Cops: DC Murder Victims Were Held Overnight

Likely more than one suspect involved: police
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2015 6:30 AM CDT

A mysterious hooded figure isn't the only individual police suspect was involved in the murders of a couple, their son, and housekeeper in Washington, DC. Investigators say at least two people were probably at the home of Savvas Savopoulos, 46, and his wife, Amy, 47, as early as Wednesday night and likely kept the victims bound until Thursday afternoon. At that point, sources say Savopoulos probably handed over whatever the killers were after. WUSA 9 reports money was missing from the home; the family also had a valuable art collection, NBC Washington notes. The couple, their son, Philip, 10, and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57, were found dead inside the burning home. Three had either stab wounds or blunt force trauma, Fox News reports; one victim was bleeding from the head and smelled of gasoline.

Police are continuing to investigate, including at the parking lot of a church in Lanham, Md., where the family's 2008 blue Porsche 911 was found in flames. That's the last known location of one of the suspects. Police say the killers would have been well aware of the family's day-to-day schedule. Authorities found no evidence of forced entry at the home, which had an elaborate alarm system that was always on, another housekeeper at the Savopoulos home says. She adds Figueroa planned to retire next year and move back to her native El Salvador, which she fled during that country's civil war, after helping to pay for her children's education from afar. Instead, relatives tell the Washington Post they'll greet her body when it arrives in the country in the next two weeks. (More Washington, DC stories.)

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