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CAPTURED fugitive Danelo Cavalcante survived on watermelon and water from streams throughout the 14 days he evaded cops, sources have revealed.
The convicted murderer sparked a mad manhunt when he broke out of the Chester County Prison on August 31.
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It took more than 400 officers, K-9 units, and helicopter surveillance to finally catch the killer on Wednesday morning in South Coventry Township, about 24 miles east of Reading, Pennsylvania.
Cavalcante was serving life in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of her two children in 2021.
He was able to get out of jail by crab-walking up two walls, and immediately found his only sustenance in a nearby watermelon patch, sources told ABC affiliate WPVI.
At one point during the search, he was almost stepped on by police, but they still did not see him.
The killer also covered up his fecal matter to avoid detection.
Pennsylvania State Police Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens explained in an announcement that special units approached an area where search aircraft found an unidentified heat signature.
Officers surrounded a pile of wood logs at a John Deere store in South Coventry Township where the signature was emanating, and they released a police dog to seek out Cavalcante as he was “crawling through thick underbrush, taking his rifle with him as he went,” according to Bivens.
“We had the element of surprise,” he added.
Cavalcante could be seen in police custody handcuffed and surrounded by Border Patrol Strike Force team members in a Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt and boots.
His clothes were then taken as he was brought onto a Special Response Team vehicle and taken away.
It was the heat signature and K-9 unit that made crucial assists in Cavalcante’s re-capture — but the process was made more difficult after the convict’s sister, Eleni Cavalcante, allegedly failed to cooperate with cops to locate her brother, per PennLive.
Eleni was taken into custody by the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) last weekend.
