07 September 2023 , 10:05
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The clever trick an escaped prisoner used to scale the walls of a Philadelphia prison prompting a massive manhunt with the inmate still on the loose has been revealed.
Danelo Cavalcante, 34, remains at large after he "crab walked" up the walls of a prison last week. Serving a life sentence, the Brazilian managed to scale the walls that stood just five feet apart, as shown in remarkable footage from the prison.
The convicted killer escaped the Chester County Prison close to Philadelphia last Thursday after he managed to climb onto the roof. He was spotted on a trail camera in Chester County, outside of the area authorities thought he was in and law enforcement were forced to expand their search.
Cavalcante - who killed his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao by stabbing her to death in front of her children - climbed the same walls scaled by inmate Igor Bolte earlier this year. After that escape, razor wire was installed to stop it again but it was ineffective.
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Cavalcante 'crab-walked' himself away from the jail (Chester County District Attorney)"While we believed our security methods were sufficient, they were proven otherwise. And we will now move quickly to enhance our security measures," said Acting Warden Howard Holland.
Bolte's escape caught the attention of an officer who spotted him on video monitors, but the officer responsible this time was not monitoring the video feed and Cavalcante was identified as missing after a headcount. Holland declined to say why the guard, whose name has not been made public, had not noticed Cavalcante hopping from the roof and heading away from the prison's perimeter.
He scales the wall using the creative technique (Chester County District Attorney)"What was perhaps overlooked was the fact that addressing the single point of physical countermeasures should have been bolstered by additional means. We are addressing that,” Holland said. He said the prison was fully staffed when Cavalcante broke out.
The escape has made headlines in Cavalcante's native Brazil. Prosecutors say he killed Brandao in 2021 to stop her from telling police that he was wanted in a 2017 killing back in Brazil. He escaped while waiting a transfer to state prison after he was sentenced only last month.
Authorities have urged residents to keep their homes and vehicles locked, to check the properties of vacationing neighbours and to look out for missing cars, bicycles or other transportation Cavalcante might use.
Cavalcante brutally murdered his ex-girlfriend (Pennsylvania State Police/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)
He was spotted just miles away from the prison (AP)“It’s unnerving to know that I can’t stand in my backyard with my dogs. My husband has to come outside with me and, you know, it’s just an uneasy feeling,” said Danielle Lawrence, of Pocopson, which is near the county's jail, roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Philadelphia.
Fellow Pocopson resident Ryan Drummond has his home broken into last Friday and Cavalcante is the alleged culprit. He said the killer left with "peach, an apple, maybe a few snap peas" and may have been nearby when the Drummond family was talking about the escape.
“Everybody wants this to be over,” said Drummond, who said his frustration lies not with the search efforts but with the prison. “How can it be going on almost a week at this point?”