Pennsylvania manhunt for escaped killer Danelo Cavalcante intensifies after latest sighting

The search for convicted killer Danelo Cavalcante who fled a Pennsylvania prison intensified Tuesday on its sixth day after a new sighting was captured on a trail camera at a popular botanic garden.

Two nearby school districts canceled classes. Officials urged local residents to be wary and keep homes and cars locked, and police broadcast a plea for surrender from the convict's mother.

A massive dragnet initially focused on an area within a 2-mile perimeter largely around Pocopson Township, a residential neighborhood near the Chester County Prison. Officials on Tuesday expanded the perimeter to encompass an area south of the small town because it appeared Cavalcante had traveled farther away.

Cavalcante, 34, escaped from of the Chester County Prison on Thursday, about 25 miles from Philadelphia, where he was waiting to be sent to a state facility. His escape comes a week after Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in front of her children. He's also wanted in connection with a 2017 murder in his native Brazil.

Security at Longwood Gardens notified investigators that a private camera on Monday captured Cavalcante walking north around 8:21 p.m. and then south through the same location at 9:33 p.m., Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said during a news conference Tuesday morning. The gardens, about 200 acres of rolling meadows, brimming gardens and winding paths, is usually packed with visitors but has closed during the search for the escaped inmate, WFMZ reported.

The photos show that Cavalcante obtained a backpack, a duffel bag, "clothing and other items," Bivens said.

Because of the expanded perimeter, the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the Kennett Consolidated School District in Chester County canceled classes for Tuesday.

“That pressure that we’ve been putting on him is working,” Bivens said. “We squeezed him hard enough over a period of a few days and he was not able to get any relief, and (he) managed to find a place to get out.”

“Obviously I wish we would have been able to capture him without him getting through that perimeter, but it's also not shocking,” he added. “It’s dark, it’s a large area. Not to make excuses, it’s just difficult terrain.”

Suspected Cavalcante sightings

There have been five credible sightings of Cavalcante from witnesses since he fled the prison, including one instance in which a state trooper briefly chased him but was unable to capture the fugitive.

Local Pocopson Township resident Ryan Drummond told WPVI he believes Cavalcante got into his home and stole food late Friday night. Drummond told the outlet he got up after hearing a noise downstairs and, from his upstairs landing, watched a man matching Cavalcante's description walk out of the house.

By the time police arrived, the man was gone into the thick brush, Drummond told WPVI.

"Peaches, apples, green snap peas were missing," he said. "We have a bunch of little steak knives and he could have taken one of those."

Just after midnight on Saturday, Cavalcante was seen on a residential surveillance camera about a mile and a half from the prison with a backpack, according to the Chester County District Attorney's Office.

Cavalcante's mother aids authorities

From speakers in cars and helicopters, authorities have blasted a recording they obtained from Cavalcante’s mother in Portuguese, asking her son “to surrender peacefully,” Bivens said.

Bivens urged local residents to familiarize themselves with Cavalcade's appearance, lock their doors, monitor their home security systems and check on their neighbors.

"You’re dealing with someone who is desperate and doesn’t want to be caught,” Bivens said. “If he can find some shelter, if he can find some food, he’s going to take advantage of whatever he finds.”

A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for any information that leads to Cavalcante's capture.

How exactly Cavalcante managed to escape the Chester County Prison remains unknown. A joint investigation into the matter is being handled by the Chester County District Attorney's Office and Pennsylvania State Police.

'We miss normal'

Eileen Blass, a former USA TODAY photographer who lives about two miles from the prison, said the presence of law enforcement in her neighborhood over recent days has been constant.

From her home in Pennsbury Township, she’s heard and seen police helicopters, drones and security checkpoints up and down the road she lives on.

According to the Chester County District Attorney's Office, hundreds of law enforcement officers are involved in the manhunt. Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were deployed on Monday to help in the search.

Blass is one of many people within a 3-mile radius of the camera that captured Cavalcante on Monday night to receive a reverse 911 text notifying them that the search area had stretched farther south and encompassed Longwood Gardens.

“We miss normal,” she said in an email.

Contributing: Ken Alltucker, USA Today; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Manhunt for Danelo Cavalcante who fled Pennsylvania prison intensifies