Paperwork Mix-up Allows Cavalcante To Flee Out of Brazil: Reports

EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA —Convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante was not listed on a Brazilian national system for a 2017 murder he was accused of in Brazil, which helped him to flee from Brazil to Chester County, according to a report from ABC Action News.

Cavalcante, 34, who lived in the Phoenixville area since 2018, was wanted for killing a 20-year-old man in 2017 in Figueiropolis, Brazil.

“The federal police were not alerted, and they opened the door for Cavalcante to escape to another location," Brazilian Regional District Attorney Rafael Alamy told ABC Action News.

Cavalcante traveled to Puerto Rico, where he obtained a fake I.D., according to evidence presented during his criminal trial in the Chester County Justice Center, West Chester.

Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison on Aug. 16 for the April 2021 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao, 33, in Schuylkill Township.

He escaped from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, while awaiting transfer to state prison. He was recaptured on Sept. 13 in northern Chester County.

On Aug. 31, the day of his escape from Chester County Prison, Cavalcante was not listed on the federal Immigration Naturalization Services website as an illegal immigrant, according to a search by Patch.

For two weeks, Cavalcante was on the run, avoiding hundreds of law enforcement officers who were searching for him in southern Chester County, including Longwood Gardens, a tourist attraction in Kennett Square.

Chester County Prison Board on Wednesday approved security upgrades at the Pocopson Township jail, including purchasing more cameras and hiring correctional officers to monitor the cameras. An officer who was monitoring the prison tower when Cavalcante escaped was fired.

Cavalcante is in the state Correctional Institution at Phoenix, a new maximum security prison in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, serving life in prison. He is also facing escape charges.