"That's when my stomach dropped," says the father after he woke up to a stranger in his kitchen amid the manhunt in Pennsylvania for escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante
The manhunt for convicted killer Danelo Cavalcante, who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison over a week ago, continues as state police discovered he had altered his appearance by shaving and had stolen a vehicle.
However, a new detail has emerged, giving insight into how the escaped murderer has been surviving since his daring prison break.
Residents in the surrounding areas near Chester County Prison have been on high alert with local officials issuing warnings with the convict still at large.
One resident in Pocopson Township has described his "acute moment of terror" on September 1.
Speaking with CNN over the weekend, Ryan Drummond said he saw Cavalcante in his home after he and his family had gone to bed.
The family man recalled his daughter being nervous earlier that evening after he was unable to properly secure a French door to their patio as they were locking up for the night. Drummond said he assured his child that everything would be fine. However, at around 11:30 p.m. that night he heard a noise in his house.
Looking down from his bedroom, Drummond said, he saw that on the first floor the French door to the patio was ajar and there were noises coming from the kitchen.
After alerting his wife and checking on his children he attempted to grab a weapon to confront the intruder but said that "in that moment I realized how ridiculous ... here you have this guy, a murderer, surrounded by steak knives because we did have steak that night." It was then he thought of a better way to potentially scare him off.
"Decided to switch the light switch on and off," Drummond said of his quick thinking. "And there was a little bit of a pause and then he flicked the light switch back at me from the kitchen. So that was kind of the acute moment of terror."
"I turned to my wife. I said, 'he's downstairs. Call 911 right now.' And at that point there was a little bit of a pause," Drummond continued. "I wasn't sure if he was going to come up the steps in which case I would have to go down and there'd be a confrontation."
However, he said it was then he saw Cavalcante: "in that moment I saw him walk out of the kitchen into the living room not even running just kind of walking methodically. He had a white shirt, white bag, white hat, and he went out that French door."
He said police arrived moments after the intruder left. Cavalcante remains on the loose.
The killer was convicted earlier this summer of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend in 2021. According to prosecutors, the 33-year-old stabbed Deborah Brandao 38 times after she learned he was wanted for another murder in Brazil; he allegedly killed her in front of her two young children.
You can see more coverage on Cavalcante below.