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Danelo Cavalcante is pictured BATTERED in mugshot hours after fugitive murderer was nabbed by cops
Danelo Cavalcante has been pictured battered and bruised in his mugshot hours after the murderer-on-the-run was captured by cops in Pennsylvania.
The heroic K-9 officer who helped take him down, Yoda, has also been identified.
The four-year-old dog is a Belgian Malinois that serves with the US Border Patrol’s BORTAC K9 unit, which was called in to aid with the manhunt.
Cavalcante, 34, was cornered by about 25 officers in the woods near South Coventry Township Wednesday morning after authorities used thermal imaging from an aircraft to pinpoint his possible location the previous night.
The escaped convict was seen in a hospital gown and shackles hours after he was taken into custody following a two-week manhunt that terrorized the Pennsylvania community.
The catch
Yoda, who was sent after the killer after he’d evaded human authorities for two weeks, managed to bite Cavalcante.
The fugitive was treated for the wound at the scene of his capture.
The Brazil native was serving a life sentence for brutally killing his ex-girlfriend in front of her two children when he escaped from the Chester County Prison, 30 miles west of Philadelphia, on August 31.
The killer’s capture, which took about five minutes, brings relief to anxious residents of southeastern Pennsylvania who endured sleepless nights as he hid in the woods, broke into suburban homes and stole food, changed his appearance, and fled under gunfire with a rifle he’d pilfered from a garage.
An aircraft picked up a heat source on Tuesday night, but officials had to delay the operation after a storm moved in, with a ground team staying in the area overnight.
After the capture, Cavalcante was taken to a nearby state police barracks in an armored vehicle surrounded by a dozen-vehicle convoy with lights flashing and sirens blaring as it traveled down the highway.
Two police helicopters followed above. Cavalcante was arraigned at the Avondale barracks on an escape charge, according to the office of Judge Matthew Seavey.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for September 27.
He killed his ex-girlfriend
In the meantime, he’s been driven to a state prison to continue serving the life sentence he received last month for killing his ex-girlfriend.
The killer was last seen on Monday night breaking into the garage of a home in East Nantmeal – 20 miles from the search area police had spent days combing last week.
The homeowner was home and shot him several times, but police said there was no evidence to suggest the convict was hit.
It was the first sighting reported since Saturday, when Cavalcante stole a van and tried contacting former coworkers before dumping the vehicle in a field.
On Sunday, police found a 2020 Ford Transit van Cavalcante had stolen in a field behind a barn in East Nantmeal Township – outside the previous search area.
Cavalcante had taken it from the West Chester based Baily’s Dairy, near the prison.
Cavalcante’s sister, who has an overstay status, was detained by ICE and entered into a deportation proceeding after she chose not to cooperate in the investigation, State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said on Tuesday.
Last week, the prison guard who did not see or report the escape was fired.
More crimes of Danelo
Prison officials told CNN, the corrections officer was an 18-year veteran of the prison.
Cavalcante is also wanted in a homicide case in his native country of Brazil.
He managed to flee the country in 2017 after he killed a student at a food truck stand.
He gunned down Walter Junior in Figuéiropolis, Tocantins on November 5, 2017, and then managed to slip past authorities at Brasília–President Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport two months later.
Evaldo Feitosa told Brazilian news outlet G1 that he was talking to Cavalcante and that he approached Junior at a corner table.
He remembered they were having a conversation before he heard several shots being fired and someone shout, ‘man the guy killed his friend.’
