Current:Home > reviewsWatch: Video shows how Danelo Cavalcante escaped prison in Chester County, Pennsylvania -ProfitPioneers Hub
Watch: Video shows how Danelo Cavalcante escaped prison in Chester County, Pennsylvania
View
Date:2025-04-18 06:18:46
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! (31)
Related
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- EPA Settles Some Alabama Coal Ash Violations, but Larger Questions Linger
- JPMorgan net income falls as bank sets aside more money to cover potential bad loans
- Does Apple's 'Submerged,' the first short film made for Vision Pro headset, sink or swim?
- A Georgia governor’s latest work after politics: a children’s book on his cats ‘Veto’ and ‘Bill’
- Security guard gets no additional jail time in man’s Detroit-area mall death
- WNBA Finals will go to best-of-seven series next year, commissioner says
- Martha Stewart Says Prosecutors Should Be Put in a Cuisinart Over Felony Conviction
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- If you mute Diddy songs, what about his hits with Mary J. Blige, Mariah, J. Lo and more?
Ranking
- 'Most Whopper
- What if you could choose how to use your 401(k) match? One company's trying that.
- Why Full House's Scott Curtis Avoided Candace Cameron Bure After First Kiss
- Mauricio Umansky Files for Conservatorship Over Father Amid Girlfriend's Alleged Abuse
- 51-year-old Andy Macdonald puts on Tony Hawk-approved Olympic skateboard showing
- What if you could choose how to use your 401(k) match? One company's trying that.
- WNBA Finals Game 1: Lynx pull off 18-point comeback, down Liberty in OT
- California man, woman bought gold bars to launder money in $54 million Medicare fraud: Feds
Recommendation
Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
12 rescued from former Colorado gold mine after fatality during tour
'It's gone': Hurricane Milton damage blows away retirement dreams in Punta Gorda
Get Over to Athleta's Online Warehouse Sale for Chic Activewear up to 70% off, Finds Start at $12
Jamaica's Kishane Thompson more motivated after thrilling 100m finish against Noah Lyles
Residents clean up and figure out what’s next after Milton
Guardians tame Tigers to force winner-take-all ALDS Game 5
Tech CEO Justin Bingham Dead at 40 After 200-Ft. Fall at National Park in Utah