Here’s the latest on the escaped Pennsylvania inmate : NPR

A convicted murderer who prompted a massive manhunt in Pennsylvania made his brazen escape from a jail yard outside Philadelphia by scaling a wall sideways, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof, authorities said on Wednesday.

Danelo Cavalcante, a 34-year-old who killed his ex-girlfriend, escaped from the Chester County Prison last Thursday, sparking a massive manhunt and stressing communities in eastern Pennsylvania.

Here’s the latest.

What does the video show?

 

Police released the security video during a news conference on Wednesday, as the manhunt stretched into its seventh day.

Cavalcante is seen standing in a jail yard passageway, checking his surroundings before he places his hands on the wall, then walks his feet up backwards so he begins moving perpendicularly. After seven seconds, he disappears out of the camera’s view.

Howard Holland, the acting warden of the Chester County Prison, said the prison was fully staffed at the time of Cavalcante’s escape, but the breakout wasn’t detected for over an hour, during an inmate count at the conclusion of an exercise period.

A tower guard who’d been on duty at the time was put on leave as part of the investigation.

Did the prison know this was a possible escape route?

The route was the same one another prisoner used to escape in May, according to Holland. But in that case, a tower guard sounded an alarm and the inmate was returned within minutes.

Holland said the prison had added razor wire to the area after a consultant reviewed the details of the first escape.

“What was perhaps overlooked was the fact that addressing the single point of physical countermeasures should have been bolstered by additional means,” Holland said on Wednesday. “We are addressing that.”

The prison is also considering caging in the top of the yard and staffing more guards to supervise recreation times.

What’s happening with the search?

A manhunt involving hundreds of law enforcement officers, drones, helicopters and K-9 units has been expanding since Cavalcante’s disappearance.

Cavalcante has been spotted six times since his escape, most recently on Tuesday night, when he disappeared into the woods behind a residential area.

The night before, a trail surveillance camera captured him twice walking through Longwood Gardens, a botanical center located about three miles away from the prison. At that point, he was carrying a duffel bag and a hoodie.

Police believe Cavalcante may have entered the home of Pocopson, Penn., resident Ryan Drummond late Friday.

Drummond, who said his wife and kids are trying to balance a busy life of work and school, said his home’s French doors had a broken lock, and that Cavalcante may have overheard a conversation about that lock as the family was checking doors that evening.

The intruder left with “a peach, an apple, maybe a few snap peas” along with a white hat that were all left behind on a kitchen counter, Drummond told the Associated Press. The hat was later found in a neighbor’s yard.

Authorities have sent reverse 9-1-1 alert calls to residents as recently as Wednesday, and are still asking residents to keep their homes locked and to be on the lookout for missing cars, bicycles or transportation.

A combination of the thick brush and scorching temperatures have complicated the search, according to NPR member station WHYY. Excessive heat has rendered thermal cameras unusable and led to the hospitalization of one tactical search dog.

Police are currently focusing on the area surrounding the county prison in Pocopson, Township, about 25 miles west of Philadelphia.

Two school districts in the area closed their doors earlier this week but began to reopen some of the schools on Thursday, with special escorts for students taking the bus in and out of search areas.

The reward now stands at $20,000 for any information leading to his arrest, WHYY reported.

Who is Danelo Cavalcante?

Cavalcante was awaiting transfer to a state prison where he’d serve out a life sentence. He was convicted of homicide last month for killing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandão, in front of her children in 2021.

Prosecutors said that he killed Brandão to stop her from telling police that he was wanted for a 2017 killing back in his native country, Brazil.

He was captured for Brandão’s killing in Virginia. Authorities said he had been trying to return to Brazil.

Cavalcante’s native country has been watching the manhunt unfold with intense fascination. The main newspaper in Rio de Janeiro ran a lengthy story on the manhunt on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. The piece bore the headline, “dangerous hide-and-seek.”