Sword, duct tape among possible evidence collected in Savopoulos killings

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The assailant or assailants who killed three members of the Savopoulos family and their housekeeper in May are believed to have used a sword that belonged to the family, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

The sword, which was part of Savvas Savopoulos’s martial arts collection, was found at the scene with what appeared to be blood on it, according to the people. Authorities also found bits of duct tape that police think was used to subdue the victims. Tape remnants were on the body of Savopoulos’s wife, Amy, and on a chair where housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa was found, according to one official familiar with the case. That person said the tape also was stripped across a doggy door that led to the kitchen, keeping the family’s two dogs in the back yard.

The only person charged in the case so far, Daron Wint, 34, is set to appear in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing that could shed more light on the crime or the ongoing investigation.

Police have said they think more than one person may have been involved in the killing of Savvas Savopoulos, 46; Amy Savopoulos, 47; the couple’s 10-year-old son, Philip; and Figueroa, 57. The four were held overnight at the Savopouloses’ stately Northwest Washington home and found the next day, May 14, after a fire was set.

The victims were killed after Savvas Savopoulos instructed his assistant to withdraw $40,000, all in $100 bills, from his bank account and deliver it to the home. The money — which was taken by the attacker or attackers — was placed inside a luxury red Mosler sports car in the garage.

Wint, a onetime employee at Savvas Savopoulos’s custom steel and iron manufacturing company, was arrested after police found his DNA on the crust of a pizza that was delivered to the Savopoulos home the night of May 13.

While police are focusing on Wint, his newly hired attorney, Sean Hanover, said the presence of his client’s DNA on the pizza does not incriminate Wint as having been involved in the slayings. “The forensics may only suggest my client had a slice of pizza,” Hanover said. He said he believes Wint, who is charged with one count of first-degree murder, was being “set up” for the killings but would not elaborate.

Hanover also said he was looking into Savvas Savopoulos’s business dealings. Savopoulos was president and chief executive of American Iron Works, which helped build Verizon Center and CityCenterDC.

Savvas Savopoulos, who had an interest in martial arts, also was in the process of opening a martial arts center in Chantilly, Va. — a studio that had been set to open the day after the killings. The two people who discussed the sword found in the home spoke on the condition of anonymity because the criminal case is pending in court.

“We are looking at everyone who has had contact with Mr. Savopoulos and his family,” Hanover said.

Multiple bags containing hundreds of items have been collected as possible evidence from the home. The items are being analyzed by D.C. police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Secret Service. The Savopouloses’ home was not far from the vice president’s home.

There were two safes on the Savopoulos property — one in the garage, the other in the house.

Prosecutors have said they were also seeking to compare a fingerprint found on a water bottle in the home with Wint’s fingerprints. Police also have said a boot print was found on a French door next to a broken pane of glass, indicating a possible forced entry into the home.

The Savopouloses’ two daughters were away at school when the killings occurred.

Among the dozens of family photographs displayed throughout the house, there was one picture of Amy Savopoulos sitting on a park bench on a sunny day with her young son, according to the official. With the photo was a message from her to son: “I love you Philip. You are a wonderful son,” she wrote. And then she continued: “I am going to be just fine.”

Peter Hermann contributed to this report.