A convicted murderer escaped from the Chester County Prison early Thursday, police say

A Chester County man who was convicted earlier this month of killing his ex-girlfriend in front of her children escaped from custody early Thursday morning, investigators said.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, slipped past guards at the Chester County Prison in West Chester just before 9 a.m., according to District Attorney Deborah Ryan, who called Cavalcante “extremely dangerous.” Anyone who sees Cavalcante is encouraged to stay away from him and call 911 immediately.

Acting Chester County Prison Warden Howard Holland declined to provide information about how Cavalcante escaped, saying that the escape was under investigation. After Cavalcante’s disappearance was noticed, prison authorities locked down the facility and notified law enforcement agencies in the immediate area, Holland said.

» READ MORE: What we know about Danelo Cavalcante’s escape from Chester County Prison

Cavalcante was last seen at 9:30 a.m. walking south in Pocopson Township on Wawaset Road, the road on which the prison is located.

He was dressed in a white T-shirt, gray shorts, and white sneakers, Ryan said. Cavalcante is 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, with black curly hair and brown eyes.

Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Marshals are assisting in the search for Cavalcante, according to Ryan. Cavalcante’s family members in Phoenixville have spoken with investigators, who said they are cooperating. The family of Deborah Brandao — Cavalcante’s ex, whom he killed in 2021 — have been notified and have been moved to a safe location.

Authorities are offering a reward of as much as $10,000 for information that leads to his arrest.

A Chester County jury took about 15 minutes on Aug. 16 to convict Cavalcante of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Brandao, whom he had dated for two years. He was sentenced Aug. 22 to life in prison, and was awaiting transfer to state prison.

Cavalcante killed Brandao with a kitchen knife that he had been using earlier that day to cut meat for a barbecue, bringing it with him to confront Brandao in April 2021 at her home in Schuylkill Township.

Hours after the murder, Cavalcante drove to Phoenixville, where two of his friends helped him change his clothes, fuel his car, and escape the area, according to their testimony during the trial. Cavalcante planned to flee the country, driving south on I-95, but was arrested in Virginia by state police there.

» READ MORE: Chester County man stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death while her children watched, DA says

During a statement to detectives, Cavalcante admitted to killing Brandao, and said he was sorry for doing so.

But Ryan, in her closing arguments to jurors during the trial, said that remorse was not genuine.

Cavalcante was angry at Brandao, Ryan said, because she had threatened to go to the police with information about Cavalcante’s criminal past in his native Brazil: At the time of the stabbing, Cavalcante was wanted for a 2017 murder there.

“He couldn’t have that,” Ryan told the jurors in her closing arguments. “So he had to silence her. And that’s what he did.”

Ryan described the pair’s relationship as abusive and toxic, calling Cavalcante “an angry and jealous boyfriend who needed to be in control.”

But Cavalcante’s lawyer, Sameer Barkawi, said the killing was not premeditated: Cavalcante “snapped,” Barkawi said, during a tense argument with Brandao.

“This was a volatile — and that’s probably putting it lightly — relationship,” Barkawi said. “It’s important to understand the toxicity of this relationship.”

Cavalcante had assaulted Brandao twice before, just months apart in 2020.

That June, officers in Upper Providence Township were called to the apartment the two shared in Royersford for reports of a disturbance. Brandao told the officers that Cavalcante had attacked her, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood and chasing her and her children out of the apartment.

A warrant was issued for his arrest on simple assault, but Cavalcante reneged on his promise to turn himself in, according to testimony during the trial.

Six months later, Cavalcante chased Brandao with a knife, and she applied for a temporary protection-from-abuse order against him.

It lapsed two months before her murder, when she didn’t appear for a hearing before a judge in Montgomery County.