“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,” the family said in a statement. “We are blessed to live in a community comprised of close circles of friends who have supported us and grieve with us.”
The statement was issued by a public relations firm, First Take Communications, which noted that relatives of the slain Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife, Amy, 47, and their 10-year-old son, Philip, do not wish to speak publicly about the case. Also killed was their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, 57, known as Vera, who lived in Silver Spring.
“Our family, and Vera’s family, have suffered unimaginable loss,” the Savopoulos family said, “and we ask for the time and space to grieve privately.”
Police with the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force late Thursday night arrested Daron Dylon Wint, 34, who has ties to Lanham and to New York, during a car stop in Northeast Washington. He has been charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the deaths.
Wint is expected to make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court Friday afternoon.
Federal marshals had been tracking Wint on Thursday night from College Park as he traveled in a white Chevrolet Cruze, a police official said. The suspect was traveling with two women, one of whom was driving. The Cruze was following a white box truck, which had two men inside. At least one of the men was believed to be a relative of Wint’s, the official said.
Both vehicles were stopped by marshals near 10th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE, the official said. Police found at least $10,000 in cash in the box truck, and the women in the Cruze and the men in the box truck were taken into custody, the source said. The manhunt for Wint had extended to New York City, where authorities said he has relatives and acquaintances in Brooklyn.
Wint is a former employee of an iron supply company headed by Savvas Savopoulos and has a long history of alleged assaults and threatening behavior, according to law enforcement and court records. Police said they believe that the victims were held captive overnight and had been bound. At a Thursday afternoon news conference, District Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) described the slayings as “an act of evil.”
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier told residents on Thursday that the suspect in the homicides that have riveted the Northwest neighborhood had targeted his victims. Wint had worked for American Iron Works, a large distributor of iron and steel based in Hyattsville and run Savopoulos, who along with his family was active in Washington-area society, business and fundraising circles. Lanier would not say when Wint worked there. A court record describes him as a certified welder.
“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,” Lanier said at a news conference Thursday. “What we can tell you right now is that we do believe there is a connection between the suspect in this case through the business. So right now, it does not appear that this was a random crime.”
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