Escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante was spotted Thursday near Longwood Gardens, prompting officials there to close the 1,000+ acre botanical garden and clear guests from the property.
”Police are currently searching an area of interest on the property. Tenants on the property are sheltering in place. The Gardens will remain closed until further notice,” Longwood spokesperson Patricia Evans told the Philadelphia Inquirer in an email late Thursday.
Police were also searching barns in the area around the gardens, the Inquirer reported.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said that a resident spotted Cavalcante, 34, running in a wooded area just before noon, prompting a heavy police presence in the area. It was the eighth credible sighting, Bivens said, all in a relatively small area not far from the Chester County Prison where he escaped last week while awaiting transfer to a state prison.
Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison last month for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in 2021, as CrimeOnline reported. At the time, he was wanted in his native Brazil for an unrelated 2017 murder.
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Prison officials released video on Wednesday showing how the fugitive climbed a wall to escape. A guard in an observation tower didn’t see him leave, so the escape wasn’t noted until his cell block came in from their time in the exercise yard.
Several schools in the search area remain closed, although two have reopened after officials moved the search perimeters away.
A reward for information leading to Cavalcante’s capture has reached $20,000.
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[Featured image: Danelo Cavalcante/Chester County District Attorney’s Office]
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