Pennsylvania State Police say escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante has been captured after nearly two weeks on the run.
State police announced Cavalcante's capture on social media on Wednesday and planned a news conference announcing details for 9:30 a.m ET.
The capture was announced as the manhunt in rural southeastern Pennsylvania entered its 14th day. Heavily armed law enforcement officers had searched for the fugitive through a night of downpours and rolling thunder.
Residents in the 25-square-kilometre area of woods and farmland had been locked down at home as classes were cancelled at local schools and police closed roads, searching vehicles at roadblocks.
Cavalcante, 34, had broken out of the Chester County jail on Aug. 31 while awaiting transfer to a state prison. He had received a life sentence last month for killing his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao, in front of her children, in 2021.
Wanted in Brazil homicide
Officials last week released a video showing Cavalcante standing in a passageway next to the Chester County jail yard before bracing his hands on one wall and his feet on another, then "crab-walking" up the walls out of the camera's view.
It was not made clear why guards failed to notice Cavalcante hopping from the roof of that building and heading away from the prison's perimeter.
The escape went undetected for more than an hour until guards took a head count, and the prison tower guard on duty was subsequently fired.
The escape and search have attracted international attention and became big news in Cavalcante's native Brazil.
Prosecutors in Tocantins state say he is accused of "double qualified homicide" in the 2017 slaying of Válter Júnior Moreira dos Reis in the municipality of Figueiropolis, which authorities say was over a debt the victim owed him in connection with the repair of a vehicle.
Pennsylvania authorities even broadcast a recording of Cavalcante's mother speaking in Portuguese imploring him to surrender peacefully.
"At an unknown time and at an unknown location," Cavalcante entered the U.S. unlawfully, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a recent statement.
U.S. prosecutors believe he killed Brandao to stop her from telling police about the Brazilian homicide. He had been captured in Virginia after Brandao's killing and authorities believe he was trying to return to Brazil.
Authorities said over the weekend that Cavalcante had slipped out of the initial search area, shaved and changed his clothing, stole a vehicle to travel miles to seek aid from former co-workers in the northern part of Chester County, and then abandoned the vehicle, at least in part because it was low on fuel.
State police believe he stole a .22-calibre rifle and ammunition earlier this week from a residence, and fled when the homeowner drew a pistol and shot at him several times.
