Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante is caught on camera creeping around Pennsylvania town after escaping Chester County Prison

A Pennsylvania man convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend was reportedly spotted in surveillance footage as he fled from police after escaping from jail on Saturday morning.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, fled the Chester County Jail in Pocopson Township, Pennsylvania at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Police believe they are closing in on him after he appeared on residential surveillance cameras around 1:43 a.m. Saturday morning on Route 52 in Pocopson.

Cavalcante was walking through a wooded area before emerging from behind a small tree. He seems to have a backpack and something else in his right hand.

Two hours earlier, Friday evening at 11:30 p.m., an attempted burglary had been reported in the same town which has only 5,000 inhabitants.

A witness said he saw someone who looked like Cavalcante’s description, but police have yet to confirm he was behind the attempted robbery.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, fled the Chester County Jail in Pocopson Township, Pennsylvania at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The possible Cavalcante sighting came just two days after Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said the killer may have been trying to get to his native Brazil, where he tried to flee while he was fleeing the initial investigation into the murder.

“We have evidence to suggest he was captured in Virginia, but the ultimate goal was to go to Mexico and then Brazil, which is his native country,” Ryan said, according to ABC News.

Ryan added on Saturday that authorities were asking local residents to stay home and keep an eye out for the homes of anyone who may have left for Labor Day weekend.

“We are asking residents of the Pocopson Township area to stay indoors, lock their doors and their cars.” He is still considered an extremely dangerous individual,” Ryan said.

West Chester University, a college about six miles from the jail, canceled classes on Friday for security reasons. The Brandywine Art Museum, also closed, remained open on Saturday but warned visitors to avoid walking the museum’s pathways.

“The very last thing we want to see, other than someone getting hurt, is that they walk into someone’s house, get a set of car keys, and then it’s off to the races. “, added U.S. Marshal Robert Clark.

Ryan added that US Marshals are working with local, state and federal law enforcement to find Cavalcante, according to the Philadelphia Investigator.

Police described Cavalcante as five feet tall and weighing just 120 pounds, but warned the public to stay away from the “extremely dangerous” criminal and to call 911 if they have any information on his whereabouts.

Earlier this month, a jury returned a guilty verdict in the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, 33-year-old Deborah Brandao, in 2021 after just 15 minutes of deliberation.

At the time, he was wanted for murder in his home country of Brazil, and prosecutors said he ‘silenced’ her after she threatened to hand him over when she found out his past.

Cavalcante was last seen wearing a white t-shirt with gray shorts and white sneakers, and was spotted walking down a side street about three miles from jail after his escape.

Cavalcante stabbed his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao, 33, in 2021 after finding out he was wanted for murder in his home country of Brazil.

Authorities said earlier this week that police were looking ‘everywhere’ for the convicted killer after he suddenly disappeared, with Ryan saying it was not yet known how he escaped.

His prison break came just weeks after he was convicted of first-degree murder on August 16, and he was sentenced to life in prison on August 21 after two of his friends testified against him. .

According to the Inquirer, he killed Brandao with a kitchen knife he was using to cut meat in preparation for a barbecue earlier that day.

The killer has stabbed his ex-girlfriend more than 30 times and cops are warning the public to stay away and report him if they see him.

Jurors heard he was angry with Brandao because she threatened to turn him in to police, after finding out he had hacked into her Instagram account to spy on her, Ryan said.

During his trial, prosecutors claimed the pair had an abusive relationship in which Cavalcante was “an angry, jealous boyfriend who needed to be in control.”

On the day of the murder, Brandao was playing with her two children outside her home when she was confronted by the killer, who told her he was “going to do something bad to their lives”.

He then stabbed her more than 30 times in her upper torso and neck, according to testimony heard at her trial, while her children yelled at her to stop.

While her attorney said the stabbings were the result of their turbulent and toxic relationship, jurors were unswayed and quickly returned a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to life in prison on August 22.

In a taped confession at trial, Cavalcante said there was “no reason” to kill Brandao, but prosecutors claimed the stabbing was the culmination of a long history of domestic violence.

Cavalcante was reportedly wanted in Brazil for the murder of a man who owed him money, and the 34-year-old is a former gang member. It is unclear if there is an active arrest warrant for him in Brazil or if he is still wanted for questioning.

Brandao (left) was stabbed more than 30 times by Cavalcante in front of her children

Cavalcante was last seen walking down a road in Pocopson Township, about three miles from the jail.

After the attack, Cavalcante’s lawyer said he called his mother and sister to confess to the murder, before apparently reuniting two of his friends, Francisco Lima and Michael Scahill .

Both men testified against him at his trial in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

They said Cavalcante went to a business where the three men had rented construction trailers, where they admitted to helping the killer wash Brandao’s blood off his hands.

Scahill testified that they gave him a change of clothes and told him to “disappear”. Neither he nor Lima called the police, saying they believed the couple had an argument and only learned of Brandao’s death later that day.

Cavalcante remained on the run for several hours before being arrested in Virginia by a state trooper.

After his sentencing last week, Ryan said he was being held in a facility for 30 days so he could schedule an appeal before his transfer to state prison. He had been held at the facility without bail since his arrest in 2021, and this is the first escape from the 700-inmate prison in decades, according to the Delaware County Daily Schedules.

The last breakout from the compound is believed to have taken place in the 1990s, when an inmate hid in a laundry basket and snuck out with a delivery truck.

Pennsylvania police have launched a manhunt for the convict, and officials say it is not yet clear how he was able to escape.

Prosecutors argued Cavalcante had abused his girlfriend for years and the 34-year-old had a criminal record that included assault.

In June 2020, police were reportedly called to an apartment the couple shared in Royersford, Upper Providence Township, after reporting a disturbance.

Brandao told cops Cavalcante flew into a rage during an argument and attacked her, biting her lip and dripping blood before kicking her and her children out of the house.

The incident led police to issue an arrest warrant for assault, and although Cavalcante’s sister told law enforcement he would turn himself in, he never did.

Brandao then received a Temporary Abuse Protection Order against Cavalcante after a second incident in December 2020 in which he chased her with a knife.