is a great day here in Chester County,” Ryan said. “Our nightmare is finally over, and the good guys won.”

Staff writer Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.