Danelo Cavalcante

Chapter Five

Cavalcante’s Escape

I t was a very ordinary morning in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 2023. Locals were awaking from their slumber, getting in their cars, and driving to work for the day as kids rode the bus to school, and neighbors exchanged friendly greetings while they stepped out of their homes to enjoy the fresh morning air. However, things would be different that day. An event would occur that would send the entire Chester County community into a panic for weeks, triggering a nationwide hysteria. Thursday, August 31—The Initial Escape Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante woke up in his cell at Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township in the early morning of August 31, awaiting his transfer to a state prison where he would serve out the rest of his life sentence. At 8:33 a.m., Cavalcante and the rest of his cell block would enter the exercise yard at the local prison. At approximately 8:51 a.m., Cavalcante used his hands and feet to slowly climb up two close walls in the exercise yard, a technique known as chimneying, which media outlets incorrectly called “crab walking.” From there, he would make his way up to the prison’s roof, maneuvering around the deadly razor wire fence and jumping down Danelo Cavalcante was captured on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, near Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, following a 14-day manhunt that had frightened residents, closed schools, and public facilities while he was on the run.

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Cavalcante’s Escape