October 2023 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN October 2023 Page 13 By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Riding is usually a good way to get away from the worrisome issues that fill the news channels, but sometimes danger comes to your own backyard and your barn. In parts of Chester County PA, trailer drivers had to navigate around roadblocks to get to horse shows, trail rides were a poten- tially dangerous activity and even entering a barn required caution since no one knew where an es- caped murderer might be hiding. On Aug. 31, Danelo Caval- cante, sentenced to life in prison, made his escape from Chester County Prison. It was big news lo- cally, but before the end of the first day it was spreading everywhere. The way he escaped, crab-walking upward between prison walls, was caught on tape and has been watched around the world. Many were more amazed by how he managed to make his break for freedom than they were concerned about the fact that a convicted murderer was on the run. Residents in the area of the prison were concerned from the beginning of the drama. For them it was more than an amazing video. Cavalcante had been con- victed of the April 2021 slaying of his ex-girlfriend in front of her children and has been implicated in another murder in his native Brazil. This was someone capable of killing, known to be loose in the normally quiet pastoral area of Pennsylvania’s horse country. For those unfamiliar with Chester County, the prison is located in Pocopson Township, right in the heart of horse country. Racecourses for the Willowdale Steeplechase and the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup are 5.1 miles and 12 miles away respectively. Plantation Field’s combined training course is just 7 miles from the prison. Escaped Murderer Puts Chester County Horse Community on Edge Dozens of racing, eventing, hunt- ing, show and breeding stables are withing easy reach of the prison as are scores of private stables. Although this is considered a suburb of Philadelphia, it is rural and heavily wooded in areas, and Amish owned farms are not uncommon. At this time of year, cornfields tower well above the 5’ tall Cavalcante who eventually told the police he survived for two weeks on creek water and water- melon found growing in a field. For eight days, Cavalcante remained in hiding in the general area, with a few sightings each day, in person, or more often on trail cameras or residential surveillance cameras. Schools within the search area were closed and Longwood Botanical Gardens, just 3.7 miles from the prison, where he was spotted several times, also closed to visitors for safety concerns. Residents were cautioned to lock their doors and their car doors. In much of this rural area the reminder was necessary. Not everyone heeded the warning. On September 9, the tenth day after the escape, Cavalcante stole a van from a dairy farm – the keys had been left inside the vehi- cle. He now moved 20 to 25 miles north to East Pikeland Township and the small city of Phoenixville where he reportedly was looking for friends who might help him. Fortunately, he found no one. The van ran out of gas and was abandoned behind a barn on September 10th, in East Nant- meal Township. The hunt for Cavalcante became even more serious the next day, September 11, when he stole a pair of work boots from a residential porch and took a .22 rifle from a garage. He was now considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. Tell our advertisers you found them in East Coast Equestrian! (Continued on page 24)