Danelo Cavalcante: Pennsylvania fugitive who learned to hide in Brazil spent 'weeks' in wilderness after killing friend

2023-09-13 07:22

Danelo Cavalcante was known as a hard worker, but also someone who had a stash of guns and was not afraid to use them

CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: Danelo Cavalcante, 34, the fugitive who has been eluding the police in Pennsylvania since he escaped from prison on August 31 has learned to dodge investigators from his previous experience in Brazil, reports say.

Cavalcante, who escaped by crab-walking over two walls at Chester County Prison, spent weeks in 2017 hiding out in the rural fields and ranches outside Figueiropolis, a tiny town in central Brazil.

Is past experience of eluding authorities helping Danelo Cavalcante?

Raimundo Campos dos Santos, a resident of Figueiropolis, the small town where Cavalcante lived and worked on a ranch, told the New York Times, “He spent a lot of time in the bush."

Valter Junior Moreira dos Reis, his first victim in Brazil, as per the report, was a popular member of the community who had borrowed Cavalcante’s car and damaged it.

However, he failed to pay for the repairs which angered Cavalcante who had threatened to kill him several times.

“He kept saying, ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you,’” Moreira’s sister told the Times.

How was Danelo Cavalcante known as a person in Brazil?

Danelo had moved to Brazil with his brother and mother, a year prior to the killings.

He was known as a hard worker, but also someone who had a stash of guns and was not afraid to use them.

“He had this reputation that he kept a lot of guns at home. People used to say he had heavy weapons at the ranch,” Carlos Humberto Jacob, a friend of Cavalcante’s victim, Moreira, told the publication.

One night in November 2017, Cavalcante confronted Moreira in the middle of town and shot him six times. He then fled into the rural fields and ranches where he vanished.

“Once you get out, it’s just ranches and bush beyond here. It’s not hard to disappear,” Figueiropolis priest Kelton Meneses told the New York Times.

How did Danelo Cavalcante manage to hide and get into the US?

Cavalcante, as per the report, eventually made his way to the US using a false identity, according to the New York Times.

In April 2021, he killed his girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, 33, in front of her two children in Pennsylvania.

He was seen on Monday stealing a rifle from a garage in Pennsylvania. He is considered “armed and extremely dangerous” by the police.

“We have always considered him to be a risk. We just now absolutely know that he has a weapon,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt Col George Bivens said at a press conference Tuesday, adding "He’s killed two people before.”