Rachel Sadon
Via MPD.
A jury handed down a 20-count indictment today for Daron Dellon Dennis Wint in the May murder of three members of the Savopoulos family and their housekeeper Veralicia Figuero.
Authorities responded to a fire at the Savopoulos household, located in the 3200 block of Woodland Drive NW, on Thursday, May 14. After putting out the fire, they discovered the bodies of 46-year-old Savvas Savopoulos, his wife, 47-year-old Amy Savopoulos, their 10-year-old son Phillip, and Figueroa, 57.
Wint was arrested about a week later, after police matched DNA to pizza crust found at the crime scene. He was initially charged with one count of first-degree murder while armed in the death of Savvas Savopoulos.
Prosecutors allege that Wint entered the home of his former employer on May 13, then “seized and kidnapped the four victims, stole $40,000 through means of extortion, murdered the victims, and set fire to the house.”
He was indicted on 12 counts of first-degree murder while armed, in addition to four counts of kidnapping and one count each of first-degree burglary, extortion, arson, and first-degree theft. If convicted on the murder charges with aggravating circumstances, Wint would face a maximum of life imprisonment without the possibility of release for each of the counts.
Police have said that the victims were held captive overnight, and that one or more people might have been involved. Additional details emerged from a preliminary hearing in July. From The Washington Post:
“[Jeffrey Owens, the lead D.C. police detective assigned to the case] said a medical examiner determined that Savvas, Savopoulos, and Figueroa were strangled and beaten. He said there was evidence that at least one of the four victims was fatally stabbed and that a knife was found in the trash behind the house. Owens also said that a baseball bat as well as a samurai sword, taken from Savopoulos’s martial arts collection, were also being examined to determine whether they were used in the killings.
During the hearing, Abigail Savopoulos, 19, one of Amy and Savvas Savopoulos’s two daughters, sat in the front row of the courtroom, often writing notes. She and her sister were away at school when the killings took place. Her grandfather, Amy Savopoulos’s father, sat next to her.”
