9 Teenagers Back In Custody After Breaking Out Of Pennsylvania Detention Center
All nine teenage offenders who escaped from a Pennsylvania detention facility Sunday night after allegedly overpowering two guards and stealing their keys are back in custody, authorities said.
The escapees, all of them between the ages of 15 and 17, were taken into custody at various locations Monday morning. They had spent nearly 10 hours outside the Abraxas Academy detention center in Morgantown, state trooper David Beohm said at a press conference.
“They were done. They were tired, they were cold,” Beohm said of four of the teenagers, who turned themselves in at a house just before 6 a.m. “They look like they’ve probably been out walking in the woods since 8 o’clock last night.”
Less than an hour later, four more of the missing teens were collared following a report of a stolen vehicle. The ninth teen, who was allegedly also involved in the vehicle’s theft, was caught shortly afterward, following a brief foot chase, Beohm said.
All nine teenagers will be charged with escape in addition to any other alleged crimes they committed while on the run, he said.
Beohm said earlier reports of a riot taking place in the detention center, leading to the detainees’ escape, were incorrect.
State law enforcement recently carried out a nearly two-week manhunt for convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante, who broke out of the Chester County Jail west of Philadelphia on Aug. 31. (Cavalcante’s first name was initially spelled as “Danelo” by local authorities, but it was changed to “Danilo” in court filings last week.)
Cavalcante was recaptured on Sept. 13 by authorities using heat-detecting technology and police dogs.
Beohm said he didn’t expect the nine teenagers to have the same “resiliency” on the run as Cavalcante, who is roughly twice their age and was sentenced to life in prison before his escape.
“I don’t know that 15- to 17-year-olds have the resiliency to want to not have to go back,” he said. “Cavalcante knows he’s going to jail for the rest of his life.”
