The mother of a convicted murderer who was caught Wednesday after nearly two weeks on the run has defended his crimes, saying he “had no other choice” than to kill his ex-girlfriend.
The mother of a convicted murderer who was caught Wednesday after nearly two weeks on the run has defended his crimes, saying he “had no other choice” than to kill his ex-girlfriend.
Danelo Cavalcante’s mother, Iracema, blamed his girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, for her own murder in an interview Tuesday.
“Did it happen? It happened. But it happened because of the stranglehold she put on him, the stance she took with him,” Iracema said of her son, Danelo, stabbing Brandao to death while her young son and daughter were present.
“It wasn’t femicide,” Iracema told the New York Times. “He had to, he had no other choice.”
Pennsylvania authorities believe Danelo, 34, killed Brandao, 33, in April 2021 after she discovered evidence that he murdered someone else in his home country of Brazil four years earlier.
In that case, Iracema claims, Valtar Júnior Moreira dos Reis had threatened to kill her son first.
She said she now worries about what will happen to her son, who was seen being escorted by a SWAT team into a van Wednesday.
More than 400 law enforcement officers had been assisting in the massive search for the killer they described as “extremely dangerous.”
In one effort to force Danelo to surrender, authorities blared a message Iracema recorded, in which she urged her son to turn himself in.
But Iracema told the Times she now fears what may happen to Danelo — arguing that life in prison or death at the hands of the police would be unjust.
