Ex-con had help killing 4 in D.C., say authorities

Acting District Attorney Vincent Cohen speaks to reporters Friday outside the District of Columbia Superior Court in Washington, where Daron Dylon Wint had appeared.
Acting District Attorney Vincent Cohen speaks to reporters Friday outside the District of Columbia Superior Court in Washington, where Daron Dylon Wint had appeared.

WASHINGTON -- More than one person likely was involved in the slayings of four people who were held captive inside a Washington, D.C., mansion until $40,000 was delivered last week, authorities revealed Friday.

Daron Dylon Wint, a welder with a criminal record of assaults who once worked for the mansion's owner, has been charged with murder. But authorities said they believe he did not act alone: A court document made public Friday said they believe the crimes "required the presence and assistance of more than one person."

Savvas Savopoulos, 46; his wife Amy, 47 and their housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57, died from "blunt force and sharp force trauma." The couple's 10-year-old son, Philip, died of "thermal and sharp force injuries." All four bodies were found by firefighters after a flammable liquid was spread around the home and set ablaze.

A fugitive task force arrested Wint late Thursday night, a week after attack on the family. Wint had previously worked for Savopoulos' company, American Iron Works, which is based in Hyattsville, Md., and supplies major construction projects in downtown Washington.

Wint's DNA was found on the crust of a partially eaten pepperoni pizza, one of two that were ordered on the evening of May 13 while the group in the mansion was "being held against their will," according to the document released Friday.

A woman believed to be Amy Savopoulos ordered the pizzas and paid for them with a credit card but told the delivery person to leave them on the front porch and ring the bell because she was "nursing her sick child" and would not come to the door, the document says.

Police found the pizza boxes in a bedroom where the adults were found.

The document said authorities believe "Wint and others" held the group captive until $40,000 was delivered to the home by an employee of Savopoulos. The family was then killed and the house set on fire, the document says.

The task force took into custody two other men and three women who were with Wint at the time of his arrest, but none were immediately charged with any crime.

U.S. marshals and police had tracked Wint to New York and back before they spotted him in the parking lot of a Howard Johnson Express Inn in College Park, Md. Dozens of officers then followed a car and a truck into the nation's capital and swarmed the vehicles so quickly that the group surrendered without a fight.

The truck belongs to Amerit Fleet Solutions. Spokesman Karen Vinton said the California-based company was aware that the truck was involved and was cooperating with authorities.

Fernandez said he did not know whether the group was carrying any weapons before police took them into custody.

Wint has a record of violent offenses.

He was arrested once in 2006 and twice in 2007 for assault in Oswego County, N.Y., said Undersheriff Gene Sullivan. He was released in July 2008 after serving a 10-month sentence and then convicted again of assaulting a girlfriend in Maryland in 2009.

In 2010, he pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property after he was accused of breaking into a woman's apartment, stealing a television, vandalizing her car and threatening to kill her infant daughter.

Also in 2010, Wint was arrested carrying a 2-foot-long machete and a BB pistol outside the American Iron Works headquarters, but weapons charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty to possessing an open container of alcohol.

A Marine spokesman said Wint was a recruit who attended boot camp for about two months in 2001, but he did not graduate and there was no reason given for his departure.

The Savopouloses lived in a $4.5 million home in Woodley Park, where mansions are protected by fences and security systems. Law enforcement is a constant presence in the area, in part because Vice President Joe Biden's official residence is nearby.

The family's two teenage daughters were away at boarding school at the time. On Friday, the family said they wouldn't give interviews.

Information for this article was contributed by Alex Brandon, Sarah Brumfield, Ben Nuckols, Meredith Somers, Colleen Long and Carolyn Thompson of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/23/2015

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