October 2023 Issue

Page 24 October 2023 EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN Horizon Hill Farm, operated by Elizabeth Lubrano Haines, is in the Glenmoore area, south of the capture area. An 80-acre facility, Elizabeth was left with no help once it was learned that Cavalcante was now armed. No one felt safe coming to work or traveling in the area. Elizabeth took her three small children to stay at her mother Sara Jane Lubrano’s house, returning to the farm only when her husband Tyler was there, to feed the fifteen horses. She put as many as possible on full time pasture to cut down on stall cleaning, and Tyler would check to make sure the area was clear before Elizabeth would feed. “It looked like he (Cavalca- nte) stayed in wooded areas so she had the kids here,” Sara Jane Lubrano said. “Getting in there to do the required work was getting pretty stressful. No one knew where he was, that was the scary part. Even at my house we kept the kids inside.” The capture came on day fourteen when Cavalcante was captured with the help of aircraft, thermal imaging cameras, as well as officers from all types of law enforcement. It was a border patrol strike force unit and a Ma- linois police dog named Yoda that first took him into custody. Cavalcante was found in the vicinity of R. E. Little’s tractor dealership in northern Chester County. An equestrian landmark in the area is the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show grounds, just 4.3 miles from the eventual capture site. When the hunt was focused in the northern Chester County area, the Ludwig’s Corner Fire House adjacent to the show- grounds, was one of the staging sites for officers, Fortunately, at the time of the annual Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show, September 2 through 4, the focus of the manhunt was still to the south where Cavalcante had lingered after his initial escape. There was some concern, however, because the two large tents with 154 temporary stalls remained on the grounds after the event. This was just one of the potential hiding places that police checked. Following Cavalcante ‘s cap- ture, life is returning to normal, but people are still cautious. Early on in the manhunt it was revealed that there had been another escape attempt using the same crab- walk climb in May. In that case the prisoner was spotted on a rooftop and captured before he reached the rows of razor wire that top the fence around the prison grounds. Cavalcante was not spotted on the roof, and the corrections officer on duty in the observation tower at the time has been dismissed. And on September 17, following a riot, nine juveniles escaped from a juvenile detention center in Morgantown, Berks County, adjacent to the Chester County and Lancaster County borders. All were back in custody by midday on September 18. Escaped Murderer Puts Chester County Horse Community on Edge (Continued from page 13)