The mother of escaped inmate Danelo Calvacante says her son lived a life of hardship that equipped him to survive alone and defend himself against the ex he murdered, as day 13 of the manhunt continues.
Despite acknowledging Calvacante’s involvement in the 2021 stabbing of his ex-girlfriend in Pennsylvania and a 2017 murder in Brazil, Iracema Cavalcante maintains that her son, “did not pose a threat to anyone,” The New York Times reports.
“His training was his suffering,” she said Tuesday. “It was going to sleep hungry, it was waking up as I wondered what to feed them.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Cavalcante escaped the Chester County prison on August 31 by crab-walking up a wall and managing to get through razor wires to freedom.
Since his escape, he has been spotted numerous times in Chester County, breaking into homes and most-recently, stealing a vehicle and then, a .22 caliber rifle equipped with a scope and a flashlight.
On Saturday, Cavalcante stole a delivery van from a Bailey’s Dairy Farm in West Chester, at some point between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Police said the van was unlocked and the keys were inside the vehicle. The van was later found abandoned in a field.
Police believe Cavalcante got rid of the van after it ran out of gas.
A little before 10 p.m. Saturday, Cavalcante was caught on camera trying to contact two former coworkers in the Phoenixville area. A doorbell camera showed that he’s now now clean-shaven and wearing a green hoodie, white shoes, a black cap, and the same prison pants he wore when he escaped.
Some 15 minutes afterward, he went to the home of another former coworker, who wasn’t home. Police were called about that sighting by the friend of a woman who lived a the house.
Then, on Monday night, he walked into an open garage door shortly after 10 p.m. at North Chester county home and stole the rifle. The homeowner spotted Calvante but Calvalcante quickly fled.
While speaking with The Times about her son’s behavior, Calvacante’s mother said he grew up poor and stopped going to school at age 5 so that he could work.
“We’re poor. We’re humble. But we’re workers,” she said “What we have, we fought to get.”
Iracema then explained away her son’s murder convictions by insisting he had no choice to kill his former girlfriend, who was found stabbed 40 times.
“Did it happen? It happened,” she said. “But it happened because of the stranglehold she put on him, the stance she took with him….It wasn’t femicide. He had to, he had no other choice.”
“If I said my son didn’t make a mistake, I’d be lying…I know what my son did was wrong. I know my son should pay for his mistake. But I want my son to pay for his mistake with dignity. Not to pay with his life.”
Meanwhile, the search for the elusive killer continues. Irv Brandt, the Senior Inspector for the US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, said Tuesday on “Crime Stories” that Calvacante is now at an advantage after obtaining the rifle.
“He’s hiding, they’re not,” Brandt explained. “He’s going to see him coming. They can’t see him. He has a rifle with a scope. There is a very high potential for law enforcements to take casualties.
“Now, they signed on for that job. They’re going to do their jobs, but they got to take every precaution in hunting him down. This isn’t going to end well.”
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[Feature Photo: Danelo Cavalcante/Pennsylvania State Police]
