WASHINGTON (CNN) — Did the man accused of killing three members of a prominent Washington family and their housekeeper have any accomplices? And what are police doing to solve the high-profile case?
Unsealed search warrants obtained by CNN on Wednesday reveal new details about the investigation.
Authorities have said they believe Savvas, Amy and Philip Savopoulos and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa were held hostage, beaten and stabbed to death. Then the Savopoulos family’s $4.5 million mansion was set ablaze.
Authorities arrested Darron Dellon Dennis Wint last month and charged him with first-degree murder. He remains the lone suspect, but police say they believe he had help.
Here are some key details the court documents reveal:
Investigators found plenty of evidence at the scene of the grisly killings.
Inside the Savopoulos family’s three-story brick home, there was a strong odor of gasoline, according to one of the unsealed search warrants. Investigators found several matches and a matchbox at the top of the stairs.
But one thing was missing from the crime scene: the cell phones of three of the victims.
Now, according to the search warrants, police are hoping call log and location data from the missing phones that belonged to Savvas Savopoulos, Amy Savopoulos and Veralicia Figueroa could help lead them to suspects.
Investigators say they found evidence suggesting whoever held the family and their housekeeper hostage — before apparently shaking them down for money — may not have been invited in.
One unsealed search warrant describes how a side entrance of the house looked when detectives arrived:
“The doors have a single broken window pane located next to a door latch alarm sensor,” the document says. “The door is broken near the lock and a shoe or boot print is visible on the exterior, suggesting forced entry.”
Could the boot print be from a firefighter who came to the house to battle the blaze? It’s unlikely, the document says, because it doesn’t match firefighting gear and interviews with firefighters indicated they didn’t enter through the side door.
Data from the victims’ cell phones isn’t the only thing police have been looking at, according to court documents.
They’re also looking at details from the phone records of Jordan Wallace, an assistant who was hired in recent months as a driver for Savvas Savopoulos.
Wallace, who CNN has been unable to reach for comment, allegedly dropped off $40,000 in cash at the Savopoulos family’s home in the hours before the fire.
Police say after Wallace changed details of his story surrounding the drop-off of that money, they got a court order to retrieve his telephone records.
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