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Police say suspect in grisly D.C. quadruple murder arrested

Daron Dylon Wint is suspected in the deaths of three members of a prominent D.C. family and their housekeeper, and reports say he has had numerous run-ins with the law.

By Doug G. Ware
Police continue to inspect the $5 million house in the fashionable Northwest district of Washington, DC on May 23, 2015, where four people were brutally murdered after an apparent ransom was paid on May 14, 2015. Police say captured suspect Daron Dylon Wint appeared to have accomplices in the murder of Savvas Savopoulos, his wife Amy, son Philip and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa. The lead on Wint apparently came from his DNA on a pizza crust. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
Police continue to inspect the $5 million house in the fashionable Northwest district of Washington, DC on May 23, 2015, where four people were brutally murdered after an apparent ransom was paid on May 14, 2015. Police say captured suspect Daron Dylon Wint appeared to have accomplices in the murder of Savvas Savopoulos, his wife Amy, son Philip and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa. The lead on Wint apparently came from his DNA on a pizza crust. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, May 22 (UPI) -- The suspect in a mysterious and brutal Washington, D.C., quadruple murder was finally captured Thursday night, authorities said.

Daron Dylon Wint, 34, was arrested in the city's Northeast, Washington's police chief said, after a wide manhunt that extended as far away as Brooklyn, New York.

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Wint is suspected in the murders of three members of a prominent D.C. family and their housekeeper on May 14, and setting their prestigious Northwest Washington mansion on fire.

Wint will be charged with first-degree felony murder while armed, police said.

Police identified Wint on Wednesday and asked for the public's assistance in locating him. Upon learning that he has relatives in the New York area, authorities searched there for him before he was finally found in D.C.

The murder victims are Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife, Amy Savopoulos, 47, the couple's son, Philip, 10, and their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, 57. Police have said they believe the four were held captive inside their home the night of May 13, and were killed in the late morning or early afternoon of May 14.

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After the four were killed, police believe Wint set fire to the home, which is located in a very upscale neighborhood of Washington -- not far from the personal residence of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. After fleeing the scene, police believe, Wint drove a family car to a church parking lot in Maryland and set it on fire before disappearing.

It was also revealed Thursday that Wint had worked for Savopoulos's American Iron Works, and police believe that may be how he targeted the family. Officials said they don't believe the Savopoulos family was chosen at random.

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"For residents of the District who are rightfully scared and want answers as to why and how this family may have been involved, we want to give you as many answers as we can," D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said.

Wint, who grew up in Guyana, moved to the United States in 2000 and has a long criminal past, the Washington Post reported. In the mid-2000s, four people, including his father, requested restraining orders against him. His father claimed Wint threatened he and his wife, and terrified their 8-year-old son.

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New York court officials said Wint was arrested at least three times in the late 2000s on assault charges, some of which resulted in convictions. There are several other reported brushes with the law, as well, the Post report said.

Investigators said they still aren't sure exactly what motivated the murders of the Savopoulos family and the housekeeper. But they have said some of the victims displayed stab wounds and blunt force trauma, and it's believed they were killed before the fire was set.

Police zeroed in on Wint after linking him by DNA to a slice of pizza left in the home. Officials said pizza was delivered there on the night of May 13 -- a time when they believe the family was being held captive.

Friends and neighbors have expressed shock at the family's murder, as the Savopouloses were prominent and active members of their community -- and well-known in many D.C. social and professional circles.

"I'm sad," a neighbor of Wint's family, Zainal Devera, told the Washington Post. "This is a good block, this is a good neighborhood, my neighbors are really nice, and I've been here for a long time."

Devera said she saw Daron Wint in her neighborhood as recently as last week.

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"It makes you feel, like, you know, unsafe sometimes. You don't know who lives around in your neighborhood would do something like that," Wint family neighbor James Smith said.

"It's a good neighborhood, you know? We haven't heard anything like that before."

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