inescaped inmate and convicted murderer danelo cavalcante. >> we have thoroughly searched the area around two elementary schools previously contained within the perimeter and have adjusted the perimeter to exclude both schools from the perimeter area. we've done this in an effort to minimize the impact on students and their families while we continue with our search efforts. the district attorney and i have an ongoing dialogue with school districts in the area and are committed to providing them the most up-to-date information so they can make informed decisions about school operations. i have told you all previously we're utilizing hundreds of state, local, and federal law enforcement officers, can nines, aviationets, and various types of technology in an effort to keep the community safe and bring this to as swift conclusion as possible. i'd like to provide the media and public some insight for the scope of the operation we put in place. following the press conference today i'll provide you all details of how we can make that happen. as a reminder we're asking the public's help by familiarizing themselves with the photograph and description of cavalcante, to check security cameras they have, and to call us immediately if they believe they may have seen him. again, we ask residents to please secure homes, outbuildings. cavalcante has already obtained some clothing and other supplies, and we want to minimize other opportunity he might have to get anything more. it is very important we keep the pressure on him as we continue this hunt. cavalcante is considered extremely dangerous, and there is a reward of up to $20,000 offered for information leading to the capture of cavalcante. anyone with information is asked to call our tip line at 717-562-2987. 717-562-2987. i continue to thank the community for their support and the latitude to do our jobs while they deal with extremely stressful circumstances. we appreciate you all more than you know. i wanted to also because we've had a number of inquiries, i mentioned an injury to one of our tactical dogs the other day, loki, and i want to provide you all a quick update. he's doing well. he's been released from the hospital earlier today and expected to make a full recovery and return to work within the next week. and with that, we'll be happy to take any questions you might have. >> can you provide some details of the event, a helicopter droppedary low off the deck -- >> an individual reported that he had seen someone matching that description, and he provided us a location, that he had seen them running through that area and so we've gone to that area. we have pool on foot. we have horses out there as well assisting with the search, tactical teams and of course the aviation assets you mentioned. >> how close is this search to that trail camera location? >> it's not very far from that location. >> what were the schools removed from the search area? >> that was greenwood elementary. >> how big is this radius now? >> yes, so it's about an 8 to 10 square mile area that we're looking at right now. it's a couple of miles across, but the total mileage would be about 8 to 10 square miles. >> was he actually at wal-mart? >> i'm aware of that report and we do not believe that was him. >> and given the rereleased footage yesterday has law enforcement been looking up in trees, in the foliage? have you all been looking into water management within the neighborhood and going to door-to-door in neighborhoods for welfare checks? >> yes to all of those. it's been a very thorough search. >> do you have a strategy from him escaping to brandy wine creek. >> we do. >> what time was the sighting reported? >> just before noon. >> do you still believe he's in the 8 to 10 mile perimeter you setout? >> i still believe he's in that perimeter. we have no sightings outside that area. we have maintained a secure premter as we could, and as recently today we have reported sighting. >> what are the current sides of your perimeter? >> it is bordered on the north by 926, by the east by 100 or creek road, on the south by hillen dale, and by the west on 52. >> how much bigger is this perimeter today than say last friday? >> it is larger. i couldn't tell you what the difference in size, though, off the top of my head. >> i do not have any evidence to that effect, sir. i'm sorry, just a minute, ma'am. >> is there any truth he may have impacted cameras at the prison that may have been heated or not working at the time of cavalcante's escape. >> i can't speak to what effect anything would have on the cameras at the prison. >> can you talk about the effect of the law enforcement numbers on the ground? >> oh, it makes it very challenging. certainly all of you have been out in this weather, high temperatures, high humidity. they're wearing, you know, uniforms with bullet resistant vests and carrying a lot of equipment. it certainly adds to the challenge. with that said, i have not heard a single complaints, and i believe our people are up to the task. >> do they get some break time, cool down time, water break? >> if someone needs it, we absolutely get them some rest. but typically what we've din doing we're transporting fluids, food, those kinds of things to sustain them and keep them well-hydrated out to their locations. sorry, ma'am. >> thank you so much. two questions here. the festival returns for the 28th year in the square a couple miles from east garden. are law enforcement, state agencies, federal agencies working very closely with local police to ensure that the escapee will not go towards the borough, because some people are planning not to attend because of the escaped convict even though he's not been spotted there. >> well, we're working very hard to capture the escaped convict and not allow him to go anywhere, but along with that, yes, we're well aware of that festival, and we're working with authorities, a number of authorities and emergency management and so forth to try and make sure people feel very safe at that festival. >> last question, in terms of how technology has changed from 1999 he was here about three weeks in chester county again back in 1999, how has technology changed supporting your efforts to finding him? any thoughts on that? >> as with your cellphone, it's changed dramatically in that amount of time, and so we take advantage of some of the latest state-of-the-art options that are available. and so when i mentioned here before we use a wide array of technology. we have a number of federal partners here with us i've talked about previously. all of the assets of all of our agencies are brought to bear. >> -- creek road is the eastern perimeter, how did you decide to remove chadsworth elementary school? >> we cleared that property and then put officers around it so we could carve that piece out. >> the property at the school? >> yes, sir. >> another prisoner escaped earlier from warren county and was found some days later hiding out in the woods. so it seems like there's sort of a parallel between the two different types of man hunts. i'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how that situation compared to the search now and if there are similarities between the two and explain the challenge. >> those are the two more recent -- this one and that are two of the more recent examples we've had. there are similarities in any situation with a manhunt like this. we try to learn from each of those incidents we handle, take from that how to run a smoother operation. our partners in many cases are the same. in fact, some of the people that are here from the federal agencies are some of the same teams and resources. i was on the warren county search as well. again, all of us take lessons, learn from it, we adapt those to the circumstances we find. and there are different challenges with every particular search. if we move 20 miles down the road, there would perhaps be different challenges than what we have here and we would adjust to those. >> -- speculation heat seeking technology, thermal imaging technology you use is not working because it's so hot? is that correct? is all the technology you're using in that regard working the way it should because of the heat? >> it is. no, weather can certainly have an impact on it, but it does not take that technology out of the game at all. at times to use the example of thermal imaging, you can get some additional hot spots, rocks, different things like that can cause a hot spot, but it requires you to check a few more things, but it does not diminish our desire to use it. >> are you concerned that he is growing more desperate and yet more dangerous the time he spends out in this weather and being hunted by you? >> i believe he becomes more desperate. i believe he has always been very dangerous, and i've said that from the start. he's already murdered two people, one in brazil, and one here in a very brutal manner. he's a very dangerous individual and he remains so. >> is this the eighth confirmed sighting or are there more? and can you kind of walk us through those eight because it seems like he's going back and forth or are we out of number on the sighting numbers? >> i don't have all those other sightings in front of me but i can get that and talk about another time. >> so eight is correct? >> yes, sir. eight is correct. >> what about homes? are you going back and rechecking homes? and if no one is home, are you rechecking relatives to make sure he's not in there? >> we're checking homes and talking to neighbors, and each one is handled on an individual basis. we typically can check tax records, county records to try to find an owner if we're just completely unsuccessful. but the biggest thing we look for immediately while we're there is any sign of forced entry. and we have found some open homes, and in those cases we try to obtain permission, otherwise through extenuating circumstances we can make sure that home is not occupied. >> we've had people contacting us saying -- >> i have not been able to confirm a single case to this point. it doesn't mean he hasn't, but i've not been able to confirm a single case. i don't doubt that someone was down there. i cannot confirm it was him. >> have additional special forces arrived, sir? >> we have had tactical teams from all over the country come in and continue to come in. we have some additional resources that are arriving today, and part of the team arrived yesterday and will arrive today and will become operational by tomorrow. so one of the things when i talk about after the press conference being able to give you some additional insight how we can do this, we'll have an opportunity to talk about some of those teams tomorrow and give you some idea. i'll go back to some of your questions here in a minute, but i think what i would like you all to see is that there is an amazing operation going on here. there is a collaboration between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. this is not simply a situation where we have a police dispatcher sitting and taking a call and dispatching a police car to go and follow this up. it is a very sophisticated, well-staffed operation that i believe, again, when you have an opportunity to see some of that, there are some portions of obviously i can't show you everything, but i think you'd have an opportunity to see enough of it to truly come away with an understanding of the effort that is being made to ensure we end this as quickly as possible, to ensure the safety of the community. we absolutely understand their concern. i get it as a parent why other parents are concern pd about their children going to school, playing in the yard, all those kind of things. again, having been involved in a number of these searches, it is the same with every one of those, and we want to end this as quickly as possible. we'll throw every available resource out to do it. >> do you have confidence knowing that he's going back and forth in the same places again and again. what does that do to bolster some morale out here and does it bolster? and what is the impact on containment. >> i have no complaints about morale. i interact with our people. we have shift changes where we brief outgoing troopers and officers. morale is high, and i talk to them when they come in after a lengthy shift and working in these conditions. morale remains high. these are people who are volunteering to come here many from out of the who are volunteering in the case of the state police they're being paid. so i don't mean it to sound as if they're just volunteering, but they are asking their commanders to send them here. that's how high the morale here. >> can you confirm there was no equipment failure at the prison related to any heat that may have impacted any of the cameras or technology there that could have aided in his escape? >> i cannot speak, again, to the technology at the prison. that is not my focus at this point in time. my focus is on capturing him. there is an ongoing investigation there that i'm sure will reveal if there was any kind of a failure or whether it was a failure of an individual or group of individuals. that will be determined and acted on appropriately. but for right now, again, the priority for me and our focus is on getting him back into custody. >> you do have a sense where he's going then? >> i have some ideas. again, i can't get inside his head. i wish i could. i wish i could go right to where he is. so we use our experience. we use the information that's available to us, and then we also use any number of different techniques to try and push him, to try and get him to make a mistake and to detect that mistake when it occurs. just one second. >> can you explain why you have the perimeter to get in and squeeze in -- obviously it's not that simple. why isn't that working? >> for a number of reasons. first of all, it's not just a perfect open piece of land you can just march through. you've got businesses, residences, highways, hills, valleys, wooded areas that can't be pushed through. the number of people that it would take to contain that area and be able to walk shoulder to shoulder in that area and be able to squeeze and the amount of time it would take, it's just not simply realistic to do that. if we were talking about, you know, one city block or something like that, it would be a different story. it's just too large of an area to be able to squeeze in and push like that. >> lieutenant colonel, could you provide an estimate how many personnel are currently at the gardens trying to catch this murderer right now. >> we don't break the perimeter, so we're not moving every person there. we want to keep the perimeter secure while we move response teams there. so i mentioned tactical teams, aviation, mounted detail, some other foot searches besides the tactical teams, canines, all of that is brought to bear. in terms of specific number i couldn't give that to you. i'm sorry? >> was there a report of a man that says he broke into his house -- >> we are using tracking dogs, and, yes, i believe the account of someone broke in. i'm saying i can't conclusively prove that it was him. >> has he left any traces that you have found? traces of clothes, food. like the one in western pennsylvania, campsites. >> we not recovered anything i can conclusively say was his at this point. >> there was a lot of speculation about training and survivalists a few years back you led a search. >> as i said earlier there's a lot of similarity between any of these searches. the difference there was the level of violence. we knew he was armed, so both very violent individuals, very dangerous individuals. the difference is you're hunting for a person with a rifle that will penetrate the body armor of any of the officers out there. and did penetrate the body armor of the corporal that he killed, and so it brings a different dynamic to that search. but there are a lot of similarities in the search as well. and again, that's where i tell you that we try to take lessons from all of those and bring those to the next job. >> so west of 52, that outside your perimeter and today i believe was the first -- >> yes, longwood gardens proper is out there. they have additional property that is within the perimeter, and it's in the vicinity of that that i'm speaking. >> and that area was not over but stays inside the perimeter? >> i can't speak whether longwood gardens had that piece open or not. there wasn't anybody in there. >> so not all of longwood gardens is in the perimeter? >> correct. >> you still have men searching in the night? >> yes. >> lieutenant, this may be a question for the district attorney or you. neighbors adjacent to the prison spoke to us today about their concerns for better safety. it's not the first time someone escaped from the prison but now the second time. they are curious about alerts. in -- they're on record today saying in may there was no siren, there was no warning. i know you don't speak for the county, but as the chief law enforcement officer for chester county, how can you assure these neighbors they're not everyone for themselves out there on their properties? >> so i understand alerts do go out. the first prison escape in may he was captured in five minutes is my understanding, so i don't even know there was time for an alert to go out, but i don't know that information conclusively. they are sending out alerts repeatedly through reverse 911 calls, and they keep expanding the perimeter to where they send those locations or those notifications. so they are on high alert, and those communities that are affected immediately are alerted right away, so i know the time frame is very rapid from when they are alerted until when they have an incident. >> i know it's under investigation, but this is supposed to be a facility that holds dangerous people. this guy is a convicted murderer. >> absolutely. this is an outrage. this should have never happened. you know i was the prosecutor who was assigned to this case, and i helped convict this man. and he was sentenced to life without parole. we're all upset. we're all concerned, and there will be a thorough investigation, and that will be made public at some point. >> can you speak to the victim, debra, for a moment and her family. and i'm assuming her family has protection right now. >> they do have protection, and they are terrified. they haven't left their home. they're barricaded inside and very concerned about their safety. we do have police detail around them 24 hours a day, but i know they're very, very worried. he will not be going back to chester county prison. >> what charges might he face -- what would this bring from a criminal liability? >> he's charged with escape right now. that's a felony. >> where would he go? >> he'll go to a state correctional institution. >> the one he was sentenced to. >> he hadn't been assigned to anywhere yet. he was on his way to smithfield to be assigned to another location. no, we're not focusing on that right now. our primary mission is to get this guy in custody. that's where all of our attention is focused at this point. >> did your office answer the motion seeking a retrial or a resentencing for this defendant, mr. cavalcante? i know the judge denied it, but does your office have a response to their pursuing a new trial? >> we did not respond. the judge decided that on his own. yes? >> just a follow-up question for lieutenant colonel. we talked to someone who has taken upon himself to enter into a wooded area and look for cavalcante. what is your message to people who may think that they will be -- >> first of all, they have no authority other than that of a private citizen to do it. they are risking drawing away law enforcement resources because someone else may see them and report them and we end up having to go investigate that and draw resources away, so i would ask them no