An escaped murderer can be seen stretching horizontally between two walls and walking himself up to the roof on his way to breaking out of a Pennsylvania prison in a newly released surveillance video.
Authorities confirmed that the guard tower was staffed during the escape on Aug. 31, but prison officials were unaware the inmate was missing for nearly an hour. The officer stationed in the guard tower at the time of the escape has been placed on administrative leave, according to the county’s acting warden.
Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death, has been the subject of a manhunt that entered its eighth day on Thursday.
The surveillance video released by prison officials on Sept. 6 shows Cavalcante, who is 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, propelling himself up to the roof while stretched between brick and cinderblock walls at Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township.
Once Cavalcante scaled the wall, he pushed his way through razor wire and escaped, prison officials said.
Another inmate, Igor Bolte, also escaped from the same area of the prison yard on May 19 by scaling the walls, prison officials said. Bolte was immediately captured that morning after being found in a residential neighborhood in Pocopson Township, officials said.
Consultants were brought in after Bolte’s escape and the razor wire and other security measures were added, prison officials said.
“We only focused on the physical infrastructure and not necessarily the human element,” acting warden Howard Holland said at a news conference.
NBC News correspondent George Solis asked Chester County district attorney Deb Ryan at a press conference on Sept. 6 why it took six days to alert the public as to how Cavalcante escaped.
“There was a simultaneous investigation into the prison escape, and today was the day that we believed we needed to bring in the acting warden to address the public about how he escaped,” Ryan said.
A manhunt has been ongoing for Cavalcante, whom police said earlier in the week is believed to be hiding out in a nearby wooded area. There have been at least five confirmed sightings of him, and two school districts in the area cancelled classes in the past two days with Cavalcante still at large.
“Everybody’s afraid,” a local business owner told Solis on TODAY. “We’re very upset.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com