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Danilo Souza Cavalcante (, born July 3, 1989), is a Brazilian national accused of murder in the Brazilian state of Tocantins and a convicted murderer in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. After originally being wanted by Brazilian authorities for his alleged role in the shooting death of Valter Júnior Moreira dos Reis in 2017, Cavalcante fled to the United States. Four years later, in April 2021, Cavalcante was arrested for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandão.
On August 31, 2023, just days after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison, triggering a manhunt by police that would last 14 days and span across the Chester County area before his capture on September 13, 2023. The manhunt would receive significant media attention in both the United States and Brazil.
Early life
Cavalcante was born on July 3, 1989, in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. Little is known about his early life, but Cavalcante ran into multiple legal issues in Brazil throughout his youth.
Alleged 2017 murder of Valter Júnior Moreira dos Reis
In November 2017, Cavalcante was accused of fatally shooting 20-year-old student Valter Júnior Moreira dos Reis five times on November 5 outside of a restaurant in the city of Figueirópolis, Tocantins, Brazil. Investigations indicated that they were friends, and the murder allegedly occurred due to a vehicle-repair debt that dos Reis owed him. One week after the crime, the Brazilian justice system accepted a request for preventive detention made by the Public Prosecutor's Office, issuing a warrant for him. Cavalcante, in turn, became a fugitive and hid in a wooded area to prevent his arrest.
Escape to the United States
In January 2018, Cavalcante fled Brazil and illegally entered the United States via Puerto Rico. Although there was an arrest warrant against him, Cavalcante was able to leave the country through Brasília International Airport due to miscommunication on the part of the Tocantins justice system which had not requested the registration of the decision in the National Warrant Registry until seven months after the crime (i.e., in June 2018). After entering Puerto Rico, Cavalcante obtained a fake ID and eventually settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his sister and friends were already living.
2021 murder of Deborah Brandão
While living in Chester County, Cavalcante began a relationship with Deborah Brandão, also a Brazilian. According to investigations, Brandão ended her relationship with Cavalcante, which angered him. He then began threatening Brandão soon thereafter in 2020. On April 18, 2021, Deborah was in front of her house in Schuylkill Township with her 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, when Cavalcante attacked her and stabbed her 38 times. Brandão's daughter then ran to a neighbor's house to alert them and call 911. Brandão was taken to Paoli Hospital, but would ultimately succumb to her injuries. Meanwhile, Cavalcante fled Pennsylvania to avoid arrest and was on the run for several hours until he was found and arrested by Virginia State Police in Prince William County, Virginia. Cavalcante was then extradited back to Pennsylvania.
Cavalcante's trial began on August 16, 2023, in Chester County, where a jury took just 15 minutes to reach a guilty verdict. Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on August 22.
Prison escape
Following his conviction and sentencing, Cavalcante was sent to Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township, where he would await transfer to a federal prison. One week after sentencing, at around 9 a.m. on August 31, 2023, he escaped from Chester County Prison by chimneying (incorrectly called "crab walking" by media outlets) between two close walls in the exercise yard of the prison, making his way up to the roof and maneuvering around the razor wire fencing to escape the prison.
A similar escape occurred at Chester County Prison just months earlier, when inmate Igor Bolte scaled the wall and escaped the prison, though he was apprehended within five minutes of his escape. Investigations that followed found that Cavalcante took after Bolte's escape method when executing his escape.