Woodley Park Slayings | Inside the Investigation into the Deaths of a CEO and His Family : People.com
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Woodley Park Slayings | Daron Dylon Wint | Savvas Savopoulos | American Iron Works, Inc
What authorities did say was this: Whoever killed the three Savopouloses and Figueroa had knowledge of the family's habits – and of their expensive security system, which Gutierrez has said was always on. There was no sign of forced entry into the home...
And both the Savopoulos family and American Iron Works were involved in lawsuits, but it's not clear whether that it is relevant to this case.
Inside the Investigation into the Deaths of a CEO and His Family : People.com
Savvas and Amy Savopoulos were the toast of Washington society. Neighbors described the wealthy couple as "wonderful" people who were active donors to various charities and causes throughout the D.C. area. So who would want to kill them?
It's a question investigators have been scrambling to answer since police were first called to the pair's multimillion-dollar Woodley Park home to put out a fire last Thursday, the smell of gasoline hanging in the air. Inside, authorities found
four bodies
– later identified as Savvas, Amy, their 10-year-old son Philip and their housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa. Savvas and Amy's two teenage daughters, Abigail and Katerina, were away at boarding school at the time of the fire.
The deaths immediately raised suspicion. Police said at least three of the victims had suffered stab wounds or blunt force injuries prior to the fire being set. Sources told NBC that
the family
was "bound and threatened" for a day before the house was set ablaze, after Savvas finally gave the killers whatever it was they were looking for.
The only clue? The family's blue Porsche, found torched in the parking lot of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Lanham, Maryland. Just a short distance away, a camera captured footage of the one
person of interest
in the case, a hooded individual carrying a bucket. That person has not yet been found.
The Savopoulos family's multimillion-dollar home in Woodley Park
The Gentle Executive
Savvas, 46, was the President and CEO of
American Iron Works
, the construction company that helped build the Verizon Center sports arena. "He was a very kind man, a very gentle man," AIW Vice President of Environmental Safety and Health Robert Hodge tells PEOPLE. "He was the best person I ever worked for."
Hodge says that Savvas, a devoted father of three, always made time for his family, despite being in charge of a major business. "He was very family oriented," he says. "His family meant the world to him."
Together, they started a school called the
American Institute of Welding
to "help people who had lost their jobs for whatever reason get back on their feet," says Hodge.
"I am in shock," he adds. "This is such a terrible tragedy. He was so kind. A wonderful, wonderful man."
The Mysterious Voicemail
On Wednesday evening, the Savopoulos'
part-time housekeeper
, Nelitza Gutierrez, received a strange voicemail from her employer telling her to stay home because his wife was sick.
"It was something very suspicious because I felt his voice was really tense," Gutierrez told
The Washington Post
. "And it was different than what he had said to me before."
In the voicemail, Savvas also asked Gutierrez to call his other housekeeper's relatives to let them know that Figueroa was planning to stay the night, but her phone had died and she had no charger.
Gutierrez called Amy the next morning to check on her, but she never answered. Gutierrez did, however,
receive a text
from Amy's phone: "I am making sure you do not come today."
She didn't come in. It was only later that Gutierrez revealed how odd the whole situation was: "Never, never did she stay over," she said of Figueroa.
After the family's bodies were found, Gutierrez couldn't believe it. "I don't understand why," she told
ABC News
. "God saved my life."
But Figueroa wasn't so lucky. The 57-year-old housekeeper, who'd been planning to move back to her native country of El Salvador to be with her children, was killed with the family.
"All I can say is I'm very sad," Bernardo Alfaro, Figueroa's husband, told
The Post
Monday. "I don't want to do anything."
The Savopouloses' relatives are equally distraught. Savvas' sister Debra Masser told
The Post
she spoke to her brother on Thursday morning and nothing seemed amiss.
"I can't even express my sorrow," she said. "I can't even say anything."
Philip Savopoulos
Courtesy Facebook
The Motive
Police still haven't commented on a motive for the horrific killings. And, apart from the person of interest, they haven't commented on any suspects either.
What authorities did say was this: Whoever killed the three Savopouloses and Figueroa had knowledge of the family's habits – and of their expensive security system, which Gutierrez has said was always on. There was no sign of forced entry into the home.
Neighbors have pointed at the family's large and valuable art collection as a potential motive, while sources told
WUSA
that money was missing from the home, though they didn't say how much.
And both the Savopoulos family and American Iron Works were involved in lawsuits, but it's not clear whether that it is relevant to this case.
For now, the investigation continues. But the upscale neighborhood is in mourning. "The community where they lived really loved them," friend Coco Palomeque told
The Post
. They were "a beautiful family."
A funeral for the three Savopouloses is scheduled for June 1.
•
Reporting by SUSAN KEATINGWant to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Suspect Daron Wint, 34, whose DNA was on a Domino’s pizza crust at the scene.
The man suspected of torturing and killing a wealthy CEO, his wife, their son and their housekeeper has been identified after his DNA was found on a pizza crust at the scene of the murders.
Authorities named the suspect as Daron Dylon Wint, 34, who has previously been charged with sexual assault, theft and weapon possession, and are now trying to find him.
The Maryland man is wanted in the murders of Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife Amy, 47, their 10-year-old son Philip and their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, 57, who were found dead inside the $4.5 million D.C. mansion after it was set alight last Thursday.
Detectives do not know where Wint is and it is not clear whether he was connected to the family.
‘He’s very hostile,’ an unidentified family member told ABC News of the suspect. ‘He’s arrogant. He doesn’t listen.’
Police have appealed to the public for help finding Wint, who is from Lanham, Maryland, which is about 15 miles from the Savopouloses’ home. He is described as a black male, approximately 5’7″ tall and weighing about 155 pounds.
An arrest warrant, issued by DC Superior Court, charges him with murder one while armed. Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Maryland court records show a person with his name was convicted in 2009 of second-degree assault and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
He was also charged with burglary in 2010 and pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property, and a protective order also was taken out against him that year, the records show.
Over the years, he has gone by the names Daron, Darron, Davon.
According to his Facebook page, he graduated from Parkdale High School in Riverdale, Maryland in 1996. He then graduated Prince George’s Community College in 2002 and is now ‘self-employed’.
The development comes after police discovered the killer ordered two pizzas from a local Domino’s as the family was tortured inside their mansion.
Members of staff at the Wisconsin Avenue branch two miles away confirmed to Daily Mail Online that they took the order on Wednesday evening and dispatched the food.
Murdered: Savvas Savopoulos, 46, and his 47-year-old wife Amy were found dead after their Washington DC home was set abaze. Their 10-year-old son and housekeeper were also found murdered inside.
Slain: Philip Savopoulos, 10, was also found dead.
The pizzas were delivered to the home at 9pm and left at the front door, Fox5 reported. The deliveryman said cash was left for him outside the door and he spoke to no one.
Around 7am the next morning, Savopoulos made a number of calls, including to his bank and his accountant, ABC News reported.
Then later that morning, an assistant for Savopoulos – who was the CEO of American Iron Works, Inc. – visited the home before the blaze.
The assistant, who has not been named, dropped off a $40,000 package to his boss’ home as the family members were inside, law enforcement officials told the Washington Post.
The killers knew that the money was due to be delivered to the house last Thursday, Fox5 reported.
Nelitza Gutierrez, another housekeeper working for the family, said Mr Savopoulos needed the cash for one of his other business ventures, the opening of a martial arts center in Chantilly, Virginia.
It is not known if the assistant was aware of what the package contained and records show he was in Virginia when the blaze was started, the Post reported.
By the time firefighters arrived at the house on Thursday afternoon, the package and the couple’s blue Porsche had vanished. The car was found in a Maryland parking lot later that afternoon.
Housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57 was also found dead.
The four bodies were discovered on the second floor of the house. At least three had suffered blunt force trauma before the blaze, police have said, and the fire is being treated as an arson.
Investigators found no signs of forced entry and believe the suspects were able to gain access to the home on Wednesday and stayed overnight as they knew how the family ‘lived their day-to-day lives’.
FOX 5 reported that the suspects tortured at least three of the hostages – including 10-year-old go-karting fanatic, Philip.
The station, quoting sources familiar with the scene, said the adults were tied to chairs and had been doused in gasoline while the little boy was found in bed. He had been burned beyond recognition and had lacerations to his body.
Footage from the area police released on Saturday night revealed a man dressed in a dark hooded top moving quickly behind a building.
Police have not yet said whether they think this is person is Wint. They believe the person in the footage could have taken the Porsche belonging to the family.
Records show friends and relatives tried to reach the victims on Thursday before they were found dead, according to the Washington Post.
Both Savopouloses sent text messages and voicemails to their second housekeeper telling her not to come to their home to clean on Thursday, which had been her normal routine.
Nelitza Gutierrez, who had worked for the family for 20 years, told the Post the series of messages left her thinking something was amiss with her employers.
She told police that Savvas left a message saying Figueroa was staying overnight to help because his wife was sick and his son had suffered a concussion. He asked Gutierrez to make sure Figueroa’s family knew not to expect her home that evening.
Gutierrez said she had never known Figueroa to stay overnight.
‘Never, never did she stay over,’ Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said she called Amy after hearing the message ‘to see if she was OK, but she never answered’.
A $25,000 reward has been offered in the brutal quadruple slaying, which unfolded in one of the city’s wealthiest – and safest – neighborhoods.
The Savopoulos family had lived in the sprawling property on the 3200 block of Woodland Drive since 2002.
They also have a $240,000 two-bedroom condo in St Croix in the Virgin Islands.
Ten-year-old Philip was enrolled at $40,000-a-year St Albans School, a prestigious college-preparatory school on Embassy Row next to the Washington National Cathedral, which is visible from his family’s home.
The family’s two older daughters were not at home at the time of the fire, as they both attend elite boarding schools. Abigail, 19, is a senior at the elite Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. Katerina, 16, is a junior at Peddie School in Highstown, New Jersey.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to all police at (202) 727-9099. Anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411.
Police have named a suspect in a harrowing quadruple murder in Washington, D.C., blocks away from the vice president's home, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.
Police say Daron Dylon Wint was involved in the torture of the Savopoulos family and their housekeeper.
Police believe Wint and possibly other assailants held the family captive overnight last Wednesday in the home, eventually torturing them until their deaths. But while holding the family in terror, they took time late Wednesday night to order a Domino's pizza online, with instructions that it be left outside. The pizza may have been their undoing. Police reportedly recovered Wint's DNA on the leftover crusts from the pizza.
"What they'll find in this person is that he's very psychopathic," former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole said.
She said the ordering of pizza while holing captives in the state of terror fits the pattern of a diagnosable psychopath; someone without remorse.
"Their ability to do this, order a pizza, you have to imagine that the victims are crying, they're scared, they may even be having a physical reaction, these offenders continue to do what they're doing," O'Toole said.
Hours before the Savopoulos family home went up in flames, an assistant to Washington businessman Savvas Savopoulos was instructed to drop off a package carrying $40,000 and to leave the money outside.
Now investigators think it's possible the money was an extortion payment Savopoulos had to pay to stop the physical abuse of his family including the torture of his 10-year-old son Philip. Police have confirmed three of the four victims were beaten or stabbed before the fire and the shocking realization that assailants would harm a child has made the crime a top priority for the D.C. police and chief Cathy Lanier.
"It's, you know, one of the horrible things we have to deal with," she said. "And anytime there's a child involved it's one of those things that really shake all of us."
At the end of the family's night of horror, one of the assailants stole their Porsche 911 and drove it to Lanham, Maryland, 13 miles from their home, and torched the car. That area of Maryland is thought be near where the suspect is from.
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