Danelo Cavalcante

between the two had men ended, and Cavalcante had apparently begun sending death threats to Moreira, all culminating in Cavalcante’s alleged murder of the young man. Now that police had established a motive and discovered sufficient evidence, state prosecutors formally charged Cavalcante with intentional homicide on November 13, 2017, more than a week after the killing. The district attorney approved and issued a warrant to authorities in Tocantins for Cavalcante’s arrest. However, a major issue had suddenly emerged: Cavalcante was nowhere to be found. Beyond the Brazilian Borders Brazilian law enforcement subsequently began a search for Cavalcante, attempting to locate and capture him, but he was elusive. He had almost completely vanished, leaving behind no trace of his being. According to local witnesses, after Cavalcante had fled the crime scene, he hid out on a ranch on the outskirts of town, aiming to avoid any police who showed up at the site of the murder. The outskirts of Figueirópolis is predominantly rural, filled with ranches, lush greenery, and cattle, making it easy for Cavalcante to slink away unnoticed. Cavalcante became a fugitive, outsmarting and evading Brazilian law enforcement while gradually navigating Brazil’s untamed countryside. Wading through dense forests and trudging slowly over the harsh Brazilian outback, Cavalcante left the state of Tocantins, making his way toward the Brasília International Airport over a period of several months. Outside of Tocantins was the best place Cavalcante could have been. The warrant for his arrest was only registered in Tocantins and had not yet been entered into Brazil’s National Warrant Database. Thus, information regarding the crime was only available to authorities in Tocantins, not the whole country of Brazil. So, in January 2018, when Cavalcante boarded a plane headed for Puerto Rico at the Brasília International Airport, security did not stop or

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Danelo Cavalcante

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