D.C. Mansion Murders /// Part 1 /// 299 | Forensic Files

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[Music] [Music] May May 14th 2015 at 1:24 p.m. the Washington DC fire department received a
call that a large home in the city's most exclusive neighborhood was on fire neighbors saw smoke and Flames
coming from the home's Second Story and called authorities the fire department quickly
descended on the home a firefighter kicked in the front door and the firefighters entered the
downstairs the house rre of gasoline firefighters searched for occupants on the ground level but saw no
one then firefighters braved the upstairs which seemed to be the epicenter of the conf
floration and saw one bedroom in a bathroom area were completely engulfed in Roaring
Flames the temperature made the room impenetrable in an adjacent bedroom firefighters crawled blindly along
trying to avoid the smoke dodging slate tiles from the roof falling through the ceiling on top of
them one firefighter bumped against a chair lying tipped on its back he tried to move it out of the way
but to his horror with his hands he felt a body in the chair the firefighter dragged the body
into the hallway and saw what he called a blood bath then they found another body then a third lying on the
floor one of the victims still had a heartbeat and the firefighters extracted her and rushed her to an
ambulance despite life-saving efforts by doctors at Georgetown University Hospital sadly she soon
died when firefighters managed to extinguish the incredibly hot flashover fire in the adjacent bedroom which was
burned down to the beams new horrific sights awaited them a firefighter entered the blackened
still smoking room he couldn't see very well and he started to fall on the buckled
floor he grabbed onto what was left of the bed which was so badly burned that it was Bare Down to the charred Springs
and frame and had melted into the floor the floor had partially collapsed into the room
below the firefighter accidentally grabbed a body on the bed a child's body which had no discernible features or
arms or legs an adjacent bathroom was also burnt to a crisp clearly the fire started in this
bedroom and it did not appear to be an accident several people were dead and someone burnt this house
down after the fire police arrived on the scene observing the removal of several bodies by par
Medics law enforcement quickly observed victims that appear to have suffered extensive trauma to their
bodies the fire did not kill these people who was responsible for the unimaginable Horrors that took place
inside this home this is true crime garage and this is the case of the DC mansion murders
[Music] before we get into this case we need an understanding of the sopis family Sava
sopis was 46 years old he was born in a suburb of DC his father Phillip and a partner started up a very successful
company American Iron Works SAA went to Springbrook High School in Silver Spring
Maryland this is where he started dating Amy Marton who would later become his wife Amy says she was an Army brat born
in Massachusetts she spent her childhood moving around Europe in the US Sava and
Amy both went on to the University of Maryland Sava was good-looking popular and outgoing Amy was blonde pretty and
more res deserved in SAA yeah they're going to get married in 1994 after he graduates from law school
instead of practicing law SAA went on to the family business headquartered in nearby Hyattsville his father Philip
eventually stepped down and Sava took over the company American Iron Works thrived under his Direction the company
was involved in building the National Stadium yeah that's Washington's baseball stadium they also revitalized
the DC Center and were involved in rebuilding the Pentagon after 911 that's a big contract right there
Sava also headed up a hedge fund Sigma investment strategies located in Puerto Rico where he often traveled Sava and
Amy were doing very well in 2001 they purchased a $3.5 million 8,000 foot mansion on woodlon Drive in DC's Woodley
Park neighborhood this is a very exclusive residential neighborhood the average home cost about $4 million the
neighborhood is considered extremely safe Sava was a good businessman with a strong work ethic by most accounts he
was a wonderful boss a gentle soul and a good friend he had an open door policy for his employees and often wore jeans
to work Amy was a stay-at-home mom to the couple's three kids sisters Abigail and Katarina were followed 7 years later
by a baby boy named Phillip after sava's father all three kids were educated at DC's most exclusive private schools and
they were both involved in the Greek Orthodox Church they did a lot of charity work they hosted fundraising
Gallas and donated generously yeah everyone describes both SAA and Amy who was age 47 at this time as lovely people
a golden couple devoted to each other and their family in 2012 SAA and Amy and their young son Phillip took a year off
and moved to their second home in the US Virgin Islands just enjoying life in the
tropics when they got back to DC in 2013 Sava continued to enjoy the fruits of his labors by collecting some of the
Finer Things in life they had a very expensive wine collection a renowned art collection well we have a very nice beer
collection well Sava loved collecting automobiles too that's when you know that you're doing very well when you
collect Automobiles and some of these were like race cars well it depends it depends on on what kind of car and where
are they parked are they in a garage or they in your front yard well and Sava was really into martial arts he had a
samurai sword collection in his home and was scheduled to open up his own Dojo savador Kate like many wealthy women Amy
took on a pet cause that was near and dear to her heart after after her daughter suffered concussions on the
sports playing fields she became something of an expert in concussions and became a major fundraiser for the
National Children's medical centers concussion education project yeah a very wealthy family very successful family we
know the conclusion of the fire but let's start with the details of the day before the fire yes this was Wednesday
May 13th uh SAA went to check out the process at the new Dojo he was planning to open
yeah Amy and little Phillip 10 years old were both at home they have two housekeepers one who worked for the
family for like 20 years this is Nelly Gutierrez she was not at the home that day she was working at the new Dojo
cleaning and preparing for the grand opening the following weekend housekeeper ver
figura who worked for the family for about 5 years was at the house house when either Vera or Nelly worked at the
home their routine was to finish up and leave for the day around 3 or 3:30 in the
afternoon Amy took Phillip to a 9:30 a.m. doctor's appointment Amy's car entered the parking garage at Chevy
Chase Center at 9:09 a.m. there is video footage of Amy and Phillip near the doctor's office Amy is wearing white
pants and a blue top her Range Rover left the parking garage at 11:08 a.m. at 3:14 p.m. the director of
reservations at a local Doggy Daycare place called the sopis family regarding an upcoming Memorial Day Weekend
appointment for the family's dogs bear and ginger what she said was unusual was she called the house phone as always but
got the indication that the phone had been disconnected since the sopis were regular customers they had Amy's cell
phone she said she called the number at 4:20 p.m. and left a voicemail Amy called back twice once right after the
voicemail but there was no sound on the call and it quickly disconnected then Amy called back about 10 to 15 minutes
later so likely around 4:40 p.m. Amy said she would be keeping the appointment for the dogs later it is
said that Amy didn't sound like herself she sounded tired groggy or under the weather and she rushed through the call
when she would normally be very friendly and chatty yeah she sound like the captain a friend of Amy's told police
that she saw Amy walking in their neighborhood heading toward her home around 3:25 p.m. now Amy was a coffee
lover and it's believed that based on her friend's sighting of her that she went on a Starbucks run around that time
yes but we are noting here that she was not in the house at 3:25 p.m. right according to Nelly Gutierrez who was
with Sava at the dojo Amy called SAA at 5:30 p.m. and asked that he come home to
stay with Phillip because she had plans about a half an hour later Sava packed up and left the dojo for home he asked
Nelly to close up for him once she was finished he didn't act in any way like this was an
emergency at some point that evening Sava made a call to the family's home security company the sopis they had a
new system installed 6 months earlier that included surveillance cameras outside the home and glass Brak sensors
in the kitchen this system sent the surveillance footage and records of alerts directly to a computer that was
stored in a utility room on the third floor of the home so this security footage was not live monitored but it
was stored for review if an alert was sent right although the system would of course alert the family if the alarm was
set and was triggered but this system was brand new and it had some bugs that they were trying to work out and because
of this the system was not fully activated and according to the vice president of the security company on the
13th the system was not armed yeah SAA is going to make a phone call about 8:00 p.m. to Debbie masser somebody that
works for him this call comes from his cell phone he wanted her to figure out a way to get him cash for a construction
equipment auction that was being held the next day this was actually common for Sava he would he would go and buy
Machinery at a discount at these auctions so Sava wanted 35 to $50,000 in cash a bit of Cold Hard Cash well the
request for cash was actually the unusual ual part of the request as he normally would just get a cashier's
check so Debbie wait hold on I just want to go over this again so at the auction
you could use a check you don't have to use cash and that was normal protocol right so so he's he's not normally
calling her saying I want 40 50 grand in cash right so Debbie and Ted Chase made
arrangements for Sava to electronically draft and sign a check that Ted would then collect at the bank the following
morning Debbie said Sava sounded totally normal on this phone call sometime around 8:00 p.m. Sava called Jordan
Wallace this is his driver and general assistant and left a voicemail sava's message told Jordan there was a change
of plans for the next day and instructed Jordan to meet Ted chase at the American
Iron Works office first thing the next morning to pick up a package in his message Sava almost sounded jovial and
at 8:30 p.m. Jordan texts Sava I'll call you when I get the package and around 900 p.m. Amy is going to order Domino's
Pizza yeah she ordered two pizzas and a soda Amy paid over the phone with a credit card and said that she was
nursing a sick child and that the delivery man was to place the pizzas on the front stoop when the delivery driver
got to the house they say all the lights were off except for the one over the front door and the house was silent very
strange he rang the doorbell left the pizzas and then drove off Sava sopis left a voicemail that evening for the
regular housekeeper Nelly his voicemail said it's Sava I hope you get this message Amy is in bed sick tonight and
she was sick this afternoon and Vera offered to stay and help her out so she's going to stay the night here he
went on to explain that Vera's phone was dead and they didn't have a compatible charger for it you can hear part of this
voicemail online sava's voice sounds totally normal on this call Nelly didn't listen to this voicemail immediately I
point that out because she might have questioned it as she heard earlier from Sava that Amy had plans that night which
didn't mesh with what she was being told now of Amy being ill yeah and just going
back to the cash getting ordering the cash the that night and telling people to get it in the morning to go to the
bank and ask for 40 to 50 grand in cash is a big deal and the and sometimes Banks don't have that cash on hand
because they don't they can deal with somebody coming in and robbing a teller and getting a couple thousand bucks but
they don't carry that much cash on them anymore cuz they're afraid of taking overs mhm well and remember we mentioned
that at some point on that evening SAA got in contact with his security company asking questions about the security
camera footage and so on well later that evening this was after 11:00 p.m. the security company texts Sava back stating
I believe your outdoor surveillance camera records are motion you know he was asking how the cameras were
activated so he he was in contact with this security company during this time now that leads us to Thursday May
14th at 711 a.m. Sava called Jordan his assistant and the two spoke just going back over the plan for the package
pickups and Delivery at an unknown time on the morning of the 14th Sava again spoke
with Eric he's from the home security company trying to get a handle on how his system stored
recordings now Eric later said that these phone calls were strange because he had already gone over with Sava how
the system worked at approximately 9:00 a.m. the Sprinkler Company showed up at the sopis home the sprinkler guy knocked
on the door but when no one answered he went on to his next appointment at 9:09 a.m. Amy called to cancel the sprinkler
maintenance appointment because her son she said got injured and she had to go to the hospital now sometime early this
morning it's not clear when Debbie Mass again talked to Sava he told her to draw
up the check for $40,000 and that Ted would collect the cash and give it to Jordan his assistant
and Jordan would deliver it to him once the check was drafted impr printed Debbie sent Sava an email confirming
that it was ready sometime between 8 and 9:00 a.m. on the morning of the 14th SAA
called his business banking specialist at Bank of America sava's company American Iron Works was one of their top
clients so this person was very familiar with his voice and recognized it right away Sava told them of this unusual
request for $440,000 in cash right so they had to find a bank branch that had that much cash on hand where Ted Chase
could cash the company check yeah and sometimes they wouldn't do this for certain clients but you're talking about
he is a huge client yes yeah and somebody that they want to keep happy right so they locate a branch that's
able to fill the request and called Sava back and at this point he seemed Rush on
the rushed on the phone and he told her that his CFO Ted Chase would go pick up the money using a stamp of sava's
signature Nelly Gutierrez tried to call her friend Vera at 8:30 a.m. and then again at 8:46 a.m. but her calls went
straight to voicemail now meanwhile around 9:30 on the morning of the 14th Vera's husband Bernardo showed up at the
house on Woodland Drive it was not only unusual but unheard of for Vera to stay over with the family and further Nelly
never listened to the voicemail from Sava explaining that Vera was staying over so as far as Bernardo was concerned
his wife just never came home the night before he had no success reaching her on
her phone it continually went straight to voicemail even though he had called her nine times between the previous
night and Thursday morning he knocked on the door and even though no one answered
he said that he got like a really strange feeling that someone was standing on the other side of that door
yeah he thought he heard a noise like a chair scraping the floor he started to walk toward a window to look in when his
phone rang and it was Sava calling Sava apologized for not calling him earlier he told him that Amy was ill and ver
went with her to the hospital in his car meanwhile Vera's daughter Claudia was waiting and while she killed time she
took a picture of the family's blue Porsche parked in the driveway and she sent it to her boyfriend who was into
cars so we know that the Porsche was at the home around 9:30 a.m. right around 9:40 a.m. Jordan Wallace and Ted Chase
went to the Bank of America in kennworth Chase and the bank manager signed some paperwork while Jordan hung in the
background the bank manager handed Chase $40,000 in $100 bills once in the parking lot Chase handed the cash over
to Jordan who placed the bills in a red backpack then the two men went their separate ways yeah Jordan is actually
going to take a picture of the bag of cash open and then he sends it to his girlfriend yeah and he he later would
delete these text now Jordan drove to 3201 Woodland Drive right at 9:51 a.m. he called sava's cell and informed him
that he had the package he had the cash Sava said great call me when you're 10 minutes away and I'll give you
instructions at 9:56 a.m. Amy texted her housekeeper Nelly telling her not to come to the house that day at 10:15 a.m.
Jordan called Sava again to tell him he was approaching the home Sava told Jordan that he would be on a conference
call and not to knock he instructed Jordan to enter the garage which would be left open for him and placed the
money on the driver's seat of the red sports car that was parked inside the garage he then was to leave and Sava
would be right behind him per his words Jordan found that the right side garage Bay was opened as promised and he put
the money in a manila envelope placed it on the driver's seat exited the garage closed the door and left he sent Sava a
text around 10:26 that said package delivered no response ever came this was the last communication anyone had with
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2023 all right cheers mates cheers to you Captain well the next thing that we know the house was in Flames a
contractor who was parked on the street saw the the flames and pounded on the front door and said that he could hear
dogs barking and the smoke alarm going off he called 911 Jordan Wallace the assistant received a phone call from an
American Iron Works employee notifying him that the house was on fire he was told to head over to the House Pronto
then Debbie received a call from a reporter for the Washington Post asking her if she could confirm that four
people were dead now poor Debbie did not know what was going on at this time and she had just
spoke to SAA that morning Jordan Wallace then called her dist Strat saying the house was burned and he wasn't being
allowed inside now we've already discussed the horrific murder scene that the fire
department discovered when they busted into the home but moving on to the investigation and some further things
that were found the furniture in the room that Philip was found in was completely incinerated this indicating
that the fire was ignited with some type of accelerant it's believed that the bed
was where the fire started a special accelerant canine was brought into the scene and indicated that an accelerant
was present on the stairs and in the two bedrooms upstairs where the victims were
found these bedrooms were those of the two daughters who were away at school matches were discovered at the top of
the stairs speaking of dogs dog lovers will be happy to hear that the family's dogs
were discovered by firefighters unharmed after autopsies on all four victims the medical examiner report
indicated as follows this according to the initial arrest affidavit filed by detectives the three adults had been
killed by blunt force and sharp force trauma they were beaten and stabbed to death specifically Sava had been stabbed
through the back of the neck Philip's cause of death was thermal and sharp force injuries further there was
evidence that all three adults had been restrained adhesive tape residue was found on Amy's wrist and ankles and on
Vera's wrist it was believed that sava's wrist and ankles were bound with something with an edge like a zip
tie Sava and Amy were both beaten with a baseball bat and stabbed and Sava also showed signs of strangulation
Philip likely was stabbed with a sword probably one of his fathers kept as part of his martial arts collection Amy's
right middle finger was bruised injuries consistent with her attacker trying to pull a ring off it was later speculated
by authorities Vera had been stabbed in the neck but had the fewest injuries the
medical examiner concluded that she had also been strangled and that she had a history of heart disease and probably
suffered heart attack during the incident now from the get-go this case was a big deal in DC within hours of the
fire the mayor and police chief were both at the house the Metropolitan Police Department's homicide unit was
called in to start their investigation assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and
Firearms Jeffrey Owens was the lead detective from the Metropolitan PD assigned to the case investigators began
the process of ing through the house to try to determine who could have done this and sorting through the fire debris
for evidence here are some of the more significant things that they discovered the phone lines to the house visible
coming out of the utility boxes outside of one of the back doors of the home were cleanly
severed there was evidence of a struggle in the main entry foyer and you talked about amyan Starbucks they have a
picture of her Starbucks is placed on a sideboard in the entry hallway away her Louis Vuitton handbag was on a chair a
red wheelie briefcase was on its back with papers spilling out of it this belonged to Sava a book bag belonging to
Philip was spilled open and its contents was like folders notebooks and papers were scattered about a letter opener was
near the front door the computer drive that stored the security system footage was gone right the casing remained but
the important stuff was taken and the seven blue wires that powered it were cut Amy and sava's iPhones were gone
investigators subpoena their cell phone records and those of the people they were known to have been in contact with
in order to reconstruct what had happened as far as phone activity goes a bloody baseball bat was recovered
in the room where the three adults were found the blood was both Amy's and Savas
a second bloody bat was found downstairs a bloody plastic bag and a large amount
of blood were found in the room where the adults were also in the room investigators discovered a bloody shoe
print and the two pizza boxes delivered by Domino's the night before right some of the pizza was gone consumed but there
was one partial chewed piece of crust still left in one of the boxes a large sharp samurai sword was
recovered traces of Philip's blood were found on it now there was a noticeable lack of foreign fingerprints or DNA
found in the home so whoever had done this they did it wearing gloves they did find two foreign hairs and they're going
to send those off for testing duct tape was found ceiling shut the doggy door that led from the kitchen to the
basement and one small piece of duct tape was found in the driveway none of the duct tape ma matched any of the
rolls found inside the home mhm a kitchen knife was found propping open a basement window this is the kind of
window that tilts open and closed yeah and the window well is going to be covered by a great it kind of reminds me
just from hearing about it very similar to the John Benet Ramsay case where you have the window well it's covered by
that grate you have to open that up to get to the window now a Frisbee and a screwdriver were also propping up other
windows in the basement it's unclear why these windows were propped open in this
manner but one key piece of evidence is something that was missing from the house so investigators quickly noted
that the blue Porsche primarily driven by Amy you remember the vehicle that was photographed by Vera's daughter right
was missing but it turned up quickly it would and they found it engulfed in flames this was around 5:30 p.m. on the
14th m in a church parking lot in new Carolton inside the car they found a neon green construction vest on the vest
was a hair that was sent for testing as law enforcement located Witnesses and surveillance video a couple of
additional things came to light one a witness reported seeing the Porsche around 1:30 p.m. on the day of the fire
which was being driven erratically by a short-haired African-American male wearing a neon green vest this sighting
was on New York Avenue in Northeast DC heading out of town toward Maryland in the direction of where the Porsche was
eventually found second surveillance footage from the church parking lot camera showed an African-American male
wearing a dark hoodie and jeans and carrying a large construction type bucket walking in the church parking lot
so they have two hairs from the house they have the hair from the car we know that there was a accelerant used in the
house the car was burning so we're I'm assuming there's a accelerant there mhm and and those are probably going to be
tested to match those so this is you know a a wealthy family powerful in the community so this is going to be a very
thorough investigation yeah massive investigation and they want to talk to investigators want to talk to and
interview everyone that they could possibly think of well and with the delivery of the money we have an idea of
what the motive could be or the wealth of the family the power of the family we have an idea of what the motive could be
and but that you have to cast a very wide net because there's a lot of people that are
motivated by money well going off of that they are going to very quickly come to the conclusion that the family and
Vera were the victims of a home invasion extortion plot and held hostage for up to about 22 hours investigators actually
believe that whoever done this was likely familiar with the family's routines and must have been watching the
house at least that day or possibly previous days leading up to it right investigators thought that the attack
started once Amy left to walk to Starbucks and Vera and Phillip were home alone now the question here becomes no
one knows whether the per knew that Philip who would normally be at school was actually in the home invest skaters
knew that the phone lines were cut by the time the Doggy Daycare Center had called at 3:15 and also that Amy was
seen alive and well walking back toward her home at 325 after Starbucks they knew that Jordan
delivered $40,000 to the home on Thursday and that the money was gone it was impossible to determine whether any
other money was missing one thing investigators found was a file cabinet drawer in the office containing four
handguns and $13,000 in cash now they could only speculate that Sava hadn't give given the money to the per because
it would draw attention to these Guns located in the same spot this looked like a well-planned targeted plot to
hold a family hostage for ransom right clearly Sava had been forced to request the cash from his CFO one thing that
police found interesting the home was full of expensive jewelry and artwork and these items were untouched
whoever did this was after one thing cash right was that the only motive if that were the case why killed the family
after the money was delivered so investigators did not have a lot to go on there were no
fingerprints on the baseball bat or anything else that it seemed that the per might have touched right like you
said probably used gloves yeah and the perpetrator removed the security system and he took with him anything used to
bind the victims well this is a big house and there's multiple victims so then you start questioning is it just
one perpetrator or multiple perpetrators right now he did leave behind the duct tape on the doggy door and one piece of
duct tape that was reportedly found in the driveway but they didn't have any prints on them so cops did have one
thing one very important thing the pizza crust found in the box of leftover pepperoni pizza there was a partially
consumed piece but leaving behind the crust it could have been one of the family or Vera of course right or it
could have been left by a perpetrator well that's going to give us possible DNA but also possible bite Impressions
yeah the chewed part of the crust was carefully swabbed before the evidence was even bagged and tagged and delivered
to the ATF forensic lab for expedited testing when the lab ran the swab they got a complete single Source male DNA
profile law enforcement ran that profile through cotus and boom they got a direct hit
Darren Dylan went date of birth November 27th 1980 the chances that this DNA did not belong
to him were 1 in 10 quintillion as for the hair found on the vest in the burned out Porsche there
were two DNA contributors one was Savas and one was Darren went Darren went was also found to be the
contributor of DNA found on the handle of the knife that was propping open the basement
window now it's believed that Darren went whoever he was had taken the money and evidence from the home and drove off
in Amy's Porsche which he had then torched in the parking lot where it was found the church it turned out was just
a few hundred yards from the apartment that Darren W's sister Samantha lived in and in Prince George's County Maryland
which went had listed as his home address and where he had actually lived for a brief period of time police pulled
out all the stops in the search for this man they found evidence that he also torched a minivan that he owned hash
banthan yeah so who is this Darren went right that's what we want to know other than giant piece of [ __ ] well he's a man
that was recently kicked out of his mother's apartment this after losing it in argument over some dirty dishes and
threatening everyone in the apartment including his brother Stefan who also lived there went was taken in by his
father and stepmother Pamela although this is not a long-term solution he had been told he needed to be out by the end
of the month Pamela told investigators and testified at trial that that every day was pretty much the same went would
get up and he would go look for work at 5:00 a.m. leaving the home right he would come home at 10:00 a.m. eat go to
the gym and then he would spend the rest of the day on his phone Secret Service analysts poured over his phone in social
media history went was found to have been active on social media over 70 times a day between Facebook post
Facebook instant messages and Facebook voice messaging in the months leading up to the murders but went went completely
inactive online for a 36-hour period starting at 6:00 a.m. on May 13th continuing until 5:59 p.m. on the 14th
right during the time of the murders and the fire Pamela later testified that he
left the house on the 13th and never came home that night which was very concerning to her and his father since
he never stayed out W's sister and girlfriend both tried to contact him repeatedly during during this time
period with no response he reappeared at 600 p.m. on the 14th driving his blue Minivan and seemed stressed out but did
not say where he had been his social media blackout ended with a brief puzzling post at 733 p.m. that evening
just five letters BT duu Z he called his girlfriend wait say those again BT BT du Z yeah that's that's very
strange any clue on what that means maybe it's just a butt dial or a butt text or I I think that this
was this was um intended for whatever reason it could have been some type of typo I'm very I'm kind of Clueless on
what this means or what it could mean you've studied um computer forensics so you figured I figured you'd know what
this means that's right um after this he does call his girlfriend and he went out
there's security footage of him and his brother Daryl at a Walmart at 1024 p.m. where went paid for purchases in $100
bills then they left but went later returned at 11:28 p.m. for more purchases what did they buy do we know I
think it was probably a bunch of insignificant items because I couldn't find a list of what was purchased it
could have just been somebody out on a bit of a spending spree is what what I'm guessing Pamela said that went stayed
home on the 15th and then disappeared late that evening this time the blue minivan that he owned did not come home
with him on the 15th on the night of the 15th the kennworth fire department found
it in Flames after midnight on May 16th and determined that it was arson now police didn't put together that this
vehicle belonged to went until May 20th this is a week after the home invasion yeah sometime after the 17th now we got
to keep in mind here that meanwhile while all this movement is going on by by went police have figured out who they're
looking for yeah because of the DNA testing so sometime after the 17th Darren went left for New York to visit
his girlfriend Vanessa Pamela knew that he was there because he left her a phone
number where he could be reached he was anxious to hear whether he was going to get his green card which had expired and
he was attempting to renew so he wasn't even legally here while in Brooklyn he waved around $100 bills and told Vanessa
that he had won $2,000 in the lottery and sold his van for cash oh [ __ ] he treated her to shopping meals and even
gave her 15 $100 in cash and bought her a new iPhone around this time he also paid $1,100 to an immigration attorney
this was paid in cash on the night of May 20th W and Vanessa were lying in bed in her apartment when W's wanted photo
which was an old mug shot popped up on the screen while they're in bed yes she's trying to cuddle on them on the TV
screen on his dirty ass and she's trying to cuddle on him and the his ugly face face pops up on the screen well when
they see this they quickly left her apartment and they went to a hotel uh this so they could not be found right
now working with New York police DC authorities tracked went to Brooklyn and arrived at Vanessa's apartment they just
missed him eventually went called his father a DC homicide detective was at W's father's home at that very moment
and actually got on the phone with W he informed W that that there was a warrant
out for his arrest and went asked what for the detective replied murder well I just think that he's lying in bed with
this girlfriend quote unquote and she has to be such a scumbag that she ends up going to a hotel with him like oh
well let's uh you're wanted for something but hey let's go to the hotel and hang out MH it's ridiculous well
went left Brooklyn late on Wednesday May 20th or early on the 21st this this is not really clear we don't have an exact
time here uh but we do know that he paid a private company $900 in cash to drive
him back to Maryland he left behind one of his phones which police had used to locate him in New York this was left
behind in possession with his girlfriend Vanessa she told police that she believed went planned to turn himself in
once he arrived back in Maryland police were able to trace went to a Howard Johnson Express Inn located at College
Park the capitol Area Regional fugitive task force staked out the parking lot and watched went and some others leave
the hotel around 11: p.m. now went was carrying a bag and got into a 2012 Chevy Cruise which left the hotel
accompanied by a box truck 20 undercover Vehicles pursued the two vehicles as they drove into DC well and at some
point the US Marshals are actually going to be able to get in between both of the
vehicles causing them to stop and they're actually going to be able to make the rest then yes they took went
and two other men one of whom was his brother Daryl yeah who was on the phone with detectives at the time he warned
the other car's passengers that they were about to be pulled over W's cousin George who owned the box truck and two
women who were with went in the Chevy Cruise they took all these people into custody without incident in the car in
which went was a passenger the bag went was carrying was found to contain money orders worth
$10,000 one of the women in the car her name is Chelsea who was there to hang out with the guys and buy pot from Daryl
whom she knew only by his pot dealer name goo told police that goo had directed the purchase of the money
orders and had given Chelsea money to buy them in the truck authorities saw in plain view
$738 in cash mostly in $100 bills and more money orders for $13,300 now I want to point something out here Captain
because I do believe this is important and we will see why later okay the arrest warrant issued for Darren went in
May of 2015 it specifically states that the officer submitting the affidavit in support for arrest believes that Mr went
and others right held the sopis family captive and then we have public statements made by authorities
investigating the case indicating that the family was targeted but police did not believe that went was solely
responsible for the slaughter of the family and for their housekeeper Vera police including the chief said
repeatedly that the elaborate crime probably required the presence and assistance of more than one person and
that there were possibly other suspects yet they only arrested one that they charged with murder none of the other
people in the Chevy Cru or the box truck were arrested for murder so Darren who is this ball puffer Darren went was 34
years old at the time of this arrest he was born in Guyana um he is 5' 8 in is tall 155 lb
he has six siblings three brothers and three sisters he moved to the United States in 2000 when he was nearly 20
years old and he became a permanent resident after obtaining his green card which was up for renewal in
2015 in the US went also had two half Brothers this is Daryl and Stefan Stefan and went shared a mother Daryl and went
shared a father does that make sense yes so went tried to be a marine for a while
but that didn't really pan out and neither did PG County Community College went found himself bouncing from job to
job but he was trained as a welder so he did manage to find a job from May of 2003 to April of 2005 this was at
American Iron Works Sava savopoulos was his boss at one time so you know but you
have to keep in mind Sava is the CEO of this company and went would have been a welder it's very likely that they may
have never have known each other went was fired from American Iron Works in 2005 and Sava had apparently refused to
take him back despite two follow-up attempts by went to get his job back one of W's cousins also worked at American
Ironworks and was fired in 2005 as well this cousin had then threatened to burn the place
down American Iron Works went on to obtain a restraining order barring this person from the premises right
co-workers who remembered went from American Iron Works told investigators that went hadn't gotten along with
anyone that he worked with well he argues with everybody argued with his family about dirty dishes W's paperwork
indicates that he was terminated for missing work went went on to work just sporadically after that well that's
great you know hey I don't show up for work and I want you to take me back please take me back I want to come back
to work but you didn't show up to work oh please take me back it's ridiculous but not only that it sounds like he was
like impossible to get along with when he did show up and then when he shows up everybody's going hey look the [ __ ]
showed up well yeah we would have rather you not show up yeah it wasn't like he's
going hey take me back and then they're going hey when he shows up he's a hard worker all his co-workers like working
with him it's like he doesn't show up and when he does show up n he's a douchebag so went actually had a
somewhat long and somewhat violent criminal history so this is why his DNA was registered in cotus and came up
right away when law enforcement ran his DNA in the database after after the murders the stuff that was found on the
crust in 2009 he was convicted in New York of assaulting a girlfriend in 2010 he plad guilty to malicious destruction
of property after he threatened to kill a woman and her infant breaking into her apartment
stealing a TV and vandalizing her car he told the woman that he was quote good with a knife and he was not afraid of
police he was sentenced to 60 days plus probation seems like a little bit of a light sentence there yeah you think also
in 2010 he was arrested for sitting on a dumpster while holding a twoot long machete and a BB gun this at a gas
station this was pled down to possession of an open container of alcohol I think
the way that this story goes is he was drunk and being I you can't say being violent but being very threatening to
people in the area as he sat on this dumpster refusing to leave went ALS also had four previous arrests from New York
State including multiple cases of assault harassment and violating an order of protection records in Maryland
show that in the mid 2000s he punched a housemate over loud music and threatened
to drop a woman over a parking spot this is a this is a this is a violent aggressive guy this guy's an
awful piece of [ __ ] you get out of the car hey that's my parking spot I'll drop
you well and then in uh March so this is March 23rd 2015 the same year as the murders right went was arrested in DC
for receiving stolen property he was pulled over in a blue minivan that wasn't registered at the time of that
arrest he provided a false name to police and he used the name of one of his half Brothers Stefan
went can't even just make up a name you have to use one of your brother's name that's
awful so it's easy to see a couple of items that are important to this case one he had a lengthy record and that's
why his DNA was already listed and registered with cotus that's how they made the match when they found his DNA
at the crime scene of the quadruple homicide right the other thing that we should point out here too is that given
his arrest record they weren't going to renew his green [Music] card join us back here in the garage
tomorrow for more of the DC mansion murders until then be good be kind and don't
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D.C. Mansion Murders /// Part 1 /// 299

Part 1 of 2

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On May 14th, 2015 the Washington D.C. Fire Department received a call that a large home in the city’s most exclusive neighborhood was on fire. Inside firefighters discovered bodies. Several people were dead and someone burnt this house down. The fire did not kill these people. This week join us as we discuss a truly horrifying case- The D.C. Mansion murders. Beer of the Week - Coffee Red by Sibling Revelry Brewing Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

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Brief Summary

The episode details the brutal DC mansion murders of the Sopi family and their housekeeper, leading to the arrest of suspect Darren Wendt.

Key points

Amy's Disturbing Phone Call. Amy's unusual behavior and rushed phone call hint at something wrong.
The DC Mansion Murders. A tragic fire reveals a horrifying crime scene with multiple victims.
Sava's Unusual Cash Request. Sava's request for $40,000 in cash raises eyebrows before the tragedy.
The Last Communication. Jordan texted Sava about the package delivery, marking the last contact with the family.
A Family in Flames. A contractor witnesses the house on fire, leading to a frantic emergency response.
DNA Evidence Points to Suspect. Investigators find a DNA match to Darren Went, linking him to the crime scene.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Someone burnt this house down.

The realization of foul play after the fire.

7:16WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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