Fire in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anything been reported on what, if anything was stolen? They had some well known, very expensive art. Was this part of a burglary? For some reason that would make it seem less threatening. A burglary-gone-bad seems slightly less horrifying than a pure home invasion and murder. Probably because the latter means there is a sociopath on the loose. That would be far to close to Criminal Minds for me to sleep at all until the perpetrator is caught.

They weren't on vacation so the "burglary gone wrong" idea does not sound so likely. I hate to say it but I think home invasion is really the likeliest scenario. No details on what, if anything, was stolen -- perhaps authorities don't know yet or have some info and are trying to track things down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Police chief is asking public for information on activities at the home on Wednesday night, too, so maybe the could determine victims' time of death to be Wednesday night?

I would guess it is more likely an attempt to find out when the intruders entered (e.g., 2 am? 7 am? 8:30 am?). The car being in the driveway still at 10:30 am, and the text from the mother's phone at 9 am, and most of all a fire started with an accelerant that became noticeable at 1:30 pm, suggests that the intruders were still at the house on Thursday morning at least until 10:30 am when the Porsche disappeared. I wonder when the landscaping vehicle went away.

[Anonymous]

By all accounts they were a lovely family. My son tells me the boy was a really great kid, well liked by everyone. How anyone could kill a 10 yr old like that boggles the mind. I realize children are killed all the time, by accident and on purpose, by family and by strangers, but this particular event sounds horrifically traumatic and truly insane. The scenario just sounds so much like a TV crime show.

[Anonymous]

I am not for the death penalty but this would make me wish DC had it.

[Anonymous]

There must be video from cameras around the house, right? Shouldn't they be getting images out ASAP so the public can be on alert? The fact that nothing has been released makes it seem like the police believes this was targeted and this these individuals were the intended victim.

[Anonymous]

I remember watching an interview with a homicide detective. She was describing the emotional toll it took on her to examine the often grisly scenes she encountered.

She said something that I've never forgotten: "Some people's lives end just like a horror story."

This case would fit that description. I cannot get that little boy out of my mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is a huge problem for law enforcement - and not just in this criminal case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There must be video from cameras around the house, right? Shouldn't they be getting images out ASAP so the public can be on alert? The fact that nothing has been released makes it seem like the police believes this was targeted and this these individuals were the intended victim.

I don't know -- it would depend if neighbors' video cameras had a line of sight on the house in question. They very well may not have, and thus there might not be any usable footage. The other possibility would be that, even if a neighbor's cameras captured the house in question, the intrusion was done when it was not yet light out so there's no usable footage.

[Anonymous]

NBC 4 reported that the church and nearby banquet hall where the torched car was found also had surveillance cameras.

Kathy Lanier seems like a really good police chief.

[Anonymous]

Hearing they were stabbed and who was identified throws out thinking it may have been Mom.

I swear when I read stabbed my first thought was Christopher Parco. He killed his father with an ax and hacked his poor mother so bad she's blind and disfigured. All because he wanted to live like he was wealthy. Using his father's name to get loans. Got caught, decided to kill them.

Another story on this DC crime had a comment by someone that said this was plain and simply a FAMILY tragedy. Do they think a daughter did it ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not for the death penalty but this would make me wish DC had it.

I would not go that far, but there IS something gut-wrenching about crimes like this. Since having kids of my own, I've become a lot more sensitive toward any crime I read about where a child is hurt or killed. It's sickening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hearing they were stabbed and who was identified throws out thinking it may have been Mom.

I swear when I read stabbed my first thought was Christopher Parco. He killed his father with an ax and hacked his poor mother so bad she's blind and disfigured. All because he wanted to live like he was wealthy. Using his father's name to get loans. Got caught, decided to kill them.

Another story on this DC crime had a comment by someone that said this was plain and simply a FAMILY tragedy. Do they think a daughter did it ?

Umm, have you not realized how many commenters are simply idiotic?

Yes, many crimes have family angle. This one -- where fire was started after murders, according to police, and where a car was abandoned many miles away from where victims were found -- does not fit the mold.

[Anonymous]

I think they probably will get some footage of the car from a camera along the route. They probably won't release that info right away.

[Anonymous]

Where is the 2nd daughter? I know one of the daughters was a senior at Mercersburg Academy. Where is the other daughter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From Fox News: "A housekeeper who has worked for the family for 20 years told FOX 5's Marina Marraco that she was at the home on Wednesday. She said the couple, their 10-year-old son and another housekeeper slept in the home that night. The housekeeper received a text message Thursday morning from the mother and told her to not come by the home because the family was sick. When she called to respond to the text message, the phone call was not picked up."
Some kind of hostage situation? And wife was warning the housekeeper away?

Certainly sounds that way.

Just because a text comes from a particular person's phone does NOT mean that the owner of that phone is the writer of the text....could have been anyone.