DC - Savvas Savopoulos, family & Veralicia Figueroa murdered; Daron Wint Arrested #1

[stmarysmead]

By the time that the husband left the voicemail for the second maid in the early evening hours of Wednesday, the perp had the family under control. What required him to stay all night and into the next day before killing them? Every hour brought possible complications for the perp. The husband of the housekeeper might show up that evening...and, indeed, he did the next day. There were people outside mowing grass. There were phone calls coming in.

Why so long?

And if the husband came and knocked and left....and someone from the business came, dropped something at the doorstep and left, and people are happily owing the grass...what's the big deal about making sure the second housekeeper didn't turn up?

And 10AM is very late to text her if that's some big concern. I'm wondering if it was a predetermined signal. If the second maid is part of this, that's a smart way to communicate.

I hope I am wrong.

 

[privateaye]

I found this very old forum argument (circa 1999) about martial arts where someone felt Savvas threatened him to a fight. Might be nothing, and it's very old. But I couldn't help but think he was setting up a martial arts studio last week.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/fa.iaido/68-lA-Kt5q4/uyys-3Cb2T4J

 

[privateaye]

By the time that the husband left the voicemail for the second maid in the early evening hours of Wednesday, the perp had the family under control. What required him to stay all night and into the next day before killing them? Every hour brought possible complications for the perp. The husband of the housekeeper might show up that evening...and, indeed, he did the next day. There were people outside mowing grass. There were phone calls coming in.

Why so long?

And if the husband came and knocked and left....and someone from the business came, dropped something at the doorstep and left, and people are happily owing the grass...what's the big deal about making sure the second housekeeper didn't turn up?

And 10AM is very late to text her if that's some big concern. I'm wondering if it was a predetermined signal. If the second maid is part of this, that's a smart way to communicate.

I hope I am wrong.

I have a hinky feeling about the 2nd maid as well.

 

[privateaye]

By the time that the husband left the voicemail for the second maid in the early evening hours of Wednesday, the perp had the family under control. What required him to stay all night and into the next day before killing them? Every hour brought possible complications for the perp. The husband of the housekeeper might show up that evening...and, indeed, he did the next day. There were people outside mowing grass. There were phone calls coming in.

Why so long?

And if the husband came and knocked and left....and someone from the business came, dropped something at the doorstep and left, and people are happily owing the grass...what's the big deal about making sure the second housekeeper didn't turn up?

And 10AM is very late to text her if that's some big concern. I'm wondering if it was a predetermined signal. If the second maid is part of this, that's a smart way to communicate.

I hope I am wrong.

I have a hinky feeling about the 2nd maid too.

 

[Inthedetails]

My hunch at this moment is that at least one of the perps worked as household staff. Perhaps this person hatched the plan and enlisted help from others outside the household. I think the perps were likely young, as the person in the video looks young and in shape.

I don't think it was a long-term staff person as the family seemed well-liked and I'm not getting any hints so far of grudges or bad feelings toward them. I think it was someone rather new, but who has been there long enough to know that NG worked on Thursdays. It was someone who wasn't in the "inner circle" of the staff, however, and didn't know NG wasn't going to be there Thursday. And, I also think the perp didn't know the other housekeeper would be there. Perhaps she saw too much, tried to protect the family, or tried to fight...and she was killed, but that murder wasn't part of the plan.

I think the crime was supposed to happen Wednesday - maybe during the day when the perp expected the home to be empty. Something went wrong and it lasted until Thursday morning. It's possible that Amy, the housekeeper, and the boy were tied up (perhaps two were killed) before SS came home on Wednesday.

I think the motive was greed and anything "personal" about it was personal toward rich people in general, not these particular people.

I am willing to change my mind as more details emerge, but that's where my thoughts are now.

 

[dienermom]

So I did some more digging on the Sigma Fund LLC in Chantilly. I looked at the company's SEC filings. It appears that it commenced sometime in 2011. Over the course of 3 years, it appears that one investor (which I suspect was Mr. S) put more than $7M in the fund. This is the same fund that is affiliated with the Sigma entity earlier identified in this thread as being located in Puerto Rico. My guess is that in fact it was probably not a foray into the world of finance as I earlier suspected but was likely some sort of tax avoidance strategy as explained in the excellent NYT article excerpted above by i.b. Nora. My earlier suspicion was that maybe he had brought investors into the fund and a disgruntled investor might be involved in this crime, but now rethinking that as it appears he was likely the sole investor. So bottom line, I really have no idea what happened to this poor family. I suspect it had something to do with one of his business interests, as he had many irons in the fire, but it could easily have been random or family-related. JMHO.

 

[Hatfield]

I think the motive in this case was to rob this family and they planned to leave no witnesses behind. I think it may be the work of one person and I do think the POI is involved.

I don't think this has anything to do with the father other than he and his family were targeted because of their known wealth. He seems to be a law abiding citizen and very well liked and admired in his community that he had lived in for over a decade.

Imo, robbery was the motive and to silence all witnesses and now its said that money is missing.

We have seen several heartbreaking cases in recent years where all the occupants of the home where found murdered. One happened on New Years Day a few years back and all the family, including children were killed. The murderers had remained in the home for quite awhile. It was robbery motivated by total strangers to the family. There was no forced entry.

Then we have the Billings murders when the parents were murdered and robbery was the motive. No forced entry.

Then there is the Husted wealthy parents who were both murdered. Their home had been invaded by a total stranger and they caught him inside the home and he murdered both of them. No forced entry.

Then we cant ever forget the Petit murders and the same motive was there in that tragic case as well.

So a perfect stranger certainly could have done this to this wonderful family for it has happened to many other wealthy families in the past.

Or it could be someone that had worked in the home previously or even had done work for them recently that knew the layout of the home. But again it could have been a total stranger.

These kind of things seem to be happening more often in upper class neighborhoods.

I hope they can ID the POI. He is the key to solving this case, imo.

This is about the only thing I really fear as possibly ever being robbed. I stay vigilant against a random possible home invasion while I am home or sleeping.

The perps these days seem to not care even if you are home. It seems years ago they would make sure you were not home before they robbed your house. These days they dont even care and seem to just kill you if you are home.

Very scary times. The only way to be prepared for such a situation is to be sure you have a plan. My plan involves personal protection. The only thing I havent figured out is how to be sure to be woken up if someone breaks in. My dog is not reliable as I am afraid he may not always bark loud enough. I am thinking of installing home security system with remote sensor alarms for movement in the house to ensure I wake up if anyone is roaming about the home.

 

[jjenny]

There could very well be more than one perp. One alleged perp was on video in the area where the car was found. That doesn't mean there weren't more in the house.

 

[Inthedetails]

I wonder if the staff was paid in cash and when payday was. Perhaps someone knew there was a stash of cash in the home on certain days of the week.

??

 

[stmarysmead]

There didn't seem to be any concern about canceling the lawn service. That's a group of men, physically fit enough to work outdoors. No text or call to cancel them.

 

[jjenny]

Simple robbery doesn't make sense either. They could have killed everybody Wednesday evening and leave. Why stay until Thursday morning?

 

[almagh]

I think the maid was involved. It is too weird that she was told twice not to come to work. Otherwise she wouldn't have a reason not to show up for work. It is too obvious that she was given an alibi.

 

[Aloysius]

Maybe he was told to answer and act normal? But if the maid's husband stopped by of course the perp wouldn't answer.

I wonder if they found the back door unlocked. I would find it strange that the husband would knock on the front door, wouldn't he go straight to the kitchen if his wife was working?

 

[privateaye]

It could be one perp or it could be more. It's possible for it to be one. The boy was home recovering from gokart injury, so if someone who worked there was the perp, they could have hit him in the head as he lay sleeping, unheard by anyone downstairs. The housekeeper could have come upstairs and gotten it next. Maybe the parents found out what was going on at some point, and the perp was trying to get money or access to a safe or something, and it was a standoff. However, after seeing the guy meant business, you'd have no problem handing over the money...but then SS would have known they had no more leverage at that point..ie, they'd all be killed as witnesses. So maybe he dragged it out...as a standoff. The perp torturing the wife to get info from SS...with SS hoping he was stalling long enough for help to arrive.

 

[jjenny]

I wonder if they found the back door unlocked. I would find it strange that the husband would knock on the front door, wouldn't he go straight to the kitchen if his wife was working?

His wife never stayed there overnight. So he might have had no reason to come to the house prior to this.

 

[Aloysius]

Here's my biggest question: SS's sister called Thursday morning and said he sounded untroubled and in good spirits! Anybody know what time she called? This is most puzzling of all in my mind.
Another thing, forget the murder/suicide. Someone drove their car away, then burned it and fled.

She says she spoke to him Thursday morning, it doesn't say who rang who.

 

[jjenny]

It could be one perp or it could be more. It's possible for it to be one. The boy was home recovering from gokart injury, so if someone who worked there was the perp, they could have hit him in the head as he lay sleeping, unheard by anyone downstairs. The housekeeper could have come upstairs and gotten it next. Maybe the parents found out what was going on at some point, and the perp was trying to get money or access to a safe or something, and it was a standoff. However, after seeing the guy meant business, you'd have no problem handing over the money...but then SS would have known they had no more leverage at that point..ie, they'd all be killed as witnesses. So maybe he dragged it out...as a standoff. The perp torturing the wife to get info from SS...with SS hoping he was stalling long enough for help to arrive.

One little perp doing all that? I find that very unlikely. Especially with a husband who is very fit.

 

[Hatfield]

My hunch at this moment is that at least one of the perps worked as household staff. Perhaps this person hatched the plan and enlisted help from others outside the household. I think the perps were likely young, as the person in the video looks young and in shape.

I don't think it was a long-term staff person as the family seemed well-liked and I'm not getting any hints so far of grudges or bad feelings toward them. I think it was someone rather new, but who has been there long enough to know that NG worked on Thursdays. It was someone who wasn't in the "inner circle" of the staff, however, and didn't know NG wasn't going to be there Thursday. And, I also think the perp didn't know the other housekeeper would be there. Perhaps she saw too much, tried to protect the family, or tried to fight...and she was killed, but that murder wasn't part of the plan.

I think the crime was supposed to happen Wednesday - maybe during the day when the perp expected the home to be empty. Something went wrong and it lasted until Thursday morning. It's possible that Amy, the housekeeper, and the boy were tied up (perhaps two were killed) before SS came home on Wednesday.

I think the motive was greed and anything "personal" about it was personal toward rich people in general, not these particular people.

I am willing to change my mind as more details emerge, but that's where my thoughts are now.

I agree that I think it was inside job of some sort and I agree a relatively newer staff person would be most likely.

I wonder if maybe one of the staff who was involved was either not there that day OR was one of the ones planned to be tied up to look like a victim.

I havent read enough yet about this but if a staff person died I wonder if the killer decided to take her out too to silence all witnesses even though the original plan may have been to just tie her up to make it look like not involved.

Something went wrong with the plan or changed in the plan. Most likely the money in cash not showing up when it was supposed to. So I do like the one theory about some sort of pay day in cash. Maybe something happened and pay day didnt happen like was supposed to.

I do think the plan was to kill witnesses who were home but I think more were killed than originally planned. This was a brutal robbery IMO.

 

[SleuthBear]

So I did some more digging on the Sigma Fund LLC in Chantilly. I looked at the company's SEC filings. It appears that it commenced sometime in 2011. Over the course of 3 years, it appears that one investor (which I suspect was Mr. S) put more than $7M in the fund. This is the same fund that is affiliated with the Sigma entity earlier identified in this thread as being located in Puerto Rico. My guess is that in fact it was probably not a foray into the world of finance as I earlier suspected but was likely some sort of tax avoidance strategy as explained in the excellent NYT article excerpted above by i.b. Nora. My earlier suspicion was that maybe he had brought investors into the fund and a disgruntled investor might be involved in this crime, but now rethinking that as it appears he was likely the sole investor. So bottom line, I really have no idea what happened to this poor family. I suspect it had something to do with one of his business interests, as he had many irons in the fire, but it could easily have been random or family-related. JMHO.

I feel like the perp(s) had planned on being there overnight. I am just wondering if the theft has to do with a financial transfer. Why else would the perp(s) need to be there overnight. A transfer could have been placed sometime on Wednesday and then it went through on Thursday morning. There could have been a reason why Wed was chosen specifically. Like knowledge that transfers would happen faster then if on a Mon-Tues or Fri. IMO

 

[jjenny]

In CT home invasion (where mother, and two daughters were killed), two perps kept them alive for a while so one of them could take mother to the bank to withdraw money. They also burned the house.
I wonder if this was the plan here? To take wife to the bank to withdraw money? You would think something like this (wife withdrawing money) would have been reported, though.