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Police believe additional suspects involved in D.C. quadruple murder

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
1 of 3 | 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 23 (UPI) -- Washington, D.C., police don't believe Daron Dylon Wint acted alone in the imprisonment and murders of a prominent family and their housekeeper last week, court documents reveal.

Investigators continue to look into the garish quadruple murder of the Savopoulos family on May 14, which was followed by their Northwest D.C. mansion being set ablaze.

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Thursday, police arrested their prime suspect, Wint, and believe he was at the center of the murders. However, according to court documents filed Friday, police believe the ordeal was far too complex for one person to have carried it out themselves, the Washington Post reported.

Wint, 34, made his first appearance in court Friday, where he was formally charged with first-degree murder.

Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife, Amy, 47, their son, Philip, 10, and their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, 57, were found dead in the home on May 14 after firefighters responded to a fire there. An analysis of the bodies indicated to police that the victims had been beaten and killed, likely before the fire was set.

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A short time before the fire was reported at 1:15 p.m., Savopoulos's personal assistant delivered $40,000 in cash to the home -- perhaps ransom money -- that police believe Wint took when he fled the scene in the family's Porsche.

The car was later found burned in a Maryland church's parking lot.

Wint is a former employee of Savopoulos's at American Iron Works, and investigators believe that may be the connection between the accused killer and his victims. However, detectives are looking for additional suspects.

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

Police said in the affidavit that the elaborate crime likely "required the presence and assistance of more than one person." The document also says police believe the Savopoulos family and the housekeeper were held captive inside the home for 19 hours by Wint and "others."

Detectives were supposedly able to link Wint to the case by matching DNA that was left on a piece of pizza in the home -- which police say was delivered the night before the murders, as the victims were being held captive.

Federal authorities say they tracked Wint to New York City, where he has relatives, and back to Northeast D.C., where he was arrested Thursday night.

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"While it does not abate our pain, we hope that it begins to restore a sense of calm and security to our neighborhood and to our city," Savopoulos relatives said in a statement.

Wint, who grew up in Guyana and moved to the United States in 2000, was charged initially with only the death of Savvas Savopoulos, but officials said additional charges are expected in the other three murders.

The family's two teenage daughters were unharmed because they were at out-of-state schools on May 14.

Wint spoke only his name in court Friday, the Post reported. His court-appointed attorney, though, argued his innocence.

"He is innocent. There is no link to the killings or the death of the decedent. There is nothing linking him to these deaths," she said.

The judge ordered Wint held in police custody until his next court appearance on June 23.

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