The Chester County Prison in response to a “hide-and-see-seek” investigation of the escaped murderer Cavalcante
A convicted murderer who triggered a massive manhunt in Pennsylvania after he escaped from a jail yard by climbing over a wall and jumping on a roof is still at large, authorities said on Wednesday.
The information about the escaped prisoner and how he got out using the same path as another prisoner had been released by the police. A tower guard on duty during the breakout was put on leave as part of the escape investigation.
Brazil has been following the hunt with great interest. According to the Associated Press, a long story on the search for fugitives ran in the main newspaper in Rio. The headline was “dangerous hide-and-seek.”
The Chester County Prison was fully staffed at the time of Cavalcante’s escape, but it took guards over an hour to first alert the authorities, according to Howard Holland.
“What was perhaps overlooked was the fact that addressing the single point of physical countermeasures should have been bolstered by additional means,” Holland said on Wednesday. “We are addressing that.”
Holland said that the prison is considering adding more officers to the yard, as well as caging them in the top of the yards. He stated that the attorney general’s office in Pennsylvania had taken over the investigation.
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.
A Search for Danelo Cavalcante, a Robust Criminal Manhunt, and a Possible Escape from the Chester County Prison
A massive manhunt was launched in eastern Pennsylvania after Danelo Cavalcante, a convicted murderer, escaped from Chester County Prison last Thursday.
Two school districts in the area closed their doors earlier this week but began to reopen some of the schools on Thursday, with special escorts for students taking the bus in and out of search areas.
About 50 minutes after Cavalcante climbed the wall, guards noticed him missing during an inmate count, according to security camera tape.
That sighting led officials to move the search area farther south Tuesday after they determined Cavalcante had likely slipped through the original perimeter set by hundreds law enforcement officers, including heavily armed police.
Authorities have urged residents to keep their homes and vehicles locked, to look out for missing cars, bikes, or other transportation Cavalcante might use, and to check the properties of vacationing neighbors.
I can’t stand in my backyard with my dogs. Danielle Lawrence, of Pocopson, stated that her husband had to come with her to the county’s jail, roughly 25 miles west of Philadelphia.
Ryan Drummond’s home in Pocopson was broken into late Friday by a man believed to be Cavalcante. He believes Cavalcante got into the house through French doors that had a broken lock, and perhaps was near his family when they locked up the house that night.
Searching for a “Fugitive’s Elusive” Thief at a Central Park Close to the Botanical Center
The kids are out of school because we are in this half-normal life. Parents are trying to do the COVID balance of working and managing their children,” Drummond said Wednesday.
The thief left with a peach, an apple, and a few snap peas as he fled, along with a white hat that he lost as he sprinted past a neighbor’s yard.
“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?”
The route was the same one another prisoner used to escape in May, according to Holland. The tower guard sounded an alarm, which helped get the prisoner back in just a few minutes.
The night before, a trail surveillance camera captured him twice walking through Longwood Gardens, a botanical center located about three miles away from the prison. At that point, he was carrying a duffel bag, a backpack and a hoodie.
Drummond, who said his wife and kids are trying to balance a busy life of work and school, said his home’s French doors had a broken lock, and that Cavalcante may have overheard a conversation about that lock as the family was checking doors that evening.
The authorities have sent reverse 9-1-1 alert calls to residents and encouraged them to keep their homes locked and to be on the lookout for missing cars, bicycles or transportation.
A Search for a Dark Matter Poodle at the Pocopson Experiment (WHYY). The WHYY Station Search for an Injured Black Dog
WHYY is an NPR member station and it says that the search is complicated by the thick brush and hot weather. The hospitalization of a search dog because of excessive heat rendered thermal cameras useless.
The area around Pocopson is roughly seven square miles and is 25 miles west of Philadelphia. Reinforcements from the Pennsylvania State Police, FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are on hand to assist with the search.
Cavalcante’s appearance does not appear to have changed since he fled. He stands 5 feet tall, weighs 120 pounds and sports a closely cropped beard and mustache below curly black hair.