Danelo Cavalcante update: Sister arrested by immigration officials; search remains ongoing

The sister of escaped convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante has been arrested by U.S. immigration authorities while the fugitive prisoner has been attempting to contact former co-workers seeking help eluding law enforcement.

Cavalcante’s sister has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and faces possible deportation over "some immigration issues," Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said Sunday during a news conference.

Bivens said Monday that Cavalcante's sister was detained and has been entered into a deportation proceeding, though he declined to say whether she was arrested for helping Cavalcante elude police. However, Bivens did say Monday that she "chose not to assist" in her brother's capture.

“Her arrest was, again because she's an overstay,” Bivens said Monday during a news conference. “That was a process that would play out for anyone in her same circumstance. And what I would say is she has, she has failed to cooperate and so there was no value in law enforcement keeping her here at this point.”

Pennsylvania State Police directed questions about the woman's arrest to ICE. ICE did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

Danelo Cavalcante news timeline:Everything that happened since Pennsylvania prison escape

Cavalcante steals van, changes appearance as search intensifies

The manhunt for 34-year-old Danelo Cavalcante intensified over the weekend after the fugitive managed to slip past a police perimeter more than a week after he escaped Aug. 31 from a Pennsylvania prison.

Cavalcante, who was being temporarily held at the facility in Chester County outside Philadelphia, was awaiting transfer to a state prison to serve a sentence after a jury convicted him of the brutal 2021 murder of his girlfriend. Cavalcante, a Brazilian national and former agricultural worker, is also wanted for a 2017 murder of a 20-year-old man over a car repair debt in his native country.

Security footage showed Cavalcante breaking free by "crab-walking" up a wall before he reportedly pushed through razor wire and ran across a roof to freedom. Though Cavalcante has been spotted several times in southeastern portions of Pennsylvania, hundreds of law enforcement officers using helicopters, drones and dogs have so far been unable to get him back behind bars.

The most recent sighting came Saturday night about an hour after Cavalcante was suspected of stealing a 2020 Ford Transit van from outside the police perimeter. Around 9:52 p.m., Cavalcante traveled to the home of a former co-worker and was seen on a doorbell security camera, Bivens said.

The acquaintance was out to dinner and didn't respond, but reviewed the security footage when he returned home and later informed police, Bivens said. The footage also revealed Cavalcante's new look, which included a clean-shaven face, a hooded sweatshirt, a black baseball style hat, green prison pants and white shoes.

Cavalcante also unsuccessfully attempted to contact another former co-worker in that same night Phoenixville, more than 20 miles northeast of the Longwood Gardens botanical park area where a perimeter had been set up that apparently failed to contain him.

The sighting means the search has now shifted to the area where the stolen van was found abandoned and empty of gas in a field behind a barn farther west in East Nantmeal Township,  a rural area in northern Chester County.

Reward increases

Bivens also announced Monday that the reward for information leading to Cavalcante's capture has increased to $25,000.