Pennsylvania authorities have ramped up the search for a Brazilian fugitive by blasting his mother’s voice from police speakers and helicopter.
Danelo Cavalcante escaped from a Chester County maximum security prison Thursday morning.
The 34-year-old was sentenced two weeks ago a life sentence for the April 2021 murder of his ex-girlfriend Débora Brandao, 34, a mother of two children.
The state police, which have taken over the investigation, has deployed patrol cars and helicopters which are transmitting a recorded message from Cavalcante’s mother.
The message, in Portuguese, asks him to turn himself in to the police without the threat of violence.
Pennsylvania State Police deputy commissioner George Bivens said Monday that if Cavalcante ‘is not actively surrendering, lethal force is authorized.’
Authorities have received reports of four credible sightings but have not been able to locate the convicted killer.
A residential surveillance camera showed Cavalcante walking through a wooded area Saturday around 12:30 am.
At the time he was wearing pants, a light-colored t-shirt and white sneakers, police said.
Authorities have yet to say how Cavalcante escaped from the jail, where he was being held pending a transfer to a state prison.
Cavalcante is also wanted for a 2017 murder of a man in Brazil.
Prosecutors say he stabbed Brandao dead in front of her two children to stop her from reporting him to United States authorities.
He was apprehended in Virginia after killing Brandao.
Authorities believe he was trying to flee to Mexico in order to return to Brazil.
Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said last week that Cavalcante may be looking to travel south once again.
