The convicted murderer who escaped a Pennsylvania prison last month is back behind bars – now facing additional charges – after a nearly two-week manhunt that captured national attention and unsettled the surrounding community.
Police caught Danilo Cavalcante, 34, by surprise in the woods of South Coventry Township on Wednesday morning, where a police dog played a critical role in his dramatic capture.
The escaped inmate was planning to leave the country, according to Robert Clark, supervisory deputy US marshal for Pennsylvania’s eastern district.
“His endgame was to carjack somebody and to head north up to Canada and he intended to do that in the next 24 hours,” Clark told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.
Clark, who did not speak with Cavalcante, cited what deputy marshals told him about an interview that the prisoner had with law enforcement officials after his capture.
“He said the law enforcement presence where he was, was immense and he felt that he needed to leave,” Clark said.
Cavalcante is now being held in a Pennsylvania maximum security prison, State Correctional Institution – Phoenix, in Montgomery County, where he will serve a life sentence for his murder conviction.