Fire in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just read the latest Washington Post report.

Neighbor said a landscaping crew was there to cut grass that morning.

Landscaping crew could silence noises (as PP mentioned) and of course, provide the gasoline accelerant. No one ever looks twice at landscaping trucks in neighborhoods.

Have the landscapers been detained for questioning? If not, there is a need to act fast on this; landscapers are almost all undocumented aliens and they often just disappear back over the border in these situations without a trace.

thanks, csi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I misspelled father's name in prior post.

His correct name is Savvas Savopoulous.

Both are local MCPS grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, in a house like that, I'm sure they would have had an alarm system. I know all systems are different, but the newer ones definitely have a code for sending a silent emergency alarm. In fact, when our system was installed the technician said that the couple who was held hostage in McLean used that emergency code.

Yes, but those systems tend to work in 2 ways - (1) you enter the code when the alarm had been set and you are followed into the house and they force you to disable. So, instead of entering your normal code, you enter the emergency code, the alarm is silenced and police are alerted; or (2) you have a "panic" button that you press and hold for 2 seconds that silently calls the police (similar ones for an ambulance and fire dept.). In either case, you need to be able to get to the control panel. So it may not have been an option in this case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just read the latest Washington Post report.

Neighbor said a landscaping crew was there to cut grass that morning.

Landscaping crew could silence noises (as PP mentioned) and of course, provide the gasoline accelerant. No one ever looks twice at landscaping trucks in neighborhoods.

Have the landscapers been detained for questioning? If not, there is a need to act fast on this; landscapers are almost all undocumented aliens and they often just disappear back over the border in these situations without a trace.

Just stop.

That person's post comes off as insensitive (and "detained" is too strong), however, it is a certainty that authorities will try to quickly interview the landscapers. One article said "grass cutting as usual" so it might be a regular crew. They will try to trace all who worked on the house (Post article said there had been construction) in any way. The fact is, there are many casual/day laborers and a reasonably high proportion of those are undocumented workers -- that poses a problem for investigators as they try to trace concentric circles to see if all who are known to have come into contact with the house can be ruled out.

[Anonymous]

I just don't understand why the location of the burned Porsche hasn't been divulged. Just a "parking lot in Maryland"? I mean, there are so many luxury cars all around the area, and I don't think I would recall seeing such a car on my normal outings.

I didn't know the car was torched until someone posted a few minutes ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't understand why the location of the burned Porsche hasn't been divulged. Just a "parking lot in Maryland"? I mean, there are so many luxury cars all around the area, and I don't think I would recall seeing such a car on my normal outings.

I didn't know the car was torched until someone posted a few minutes ago.

There's a photo of the parking lot (with scorch marks on the pavement) on the Fox5 website in their article. They don't say where the lot was, which leads one to believe that the authorities have asked them not to, perhaps. Looks like sort of an out of the way lot with overgrown grass next to it, but you can't see much because the photo's main focus is the scorched pavement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't understand why the location of the burned Porsche hasn't been divulged. Just a "parking lot in Maryland"? I mean, there are so many luxury cars all around the area, and I don't think I would recall seeing such a car on my normal outings.

I didn't know the car was torched until someone posted a few minutes ago.

NBC is reporting: "Police found the car -- torched and unoccupied -- in the parking lot of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Lanham, Maryland, around 5:15 p.m. Thursday."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't understand why the location of the burned Porsche hasn't been divulged. Just a "parking lot in Maryland"? I mean, there are so many luxury cars all around the area, and I don't think I would recall seeing such a car on my normal outings.

I didn't know the car was torched until someone posted a few minutes ago.

It was in an Episcopal church (can't remember the name) parking lot in PG County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if the wife went loco and did this ? Just thinking outside the box here since it hasn't been revealed who all died.

I don't think this is outside the box. Most commonly, people are murdered by family members or people they know. I doubt this is some strange intruder.

Yes, familicide.

Statistically speaking, that's what this would be. Instead of everyone blaming Puerto Rican gardeners.

I am not blaming the gardener. However, if this were a professionally planned job for whatever motive, then the hired guns could as a cover pose as a landscaping crew to create noise and bring accelerant without drawing any unwanted attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This really doesn't seem like a burglary to me. It seems very strange that four people were in the house, including what appears to be the 10-year old son in the middle of the day on a weekday (teenage girls go to boarding school). The police are looking for info about a Porsche that was there earlier in the morning. This is very strange...

PP, I agree with you. Did the father not go to work this morning? Did the son not go to school today?

I read that the father's sister lived with them. So the deceased adults are the parents and his sister?

I thought one girl went to NCS?

Arson? Murder? Big 3? Methinks this has the making of a DCUM hottest topics thread.

Glad you are amused at this horrific tragedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, in a house like that, I'm sure they would have had an alarm system. I know all systems are different, but the newer ones definitely have a code for sending a silent emergency alarm. In fact, when our system was installed the technician said that the couple who was held hostage in McLean used that emergency code.

Goodness, it sounds dangerous to live in the metro DC area!

[Anonymous]

One article states the family just moved back after spending a year in the Caribbean so yard work was ongoing. If someone wanted to rob, that would have been the time.

Whomever texted is the one that did the crime. And if Mom's phone had a code to use or a fingerprint ID to access the phone, then Mom did it. Or a person that had intimate knowledge of that phone and knew the numbers plus names of the house help plus knew their schedule.

The husband's company was asked for a statement but they declined. His elite lawyer group also declined a statement.

The police haven't told the neighbors to be on alert so I gather they pretty much know what's what.

You don't live in that kind of neighborhood and leave the affluent exposed. I mean that in the nicest way. It's just they chose that place to live because it represented security to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember that they had big dogs. Big, beautiful dogs that would have probably attacked any intruders. I've been wondering, did they die too?

So sad and disturbing. All of this.

An animal control van was there when I drove by on my way home from work.

I saw a news clip where the dogs were being led out of the house and it said they were placed with with an unnamed friend.

[Anonymous]

Whatever happened I hope we find out eventually.
It's false security but knowing what happened will
help me feel less shaken up about the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

The mother could have been forced to text, just like Mrs. Pettit was forced to go to the bank.