DC - Savvas Savopoulos, family & Veralicia Figueroa murdered; Daron Wint Arrested #6

[Elley Mae]

I wonder who was last to see the blue Porsche - VF's husband, driver, neighbor, gardeners. Just throwing this out there, maybe it was taken out hours before the fire.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/timeline-slaying-wealthy-family-washington-31212189

10:30 a.m. — The family's 2008 blue Porsche 911 is last seen at the home, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier said. Later in the day, it is found torched in a parking lot in New Carrollton, Maryland, about 13 miles from the Savopoulos house.

I have thought it either VF's husband when he went looking for her or the lawn care crew. jmo idk

 

[Millhouse]

Honestly, I just don't understand the cavalier habit of keeping $80-$100,000 cars parked in an open driveway, on a corner lot, on a city street or parked curbside. I guess they put a lot of confidence in the hired neighborhood security service. Even the walk up to the front door was not gated nor was the play area with the soccer net. (I know it has been said that from time to time they even left the garage door up.)

Today as I drove through some high end neighborhoods, I made a few observations. First, I noticed that five out of five of the lawn care services, had workers in no uniforms or company logo shirts. Secondly, they all had unmarked pickup trucks or vans which the workers used to carry their weed whackers and lawn mowers. One even had old tires in the back. It just occurs to me: It must be illegal to carry lawnmowers, weed whackers, and gas cans, filled with gas, inside a closed cargo van.

One more thing I noticed was the large numbers of homes where the garage door was wide open.

As someone who recently moved to the DC metro area, it's crazy where people keep their nice cars. I live near Old Town Alexandria, and people keep their Benzs, Teslas, BWMs, Porsches, etc. parked on the STREET. And street parking is cramped and on busy pedestrian and driving routes. Many of the historic row homes in Old Town cost over $1M, and some of them don't even have garage or driveway space for any cars or more than 1 car. Now obviously this is a quite a bit of money away from the value of the cars and home in question here, but it still surprises me.

The neighborhood where they lived though is an open driveway, on a corner lot, on a city street as you say... but it's a nice, nice, nice neighborhood. While some homes in that general area are gated, the majority are not. It's a gorgeous area by the VP's residence, tons of embassies, and the National Cathedral. If I had a security system, neighborhood security, and lived in that nice of a neighborhood, I'd probably feel comfortable leaving a Range Rover on the street.

All that to say, I am not disagreeing with your thoughts... it's crazy to me where the rich people of DC store their nice cars, but parking is definitely not a given in the DC area, even with multi-million $$ homes, especially if you have multiple very expensive and nice cars like this family did.

 

[Cassie P]

So there pretty much has to be another garage somewhere.

I wonder if SS had other cars as well. He seems to be a car collector, had way more cars than two adults need, so perhaps he had other cars stored somewhere else.

 

[Cassie P]

Those pictures of the cars being towed show how close the garage is to the street. Here's another view, from Google Street View, which shows the garage and the position of the house at the street corner:

It's really stunning that a $700K Mosler is parked about 30 feet off the street in that garage. Even more stunning is the idea that SS asked W-1 to put $40K cash in that unlocked Mosler, so close to the street, possibly with the garage door open.

That was always a strange and suspicious request, but it's also reckless given the location. It's a shame that W-1 didn't balk.

There seemed to be a pervasive false sense of security.

 

[Momoffourboys]

List of vehicles:
4 dr Bentley
Porsche 911
White Porsche SUV
White Range Rover
Red Audi
Red Mosler
Dark Grey SUV (Land Rover)?

BBM

Was this specified? The 4 door Bentley? If it is the bigger (not sports) model, such as the Mulsanne, there is no way it would fit in a two car garage...next to a Mosler. I just don't believe they would risk slamming the door on either car each time they opened the door. The Mulsanne is HUGE and bulky.

Also, the parking arrangement, two in garage, two in driveway would drive any car enthusiast batty! Having to move this car to get to that car...eh.

My husband spent a lot of money to widen our driveway and remove the column in our garage JUST to be able to shuffle cars around without having to move each car. He's a PITA with his cars. Most collectors are. IMO.

 

[Cassie P]

I don't know much about siphoning gas, cars or setting fires.
Would there be enough gasoline in the garaged car to account for the reports of the house reeking of gasoline, etc?

If so, it does mean that Wint didn't have to bring gasoline to the house, he would only need a small duffle or back pack with the duct tape, gloves, knife.

 

[Cassie P]

BBM

Was this specified? The 4 door Bentley? If it is the bigger (not sports) model, such as the Mulsanne, there is no way it would fit in a two car garage...next to a Mosler. I just don't believe they would risk slamming the door on either car each time they opened the door. The Mulsanne is HUGE and bulky.

Also, the parking arrangement, two in garage, two in driveway would drive any car enthusiast batty! Having to move this car to get to that car...eh.

My husband spent a lot of money to widen our driveway and remove the colun in our garage JUST to be able to shuffle cars around without having to move each car. He's a PITA with his cars. Most collectors are. IMO.

Maybe this is one of the reasons he hired the driver, it was his job to jockey the cars around, make sure they all had gas, were serviced regularly, etc....

 

[Momoffourboys]

Maybe this is one of the reasons he hired the driver, it was his job to jockey the cars around, make sure they all had gas, were serviced regularly, etc....

For sure. The driver would be responsible for anything having to do with cars.
Also, many car collectors use a service where the mechanic services the cars on site, a rolling garage. IMO

 

[jjenny]

There seemed to be a pervasive false sense of security.

Crimes like this don't happen every day.

 

[Cassie P]

There have been a number of comments that it is impossible to get into the mind of such a killer.
However, there are trained experienced forensic psychologists and psychiatrists who make a living doing just that.

 

[thinksalot]

Those pictures of the cars being towed show how close the garage is to the street. Here's another view, from Google Street View, which shows the garage and the position of the house at the street corner:


It's really stunning that a $700K Mosler is parked about 30 feet off the street in that garage. Even more stunning is the idea that SS asked W-1 to put $40K cash in that unlocked Mosler, so close to the street, possibly with the garage door open.

That was always a strange and suspicious request, but it's also reckless given the location. It's a shame that W-1 didn't balk.

If the garage were open when I came to deliver the money, I think I would have stayed around to actually see him come and pick it up because I would be afraid someone would steal it.

 

[jjenny]

If the garage were open when I came to deliver the money, I think I would have stayed around to actually see him come and pick it up because I would be afraid someone would steal it.

If he did that, he'd likely be dead with the rest of the family.

 

[Cassie P]

Crimes like this don't happen every day.

Yes and that is why we all live in some denial about bad things happening to us.
But it is going to be interesting if so many valuable cars out in plain site had any to do with
Wint targeting this house.

 

[thinksalot]

I'm probably a sitting duck,too. I don't have anything anybody would want though so I'm probably ok. The other day a guy came over to survey how many boxes his moving company would need to move us (we are moving soon ).He needed to go in the garage to check out stuff in there and while in there alone with him I thought of this case and felt so creeped out. Poor guy was probably wondering why I crept slowly towards the door and held it open so my dog could come in and save me if need be.

I went with daughter to buy something from Craig's List. We had to meet the seller at his storage unit. I was having second thoughts entering that unit to go see the item ... Everything was fine, but maybe it was foolish of us to go in.

 

[jjenny]

Yes and that is why we all live in some denial about bad things happening to us.
But it is going to be interesting if so many valuable cars out in plain site had any to do with
Wint targeting this house.

If Wint was after cars, why didn't he take any?

 

[jjenny]

I went with daughter to buy something from Craig's List. We had to meet the seller at his storage unit. I was having second thoughts entering that unit to go see the item ... Everything was fine, but maybe it was foolish of us to go in.

Could be very dangerous. A number of people got killed that way.

 

[Cassie P]

If he did that, he'd likely be dead with the rest of the family.

I wonder if W-1 and Vera's husband realize how close they came to being additional victims?
If they had tried to enter the premises, it would not have gone well for them.

 

[elmomom]

Yes and that is why we all live in some denial about bad things happening to us.
But it is going to be interesting if so many valuable cars out in plain site had any to do with
Wint targeting this house.

There seemed to be a pervasive false sense of security.

There is no life without some risk. IMHO it is not risky, nor is it a false sense of security to live in a nice area with nice cars surrounded by other nice houses with nice cars. This crime, like most crimes, is extremely rare. Trying to protect yourself against an event that is exceedingly rare is unreasonable, and at worst paranoia.
Did it happen to them? yes. Do I think everyone in the area should now only drive crappy cars and hide their nice cars so no one can see them? No...............

 

[Cassie P]

For sure. The driver would be responsible for anything having to do with cars.
Also, many car collectors use a service where the mechanic services the cars on site, a rolling garage. IMO

Like the Amerit in Wint's convoy?

 

[Momoffourboys]

Like the Amerit in Wint's convoy?

Bingo!