DC Mansion Murders: Prosecution Makes Surprising Move

WASHINGTON, DC -- In a surprising new twist, the prosecution has raised the possibility that Daron Wint did not act alone in the slaying of the Savopoulos family in a wealthy D.C. neighborhood in 2015.

Only Daron Wint has been charged in the Mansion Murders, but ABC 7's Stephen Tschida reported that the prosecution has raised the possibility that he had help based on the fact that four people were taken hostage for 36 hours and then murdered.

Also, the suspect's brother, Darrell Wint, is scheduled to testify, Tschida reported. The defense team argues that Darrell Wint is the killer, not Daron.

Daron Wint took the stand in his own defense last week. The Washington Post reports that Daron Wint was not asked about the killings, but instead was invited to give testimony about what he was doing on the days in question when the family was kidnapped, murdered, and had their house set on fire.

His attorneys are claiming that Wint is innocent and that his brother and half-brother are the ones who committed the heinous crime in a wealthy D.C. neighborhood.

Wint claimed that his brother Darrell told him on May 11 -- two days before the killer broke into the home -- he had a drywall job for him to do. Wint said he was eventually told he was no longer needed for the job, but his brother asked to use his minivan, and never said what he used it for.

Wint was the only person arrested after the May 2015 killings of 46-year-old Savvas Savopoulos, 47-year-old Amy Savopoulos, 10-year-old Philip Savopoulos, and 57-year-old Veralicia Figueroa, the family's housekeeper. Prosecutors claim Wint held his victims hostage inside their Northwest D.C. home before beating, strangling, and stabbing them to death and then setting the house on fire after getting $40,000 in ransom.

Jeffrey Stein, the public defender, reportedly proposed Wint's brother Darrell and half-brother Steffon as alternate suspects, neither of whom have been charged in the case, according to the Post report. Stein claims that there is evidence both were in the home.

A judge ruled earlier this summer that there is sufficient evidence that a second suspect was involved for it to be introduced at trial. WTOP reports that investigators have long thought that it would take multiple people to pull off the hostage situation in the Savopoulos family's Kalorama mansion, and Judge Juliet McKenna reviewed evidence presented by the defense of a second suspect.

It was on May 14, 2015 when a fire erupted at the home of Savvas and Amy Savopoulos near National Cathedral, leading to the discovery of their bodies and that of their 10-year-old son, Philip. Their 57-year-old housekeeper, Vera Figeroa, later died at the hospital.

Police believe the four of them were held hostage beginning on May 13, and eventually they were killed via blunt and sharp force trauma, with Philip also experiencing thermal injuries, meaning he was still alive as the house burned.

Police arrested Daron Wint a few days later, claiming he committed the murders and made off with $40,000 in ransom money. He had worked for Savopolous' company in Hyattsville, Md. at one time.

Investigators had a hard time believing that just one person could pull off the elaborate crime. But so far, Wint had been the only person identified as the culprit. His DNA was found on a pizza crust at the home, prosecutors say.

Wint, who was discharged from the Marine Corps due to medical reasons, reportedly had a long rap sheet that included being convicted in 2009 of second-degree assault, pleading guilty to malicious destruction of property in 2010, and facing a number of other theft, assault, and weapons charges over the years.

Prominent D.C. attorney Robin Ficker has said that Wint's family does not believe that Wint was responsible for the killings, saying that authorities had arrested the wrong person and the Wint did not even like pizza.

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 19: District of Columbia Metropolitan Police maintain a perimeter around the house on the 3200 block of Woodland Drive NW May 19, 2015 in Washington, DC. Firefighters discovered the bodies of Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife Amy, 47, their 10-year-old son Philip, and the housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, 57, last Thursday afternoon when they responded to a blaze at the house. Two Savopoulos daughters were away in boarding school at the time. Investigators have ruled the deaths homicides and say they could continue to collect evidence at the house for another week. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)