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WEST CHESTER — Court proceedings on the August escape of convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante and its aftermath have been delayed.
Cavalcante, 34, King of Prussia, was set for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Matthew Seavey on Friday on a single charge of escaping the Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, leading to a two-week manhunt before he was recaptured in South Coventry Township some 20 miles away in northern Chester County.
Cavalcante was also set for preliminary arraignment on 20 charges filed Monday that include theft, burglary, criminal trespass, possession of a firearm prohibited, receiving stolen property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle for actions he allegedly took while on the lam. But that didn’t happen either.
No new date
Senior Deputy Attorney General Christopher Phillips asked that both cases be continued, or pushed back, so they could be consolidated, and defense counsel Susanna DeWese did not object.
No future date for that hearing was given Friday and both attorneys declined comment. Seavey denied bail, though Cavalcante is already serving a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Cavalcante was not physically present in Seavey’s courtroom Friday, which was packed with reporters, but was present on Zoom from the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County.
A Portuguese interpreter relayed what was said in court.
Escape and manhunt
Cavalcante was convicted in August of fatally stabbing his estranged girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, in front of her two children outside their home in Schuylkill in 2021. He was sentenced by Judge Patrick Carmody to life in prison without parole, plus 2½ to five years on Aug. 23.
Chester County District Attorney Deborah S. Ryan previously said Brandao learned Cavalcante was wanted in a 2017 homicide in his native Brazil. Cavalcante killed her when she threatened to expose him to police, the DA’s office said Aug. 23.
Cavalcante was awaiting transfer to state prison when he escaped by crab-walking up two walls a few feet apart, ran across a roof, scaled a fence and pushed his way through razor wire, according to acting warden Howard Holland.
Another inmate, Igor Bolte, had used a similar method to escape the prison in May, but he was caught that same day. The Chester County jail board unanimously approved plans after Cavalcante’s escape to fully enclose the exercise yards at the facility.
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Cavalcante’s escape and subsequent manhunt left residents on edge and led to school closures right at the start of the academic year, as well as warnings for homeowners to lock their doors and blocked roads over the busy Labor Day weekend.
An affidavit of probable cause filed by Pennsylvania State Police Trooper John Pisker lays out in detail how Cavalcante moved around during the manhunt, as well as items he stole along the way.
These included a 2020 Ford Transit Van taken from a Pocopson property Sept. 9 or 10 and later abandoned, as well as clothing, a sleeping bag and a .22-caliber rifle stolen from a residence in East Pikeland Township that was found in his possession when he was taken into custody.
Daily Local News reporter Michael P. Rellahan and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
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