Danelo Cavalcante survived on watermelon during manhunt

Captured criminal Danelo Cavalcante told cops he survived for nearly two weeks on stolen watermelon — and that officers scouring heavy Pennsylvania underbrush for him had gotten so close they nearly stepped on him three times.

The 34-year-old convicted killer was “brutally honest” after he was apprehended by police Wednesday morning, sharing all the tricks he used to avoid getting caught, US Marshall Robert Clark told NewsNation.

“He did say on three occasions law enforcement officers did almost step on him. They were about seven to eight yards away from him,” Clark said.

Cavalcante, who escaped from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, had just been sentenced to life for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of her two young children in 2021.

Prosecutors are expected to levy additional charges for crimes he committed during his 14 days on the run.

After crab-walking up and over a pair of close-set walls and escaping jail, Cavalcante told police he was able to survive for days eating watermelon he had stolen from a nearby farm.

The escapee drank water from a stream, hid within dense brush, and only moved in the thick of night.

To cover his tracks, he hid his feces under piles of leaves.

“We believe he was brutally honest. He described things such as hiding his fecal matter under leaves so that we couldn’t detect them,” Clark said.

When asked how he changed his appearance while on the lam, Cavalcante — who became clean-shaven overnight — said a backpack he had stolen contained a single razor.

Cavalcante also told police that, had he not been captured, he soon planned to use the firearm he had stolen from someone’s garage to flee the country.

“He intended to carjack somebody in the community and head north to Canada, or either or try to get back to Puerto Rico. He said he was going to do that in the next 24 hours. And that was the reason he kept that firearm. He knew he needed a weapon in order to get a vehicle,” Clark said.

Cavalcante was finally captured Wednesday morning, when he tried to escape a Belgian Malinois K-9 named Yoda, who sank his teeth into the killer and pinned him to the ground, leaving him bloodied.

Officers hauled Cavalcante off without firing a single shot, but not before posing for a group photo with the escaped criminal.

In addition to the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Cavalcante is suspected of gunning a friend down with six shots in 2017 during a dispute over car repair payments back in his Brazilian hometown.

After that killing, he hid out in the Brazillian ranchlands for weeks before making his way north and illegally entering the US.

A preliminary hearing for Cavalcante has been set for Sept. 27, according to court documents, which noted he was denied bail.