Danelo Souza Cavalcante was seen in the area of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, overnight between Sept. 9 and 10, 2023, authorities said. Formerly bearded, he was seen clean-shaven. (Left image: Chester County District Attorney’s Office; center image: Pennsylvania State Police)
Police in Pennsylvania say that an escaped convict became even more dangerous after allegedly stealing a scoped rifle from an opened garage. Danelo Souza Cavalcante, 34, fled as the homeowner fired a pistol at him, the Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday morning.
Cavalcante was last spotted in South Coventry Twp, Chester Co., shirtless and wearing blue pants, carrying a stolen .22 rifle with a flashlight. Residents should call 911 immediately if he is spotted. For general tips or info, please call (717) 562-2987.
— PA State Police (@PAStatePolice) September 12, 2023
Officers reiterated their prior pleas and warnings to locals in the area of Chester County, Pennsylvania, a heavily wooded region west of Philadelphia: Stay vigilant and secure your possessions and property, including your residences, outbuildings, and vehicles.
Cavalcante was sentenced last month to life in prison without the possibility of parole for stabbing his ex-girlfriend, 33-year-old Deborah Brandão, 38 times in front of her young daughter and son. Authorities said he wanted to silence her because she discussed going to police about a homicide he committed in his birth nation of Brazil.
“We consider him desperate. We consider him dangerous,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens told reporters on Tuesday, referencing the two murders.
As seen on video, Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31 by climbing up the wall of the exercise yard. He had already had about an hour’s head start by the time authorities put the prison on lockdown.
Since then, police said there have been a number of sightings and that Cavalcante has appeared on various surveillance cameras. For example, he appeared newly clean-shaven when trying to reach former coworkers who he had not seen in years. Apparently, however, law enforcement officials have yet to come face to face with him.
The situation escalated Monday night.
At approximately 8 p.m., a driver told law enforcement that a man was “crouched near the wood line on the south side of Fairview Road, west of Route 100,” according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office. She turned around to double check what she saw, but by then the man had disappeared into the woods.
Troopers formed a perimeter around the area, and a border patrol tactical team checked out the spot in question. They found footprints matching Cavalcante’s prison shoes, the district attorney’s office said.
Investigators claimed to find the prison shoes nearby. There was no sign of Cavalcante, but a local resident told authorities about a pair of work boots being stolen from a porch.
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Law enforcement said they went north to track Cavalcante. It was at 10:10 p.m. that a local resident on Coventryville Road called authorities about a short Latino man, wearing dark pants and no shirt, entering an opened garage while the homeowner was inside.
“The male grabbed a .22 rifle with a scope that was leaning in the corner of the garage,” authorities said. “The homeowner drew a pistol and fired at Cavalcante as he fled with the rifle.”
Law enforcement responded. They claim to have found a green sweatshirt and white T-shirt that they believed Cavalcante had been wearing near the edge of the driveway.
Bivens, of Pennsylvania State Police, suggested to reporters that the theft was a “crime of opportunity,” and that Cavalcante had been trying to hide in the garage. The fugitive did not recognize that the homeowner was in there, he said. Cavalcante saw the rifle, grabbed it, encountered the homeowner and fled, Bivens said.
Regarding the fugitive’s current intentions, the lawman suggested Cavalcante is trying to survive and avoid capture.
“Cavalcante is considered armed and extremely dangerous,” authorities wrote. “He is now armed with a .22 caliber rifle with a scope and a flashlight mounted on it. Throughout the night, residents within a 3-mile radius of the search area were sent multiple reverse 911 calls and messages, and information was posted to social media by the Pennsylvania State Police in order to keep the public informed and safe. All affected schools were notified immediately in the early morning of September 12, 2023, and the decision was made to close the Owen J. Roberts School District for the day.”
Authorities describe Cavalcante as Latino, weighing 120 pounds, and standing 5 feet tall. He has black hair and brown eyes. Cavalcante, who was born in Brazil, is fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish.
“The current perimeter includes PA 23 to the north, PA 100 to the east, Fairview and Nantmeal Roads to the south, and Iron Bridge and County Park Roads to the west,” officers said.
From cops:
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call 911, PA State Police command post at 1-877-926-8332 or anonymously contact the PA Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online at
“For general tips or info, please call (717) 562-2987,” police wrote on social media website X, previously Twitter.
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