Pennsylvania Fugitive Danelo Cavalcante shot and killed student near food truck in Brazil before fleeing to the United States – but he slipped past airport security after authorities failed to file his arrest warrant in time

A fugitive man who escaped two weeks ago from a Pennsylvania prison where he was being held for the 2021 murder of this ex-girlfriend managed to flee Brazil in 2017 after killing a student at a food truck stand.

Daniel Cavalcante, 34, shot Walter Junior on November 5, 2017 in Figuéiropolis, Tocantins, and managed to slip past authorities at Brasilia President Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport two months later.

Evaldo Feitosa told Brazilian news channel G1 that he was talking to Cavalcante and approached Junior at a corner table.

He recalled that they had a conversation before he heard several shots and someone yelled, “Man, that guy killed his friend.”

TV Globo also reported that the murder was related to money Junior owed Cavalcante.

Walter Junior (photo) was murdered on November 5, 2017 due to a debt by Danilo Cavalcante in Tocantins, Brazil

According to Brazilian news channel G1, it took a Tocantins state court exactly eight days for the city’s prosecutor to approve the arrest warrant.

Cavalcante had already disappeared when the civilian police had the court warrant for his arrest.

The Brazilian newspaper also reported that the Tocantins court failed to immediately file the arrest warrant with the National Prison Bank and did not do so until June 2018.

If the arrest warrant had been registered with the registry, customs authorities at the airport would have been alerted and Cavalcante would have been stopped as he boarded the flight in January 2018.

Pennsylvania State Police said Cavalcante was reported missing on August 31 after climbing a wall, just weeks after he was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Débora Brandao, in April 2017.

Prosecutors say he stabbed Brandao to death in front of her two children to prevent her from reporting him to U.S. authorities.

Police said Monday they had expanded the manhunt after he was spotted near the home of former colleagues, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away from where the search took place.

Débora Brandao (photo) was stabbed to death in April 2021 by Danelo Cavalcante, who feared she would hand him over to the police because she knew he had killed someone in Brazil

Danelo Cavalcante was spotted outside a former coworker’s home in East Pikeland Township, Pennsylvania on Saturday

Danelo Cavalcante ‘crab walks’ to freedom in the Chester County Jail on August 31

Cavalcante, who is now clean-shaven, has been spotted several times in the past week.

On Saturday, a surveillance camera showed him outside the home of a former colleague in East Pikeland Township, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said.

Police said they had worked together several years ago and Cavalcante wanted to meet him.

But the homeowner, who was eating with his family and unresponsive, called police after returning home and watching his doorbell video.

A second sighting was also reported after he showed up at the home of another former colleague in nearby Phoenixville.

2020 Ford Transit van investigators believe fugitive Danelo Cavalcante stable will be towed away Sunday

A 2020 Ford Transit van stolen by Cavalcante on Saturday evening was found on Sunday in a field next to a shed in East Nantmeal Township, outside the area where police had searched for him.

The van was taken from the West Chester-based Baily’s Diary, near the Chester County Prison, where he was being held prior to his transfer to a state prison.

Bivens said Cavalcante may have abandoned the vehicle because it was running low on fuel.

Since the escape, police have deployed patrol vehicles and helicopters broadcasting a message from Cavalcante’s mother asking him to turn himself in.

Cavalcante’s sister was arrested on an immigration matter, Bivens said.