Danelo Cavalcante, Escaped Pennsylvania Murderer, Captured After Manhunt

A convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania jail and eluded hundreds of law enforcement officers for almost two weeks in quiet, wooded communities outside Philadelphia has been recaptured, the authorities said on Wednesday morning.

Officials were expected to release more details later in the morning.

The fugitive, Danelo Cavalcante, 34, clambered up a wall and made his way out of Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, nine days after he was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder in the April 2021 killing of his former girlfriend.

The manhunt grew in size and urgency as the days unfolded, becoming especially pressing after Mr. Cavalcante stole a rifle from a garage on the night of Sept. 11. Officials, who had considered him a dangerous fugitive all along, warned that he was “desperate enough” to use the gun.

Over the course of the search, Mr. Cavalcante was spotted numerous times, the authorities said, by people in the area and also in the infrared glare of residential security cameras at night. For more than a week, officers on foot and horseback searched wooded thickets and cornfields south of West Chester, Pa., and drones and helicopters buzzed through the skies, stirring anxiety and fear in the small townships where Mr. Cavalcante was believed to be hiding.