Current:Home > ScamsWatch: Video shows how Danelo Cavalcante escaped prison in Chester County, Pennsylvania -GrowthProspect
Watch: Video shows how Danelo Cavalcante escaped prison in Chester County, Pennsylvania
View
Date:2025-04-15 15:52:55
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! (7974)
Related
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Caitlin Clark’s presence draws comparisons to two Birds as Indiana Fever contemplate playoff run
- Kansas has new abortion laws while Louisiana may block exceptions to its ban
- Jersey Shore's Pauly D Shares Rare Update on Life With 10-Year-Old Daughter Amabella
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Slipknot announces Here Comes the Pain concert tour, return of Knotfest: How to get tickets
- Kentucky Derby has had three filly winners. New challenges make it hard to envision more.
- World's Strongest Man competition returns: Who to know, how to follow along
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Rob Marciano, 'ABC World News Tonight' and 'GMA' meteorologist, exits ABC News after 10 years
Ranking
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- It's June bug season. What to know about the seasonal critter and how to get rid of them
- Alabama committee advances ban on LGBTQ+ pride flags in classrooms
- White House considers welcoming some Palestinians from war-torn Gaza as refugees
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Testimony ends in a trial over New Hampshire’s accountability for youth center abuse
- The Best Mother's Day Gifts for the Most Paw-some Dog Mom in Your Life
- Ancestral lands of the Muscogee in Georgia would become a national park under bills in Congress
Recommendation
Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
What is May Day? How to celebrate the spring holiday with pagan origins
Florida Says No to Federal Funding Aimed at Greenhouse Gas Emissions
University of Houston football will defy NFL, feature alternate light blue uniform in 2024
Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
University of Houston football will defy NFL, feature alternate light blue uniform in 2024
Marcus Outzen dies: Former Florida State quarterback started national title game
Is pot legal now? Despite big marijuana news, it's still in legal limbo.