As officials continue to search for Danelo Cavalcante, the convicted murderer who escaped from a Chester County prison last week, NBC10 learned new details about another prisoner who investigators say escaped from the same jail earlier this year before he was caught that same day.
The previous escape occurred on the morning of Friday, May 19, at the Chester County Prison in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
During an interview with investigators, a corrections officer said he was assigned to supervise the exercise yards in the prison sections 5 and 6 that morning starting at 6 a.m. The officer told investigators he inspected the yard areas around 5:55 a.m. and was ready to accept inmates.
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The officer said inmates in section 5 – which was separated from section 6 by a concrete wall and fencing – began arguing while playing basketball. The argument distracted the officer from the section 6 exercise area, officials said.
When the officer looked back at the section 6 exercise area, he spotted an orange object at the roof line as well as an inmate, later identified as 30-year-old Igor Bolte, running west on the roof of the prison towards the main entrance area.
Bolte’s escape was reported at 6:20 a.m. that morning, investigators said. Five minutes later, prison officials reported responding officers had captured Bolte in a residential neighborhood on Linni Drive in Pocopson Township, approximately a half a mile away from the prison.
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Investigators said Bolte’s clothing was soaking wet. Bolte told the corrections officers he had jumped into a swimming pool during his escape, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
While being interviewed, Bolte allegedly said his experience as a rock climber allowed him to escape.
Bolte told investigators he put his legs on one wall and his arms on another wall, according to the affidavit. He then allegedly scaled the wall and pulled himself onto the roof of the prison. Once he reached the roof, Bolte ran across and climbed down by the visitors entrance to the building where there was less security, investigators said. Officials said Bolte then ran across the parking lot through the field in front of the prison before reaching the West Chester borough.
A source told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Cavalcante used a similar method as Bolte when he escaped the Chester County Prison on Thursday. NBC10 has not confirmed this however.
