Current:Home > ContactWatch: Video shows how Danelo Cavalcante escaped prison in Chester County, Pennsylvania -Secure Horizon Growth
Watch: Video shows how Danelo Cavalcante escaped prison in Chester County, Pennsylvania
View
Date:2025-04-15 07:02:02
Danelo Cavalcante entered the "C" Block cell of Chester County Prison in West Chester, about an hour's drive from Philadelphia, at 8:33 a.m. on August 31, 2023. Less than twenty minutes later, the convicted murderer escaped, officials said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Surveillance footage played at the news conference showed Cavalcante, wearing a white t-shirt, black pants and white sneakers, walk to a back wall and look around before grabbing onto a razor wire fence. He then pressed his feet against the wall so he was fully horizontal and climbed, Spiderman-like, up the wall until he disappeared from view.
Chester County Prison's acting warden Howard Holland said that Cavalcante escaped from the exercise yard to the roof area, which is the same escape route that another inmate, Igor Bolte, used on May 19, 2023.
After Bolte's escape, the prison hired a consulting firm, which advised them to "cap the whole area" with razor wire, Holland said. The prison didn't take into consideration that Cavalcante would break through the razor wire, he added.
A correction officer positioned at a watch tower was surveilling "C" Block, the acting warden said. There was a basketball game taking place in the yard at the time, which might have prevented the officers from catching Cavalcante climb up the wall, Holland said. According to Holland, there were 160 cameras installed throughout the prison, and it was possible that the officers monitoring the video feeds were focused on other things and didn't see the brazen escape.
Holland said that the Attorney General's office is investigating actions taken by corrections staff during the escape. The corrections officer stationed at the tower at the time is currently on administrative leave, he said.
Cavalcante was sighted Tuesday night, but search teams were unable to locate him, Lt. Col. George Bivens, with the Pennslyvania State Police, said at the news conference. There have been four confirmed sightings of him in a 2-mile radius in the days since his escape. The focus of the search has been on the area around Pocopson Township, which is located within Chester County. The perimeter being searched by law enforcement has expanded, said Bivens.
State police on Wednesday announced they had increased the reward for information that leads to Cavalcante's arrest from $10,000 to $20,000.
Bivens believes that Cavalcante is headed south and feels "quite confident I'm wearing him down." Cavalcante has no shelter or regular source of food, and he is navigating extremely difficult terrain, Bivens said. This is a "difficult existence for someone trying to do this," Bivens said, but "being hunted adds a whole different level of stress."
Bivens added that law enforcement is "not going anywhere until we catch him."
–Reporting contributed by Aliza Chasan
- In:
- Pennsylvania
- Crime
Cara Tabachnick is a news editor for CBSNews.com. Contact her at cara.tabachnick@cbsinteractive.com
veryGood! (5)
Related
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- AP Week in Pictures: North America
- Teen Mom's Kailyn Lowry Gives Birth to Twins, Welcomes Baby No. 6 and 7
- Kraft Singles introduces 3 new cheese flavors after 10 years
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Proof Sophie Turner and Peregrine Pearson's Romance Is Heating Up
- Biden forgives $5 billion more in student loan debt. Here's who qualifies and how to apply.
- Nevada’s Republican governor endorses Trump for president three weeks ahead of party-run caucus
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Officials in Martinique rescue two boaters and search for three others after boat capsizes
Ranking
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Subway adds 3 new foot-long items to its menu. Hint: None of them are sandwiches
- Atlanta Opera will update Puccini’s ‘La Bohéme’ for the coronavirus pandemic
- Atlanta Opera will update Puccini’s ‘La Bohéme’ for the coronavirus pandemic
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- German parliament approves easing rules to get citizenship, dropping restrictions on dual passports
- American Airlines plane slides off runway at New York's Rochester Airport
- Teen pleads guilty in Denver house fire that killed 5 from Senegal
Recommendation
Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
Want to read Colleen Hoover’s books? Here’s where to start.
Stanford's Tara VanDerveer will soon pass Mike Krzyzewski for major coaching record
Largest deep-sea coral reef discovery: Reef spans hundreds of miles, bigger than Vermont
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
BodyArmor launches sugar-free, carb-free version of popular sports drink
Vanderpump Rules' Tom Schwartz & Katie Maloney Spill Details on Shocking Season 11 Love Triangle
Murder of Laci Peterson: Timeline as Scott Peterson's case picked up by Innocence Project