Dog captures escape murderer after 2-weeks manhunt

A murderer who escaped from a US jail two weeks ago was captured by a law enforcement dog after a heat-sensing aircraft located him, authorities say.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was arrested in a wooded area in Pennsylvania on Wednesday as he tried to crawl away from officers who had surrounded him.

More than 500 law enforcement officers, including Pennsylvania State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, and US Marshals, were actively involved in the extensive manhunt after he escaped on 31 August.

He was sentenced to life in prison last month for killing his ex-girlfriend in front of her two children in 2021.

But just a week after he was sentenced, Cavalcante “crab-walked” between two walls and scaled a razor-wire fence to escape Chester County Prison, about 30 miles (50km) west of Philadelphia, where he had been awaiting transfer to a different facility.

The two-week manhunt spanned a large area of the state and put residents of Chester County on edge, with earlier sightings prompting police to advise residents to lock their doors and stay inside.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Cavalcante was “apprehended with no shots fired”.

Police told reporters that a search team of mounted patrols, dogs and aircraft had fanned out over the woods of South Coventry Township through rain and thunder.

Law enforcement were then drawn closer to Cavalcante by a burglar alarm at a home.

A Drug Enforcement Administration plane picked up a heat signal on the ground at 01:00, but the aircraft had to fly away because of the weather conditions.

ADVERTISEMENT

A tactical team of around two dozen officers began closing in on the heat source at around 04:00, ultimately pinpointing Cavalcante four hours later.

Pennsylvania State Police Lt Colonel George Bivens told the news conference: “They were able to move in very quietly. They had the element of surprise.

“Cavalcante did not realise he was surrounded until that had occurred. That did not stop him from trying to escape.

“He began to crawl through thick underbrush taking his [stolen] rifle with him as he went.”

A US Customs and Border Protection unit from Texas, with at least one dog, was part of the tactical team.

The dog, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois named Yoda, “subdued” Cavalcante as he tried to make his getaway, leaving him with a “minor bite wound”.

“He continued to resist but was forcibly taken into custody,” said Lt Col Bivens.

Cavalcante was left with “a scalp wound” and will be “medically assessed” before being taken to a prison facility, said officials.

He will appear in court on a felony escape charge in the near future, Philadelphia’s attorney general said in a statement.

Local media footage shows a handcuffed Cavalcante, in a dirty Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt, being escorted to an armoured black police van.