How a K-9, police and border patrol captured escaped killer Danilo Cavalcante

After two weeks on the run, escaped murderer Danilo Cavalcante was captured in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Wednesday morning. Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Colonel George Bivens detailed how Cavalcante was captured while a store manager who witnessed it all unfold spoke with NBC10 Philadelphia.

Police, state troopers and other law enforcement officials had established a perimeter in northern Chester County Tuesday night. Then, shortly after midnight Wednesday, a burglar alarm went off at a home near Prizer Road in South Coventry Township within the perimeter. 

“Our people investigated that, did not find Cavalcante there or anyone else but it started to bring some of our people into that area,” Bivens said. 

An aircraft utilizing FLIR technology was also flying in the area. Around 1 a.m. Wednesday, the aircraft picked up a heat signal that investigators tracked west of PA Route 100, north of Prizer Road. 

Tactical teams converged on the location and noticed the heat source was moving, Bivens said. At the same time, storms had moved into the area and the aircraft had to leave. The tactical teams remained however. 

“Tactical teams made a decision to secure that area, that smaller area, as best they could and hold it through the storm and until we could bring additional resources in and bring aircraft back overhead to ensure that we did not have an issue with an escape,” Bivens said. 

The capture of Danilo Cavalcante

Danilo Cavalcante Sep 13, 2023

Escaped inmate Danilo Cavalcante captured while wearing Eagles hoodie

Danilo Cavalcante Sep 13, 2023

Caught: Escaped murderer Danilo Cavalcante captured in Chester Co. after 2-week manhunt

After the storm passed, tactical teams converged on the area where the heat source was located shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday. 

“They were able to move in very quietly,” Bivens said. “They had the element of surprise.”

The tactical teams then found Cavalcante, who didn’t realize he was surrounded at first but still tried to escape, according to Bivens. 

“He began to crawl through thick underbrush, taking his rifle with him as he went,” Bivens said. “One of the customs and border control teams, BORTAC, had a dog with them. They released the dog.”

Bivens said the BORTAC K-9, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois named "Yoda," subdued Cavalcante as the tactical teams moved in and forcibly took the resisting fugitive into custody. 

Cavalcante sustained a minor bite wound while none of the law enforcement members were injured, according to Bivens. 

Cavalcante was then transported to the Pennsylvania State Police Avondale Station for processing and an interview. 

Wednesday afternoon, Cavalcante was transferred to SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security prison in Montgomery County where he will serve his mandatory life sentence.

BORTAC agents from Buffalo, Detroit, Blaine, Washington, and Swanton, Vermont, as well as the Border Patrol's Special Operations Group in El Paso, Texas, all helped with the search and capture of Cavalcante.

An Air and Marine Operations (AMO) ground tactical air controller (GTAC) also helped Pennsylvania State Police.

Store manager watches the capture unfold

Jim Martin, the store manager for Little’s John Deere in South Coventry Township, told NBC10 he witnessed Cavalcante’s capture. 

Martin had just arrived at the store around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and had noticed state troopers already in the area as well as helicopters hovering in the sky. Martin told NBC10 law enforcement activity began picking up in the area around 8 a.m. 

“It was shortly after we were here,” he said. “We got to the point where we couldn’t go anywhere because it was just, this place was stormed with armored vehicles, troopers, everything.”

Martin observed troopers and police checking tree lines as well as a stream. He then spotted them bringing out the captured Cavalcante. 

“Out of nowhere everybody started to congregate back by the shed and here they were already bringing him out,” he said. “And then we watched them basically walk him up. One camouflaged trooper had his gun, his rifle. And then they were walking him up and they basically, EMS kind of worked on him in the parking lot and they loaded him up.”

Martin said Cavalcante was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles shirt. 

“He was just surrounded by troops,” Martin said. “He had an Eagles, it looked like an Eagles shirt on.”

Read and watch more coverage about the escape and capture of Danilo Cavalcante here.