NEW YORK, Sept 7 — A convicted murderer evaded a huge manhunt in Pennsylvania for a sixth day Wednesday, despite being glimpsed on outdoor cameras and at one point breaking into a house to raid the kitchen.

Schools were closed as a precaution and police warned the public in areas west of Philadelphia to be careful in case they run into Brazilian national Danelo Cavalcante, convicted last month of stabbing his girlfriend to death.

"You’re dealing with someone who’s desperate and doesn’t want to be caught,” state police official George Bivens told a press conference Tuesday in the northeastern state.

"We ask the public to remain vigilant in reporting suspicious activity and checking their cameras,” the US Marshals Service in Philadelphia posted on social media.

The latest confirmed sighting of Cavalcante came Monday night via trail cameras at a botanical garden near Philadelphia. Footage showed the 34-year-old Brazilian carrying a backpack and duffel bag in the dark.

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District told parents that pupils should stay at home Tuesday and Wednesday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Ryan Drummond, who lives nearby, told local ABC News television that Cavalcante had broken into his house just before midnight Friday.

"I woke up my wife and said, ‘I think there might be someone downstairs,’” he said, describing how Cavalcante stole peaches, apples and green snap peas from the family kitchen, then walked out.

Even as Cavalcante avoids capture, "that pressure we put on him is working,” Bivens said. "It’s a large, dark area, with difficult terrain.”

Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison on August 31 after receiving a life sentence the week before for stabbing his girlfriend 38 times in front of her children in 2021.

According to the Inquirer, he hopped off the roof of a prison building in similar circumstances to another inmate who escaped in May.

The Chester County prosecutor’s office announced a US$10,000 reward and said that hundreds of officers, backed by helicopters, drones, night-vision goggles, and dogs, were on the hunt. — AFP