WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) — Danelo Cavalcante wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, already sentenced to a life term for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao.
But on Friday in a Chester County courtroom, he resolved charges related to his escape from the county jail last year, sparking a two-week manhunt that sent rescue dogs, state police search parties, helicopters and drones to a large rural and suburban swath of Chester County – and drawing national attention to the area located west of Philadelphia.
Cavalcante pleaded guilty to charges of escape and burglary on Friday and was immediately sentenced to serve 15 to 30 years in addition to his existing life sentence. Cavalcante did not speak in court.
Residents were on edge for two weeks after Cavalcante “crab-walked” up the wall of an outdoor exercise yard at the prison and wasn’t found. Police set up multiple search perimeters, which shifted from time to time as investigators realized he had slipped past their ranks once again.
There were multiple confirmed sightings of Cavalcante in the manhunt on surveillance cameras – and toward the conclusion, a resident came face-to-face with him after he allegedly stole a rifle from a garage.
He was ultimately caught after a plane controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration detected Cavalcante on thermal imaging. Tactical teams on the ground also went to the area of the heat signal and began closing in on the location.
A John Deere tractor and mower store owner watched from a loading dock as dozens of law enforcement personnel swarmed the wooded area behind his business in South Coventry Township and pulled Cavalcante out of the brush and overgrowth.
Chopper 3 was the only news helicopter flying overhead as Cavalcante was taken into custody, clad in a Philadelphia Eagles hoodie and bloody from a K-9 dog’s bite to restrain him.
CBS News Philadelphia
Cavalcante’s most recent stint of incarceration has been in State Correctional Institution Greene in Waynesburg, about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh.