CHESTER COUNTY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Amid the ongoing search for a recently convicted murderer who escaped from a Chester County prison last week, video of his escape has been released. It comes after new information has come to light about an earlier escape from that prison this year.
According to Chester County Prison's acting warden Howard Holland, 34-year-old Danilo Cavalcante carried out his escape just before 9 p.m. last Thursday. Surveillance video shows him walking to the entrance to the prison's exercise yard. He then places his hands against one wall and his feet against another about five feet away and shimmies up to a roof.
Officials said he then ran across the roof, jumped down and made his way over the fence, through a couple layers of razor wire.
According to Holland, Cavalcante's escape mirrored that of another inmate, Igor Bolte, who escaped in May using the same route. He was spotted and captured within minutes of his escape. The difference, said Holland, was that the tower officer on duty spotted Bolte, whereas the officer on duty during Cavalcante's escape was unaware. That guard is currently on administrative leave. It was about an hour later that staff realized Cavalcante was gone.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said the search for Cavalcante remains intense, with hundreds of law enforcement officials working around the clock. A K9 officer suffered heat exhaustion Tuesday and needed medical attention. Bivens says that while the heat and humidity are weighing on law enforcement, he believes it's also weighing on Cavalcante.
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The reward for information leading to Cavalcante's capture has increased to $20,000. Bivens says in a rural, wooded area, it could still take days, weeks or even months to locate him, but he hopes they can wrap the search soon.
Correction: A previous version of this article spelled Cavalcante's first name based on official law enforcement and court documents, which have been different from what's on customs documents.