Danelo Cavalcante timeline of events: From murder to manhunt

A timeline shows the progression of the case involving convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante, a native of Brazil, his subsequent escape from Chester County Prison, and the intense manhunt that followed.

April 18, 2021

Deborah Brandao, 33, Cavalcante’s former girlfriend, is stabbed as many as 38 times in front of her two children outside their home in Schuylkill Township, Chester County. Cavalcante flees with the help of friends, but is captured later that day in Virginia. He spent several months in Virginia awaiting extradition.

July 31, 2023

Common Pleas Judge Patrick Carmody rules that the prosecution can present Cavalcante’s “prior bad acts” when his trial begins. It is alleged he killed Brandao in an attempt to prevent her from revealing he was wanted on murder allegations in his native Brazil.

Aug. 22, 2023

After being convicted a week earlier of first-degree murder at his trial in Chester County Common Pleas Court in West Chester, Cavalcante, 34, is sentenced to life in prison without parole. He is taken back to Chester County Prison, where he had been held without bail since 2021, to await a transfer to the state prison system.

Aug. 31, 2023

At about 8:30 a.m., Cavalcante scales the walls of an exercise yard at the Chester County Prison on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township. He is last seen walking away from the prison around 10 a.m.

Sept. 2, 2023

At around 12:30 a.m. a man fitting Cavalcante’s description was captured on a backyard camera of a residence in the 1800 block of Lenape Road, Pocopson Township.

Sept. 4, 2023

After nightfall, Cavalcante is spotted by a trail camera positioned on property owned by Longwood Gardens on Route 52, just north of Route 1. Two photos are released.

Sept. 5, 2023

A resident of Chandler Road in Pennsbury Township, Chester County, reports seeing Cavalcante near a creek before he slipped into the nearby woods.

Sept. 7, 2023

Cavalcante is seen on the property of Longwood Gardens in East Marlborough Township.

Sept. 9, 2023

Cavalcante steals a van from a dairy farm on the north side of Lenape-Unionville Road in Pocopson Township, about 1 mile from the prison.

Sept. 9, 2023

Cavalcante, now clean shaven and wearing a hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap, is photographed around 9:52 p.m. by a Ring door camera at a home of a former co-worker in East Pikeland. A few minutes later, at 10:07, he is spotted on a second door camera at another friend’s home in nearby Phoenixville.

Sept. 10, 2023

Cavalcante abandons the van stolen from the dairy farm at a barn on Route 401 and Wynn Hollow Road in East Nantmeal Township sometime overnight.

Sept. 11, 2023

An East Marlborough Township homeowner fires a pistol at Cavalcante after he steals clothing and a .22 rifle. It is unknown if he is hit by any bullets.

Sept. 12, 2023

“We consider him dangerous, we consider him desperate,” said Lt. Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police, during a press conference. He advises residents to lock and secure their homes, their outbuildings, and their cars, and to call 911 if they see him or anything suspicious.