U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has flagged for deportation the sole suspect charged in the high-profile, quadruple homicide in the multimillion dollar Northwest home of businessman Savvas Savopoulos.
The agency has placed an immigration detainer on Darron Delon Dennis Wint, who was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in last month’s killings of a D.C. couple, their 10-year-old child and the family’s housekeeper. ICE officials confirmed that Mr. Wint, who is a citizen of Guyana, could face deportation from the United States if he is convicted.
ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said Mr. Wint is in the United States legally as a lawful permanent resident, a term used by the agency for green card holders. She said the agency filed the detainer, which asks the local jail to alert officials of an individual’s pending release so he or she can be taken into ICE custody, after Mr. Wint was arrested and charged with murder.
A D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered Mr. Wint to remain in jail pending further court proceedings. If convicted, ICE would not take him into the agency’s custody until after he served his sentence. Immigration courts would then determine whether he should be deported.
Ms. Cutrell declined to say whether ICE had ever issued previous detainers for Mr. Wint, who has prior convictions of assault.
Though police believe others were involved in the crime, Mr. Wint is currently the only person charged in the May 14 slayings of businessman Savvas Savopoulos; his wife, Amy; their 10-year-old son, Philip; and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa. The victims were found dead inside the Savopouloses’ multi-million dollar Northwest home by firefighters called to the scene as the house went up in flames. Police said the victims suffered blunt force trauma and stab wounds and had been held captive in the home since the previous night.
SEE ALSO: Savopoulos family murder investigators in D.C. mansion fire seek victims’ phone locations
It is fairly rare to issue detainers against green card holders, according to ICE data analyzed by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Of nearly 950,000 detainers that ICE lodged during 50-month period covering fiscal 2008 through the start of fiscal 2012, only 28,489 were sought against legal permanent residents. The Department of Homeland Security reported that 13.3 million green card holders were living in the country in 2012.
Police are searching for evidence that would link an assistant of a slain corporate executive to the killings, court documents show.
Police obtained a search warrant late last week for a vehicle belonging to the 28-year-old assistant, a driver for Savvas Savopoulos who told police he delivered $40,000 in cash to the family’s house while they were being held for ransom before they were slain.
According to the warrant, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, investigators were looking for “evidence related to the murder of the four decedents,” including “forensic and physical evidence linking (the assistant) to this offense.”
The assistant has not been identified as a suspect. The documents identify him by name, but the AP is not doing so because he has not been charged with a crime.
The search of the assistant’s car yielded a laptop computer, external hard drives, two backpacks and his passport, among other items, the documents show.
SEE ALSO: Daron Wint had at least one accomplice in Savopoulos slayings, police say
This story is based in part on wire service dispatches.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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