Fire in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-were-riveted-when-bad-things-happen-to-rich-people/2015/05/18/53157fd6-fd71-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz

Not interesting/insightful and WAY TOO SOON.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-were-riveted-when-bad-things-happen-to-rich-people/2015/05/18/53157fd6-fd71-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz

Not interesting/insightful and WAY TOO SOON.

Pretty obvious stuff, I agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My first thought, upon reading the Washington Post article, was that this was unfortunately a case of familiscide, in which the housekeeper Mrs. Figueroa, was a collateral victim.

Why, I thought, would Mr. Savopoulos supposedly have told the other housekeeper, Mrs. Gutierrez, in advance, to come to a work site on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of that particular week, instead of coming to clean his house on Thursday, as was her regular schedule. If that request was indeed simply for business-related reasons, then Mrs. Gutierrez is very fortunate.

A previous poster asked if anyone saw Savvas at work on Wednesday morning. The housekeeper who was not in the house, Mrs. Gutierrez, reported that she allegedly spoke to Savaas in person on the Chantilly job site on Wednesday morning. It was there that Mr. Savopoulos supposedly mentioned to Mrs. Gutierrez that his wife had plans to go out that night.

Then there is the fact that Mr. Savopoulos, assuming the contents of the alleged voicemails and text are confirmed, is the only person we know for certain was still alive in the house on Wednesday evening.

Finally there is the speculation regarding Mr. Savopoulos's extensive martial arts training and experience. Someone with that experience and traing could presumably take down a person or persons, particularly if they confronted those persons one by one throughout the day. And the may well have sustained blunt force injuries themselves in the ensuing struggle.

Of course, there is the loose end of the burned out vehicle discovered burning at some remote location more than five hours after the firefighters found the bodies in the house. It is possible that Mr. Savopoulos could have retained someone he knew to be capable of unorthodox jobs, to take the car away and torch it. The person might have known not to ask questions, thinking perhaps it was part of an insurance scam, but in no way knowing that the vehicle was related to the murders until later. (Why do this? For life insurance reasons, or to save your reputation among surviving family and friends.)

That last paragraph would require so much advanced planning by Savvas, and is just so forced into the narrative, that I no longer believe this was familicide, but rather a more common, amateur theft gone terribly awry.

You realize that Savopoulos was one of the victims, right?

I know that now, of course, as the police have determined that all four were victims.

Imagine a man is assaulted on the street by an assailant with a knife. The victim also carries a knife, and he fights off the assailant to the death. You come run across the two men dead on the street, both have sustained numerous knife wounds and other injuries. Initially, how do you know which one is the assailant and which one is the victim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fire is the hardest part to reconcile. Why go to great lengths to make sure the other housekeeper doesn't come there to discover the crime and then set a fire that would summon the authorities in five minutes? And if one of the victims was texting unsupervised, it seems like it would be a plea for help. Why mess around just warning her to stay away?

The perp had left finger prints and other evidence. He (likely two of them) were there all night.

I think it was someone business related. Stopped in unannounced on Wednesday night, after casing the neighborhood/disabling alarms. The conversation goes south, perhaps the perp believes he is owed money. Keeps the family hostage overnight, waiting for the bank to open.

The perp comes back to find that his accomplice killed the dad, son & housekeeper. Perhaps the dad tried to get away or fight back. Frustrated, they have to go to the back up plan of a rushed fire, killing the wife.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-were-riveted-when-bad-things-happen-to-rich-people/2015/05/18/53157fd6-fd71-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz

Meh -- there are plenty of folks in same SES as the Savapoulos family who are both horrified and fascinated by this case. To be honest, who can resist a mystery, especially a police procedural? And this is one with all sorts of class and aesthetic twists (note the extensive discussion on this thread regarding the Picasso lithograph). You'd have to be a monster not to feel for this family -- I cannot imagine what the daughters are going through -- but at the same time, if we're honest, this is a fascinating puzzle and we're all trying to put it together.

[Anonymous]

I really think it was two random criminals similar to the Petit murders but.........the McStay family was killed by one person and a business associate. It could happen.

[Anonymous]

The father's voice is very tense and distracted in the audio voicemail released. Clearly there was chaos around him. I would not give interviews if I were the housekeeper, I would be too scared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The father's voice is very tense and distracted in the audio voicemail released. Clearly there was chaos around him. I would not give interviews if I were the housekeeper, I would be too scared.

I agree. this is so awful; clearly call made under duress. I know hindsight is 20/20, but why the fuck didn't the housekeeper call police or otherwise investigate if things seemed so off to her? And that b.s. at the end of the interview with her that "God saved my life." No he didn't! The person holding that poor family hostage "saved" your life. So selfish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My first thought, upon reading the Washington Post article, was that this was unfortunately a case of familiscide, in which the housekeeper Mrs. Figueroa, was a collateral victim.

Why, I thought, would Mr. Savopoulos supposedly have told the other housekeeper, Mrs. Gutierrez, in advance, to come to a work site on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of that particular week, instead of coming to clean his house on Thursday, as was her regular schedule. If that request was indeed simply for business-related reasons, then Mrs. Gutierrez is very fortunate.

A previous poster asked if anyone saw Savvas at work on Wednesday morning. The housekeeper who was not in the house, Mrs. Gutierrez, reported that she allegedly spoke to Savaas in person on the Chantilly job site on Wednesday morning. It was there that Mr. Savopoulos supposedly mentioned to Mrs. Gutierrez that his wife had plans to go out that night.

Then there is the fact that Mr. Savopoulos, assuming the contents of the alleged voicemails and text are confirmed, is the only person we know for certain was still alive in the house on Wednesday evening.

Finally there is the speculation regarding Mr. Savopoulos's extensive martial arts training and experience. Someone with that experience and traing could presumably take down a person or persons, particularly if they confronted those persons one by one throughout the day. And the may well have sustained blunt force injuries themselves in the ensuing struggle.

Of course, there is the loose end of the burned out vehicle discovered burning at some remote location more than five hours after the firefighters found the bodies in the house. It is possible that Mr. Savopoulos could have retained someone he knew to be capable of unorthodox jobs, to take the car away and torch it. The person might have known not to ask questions, thinking perhaps it was part of an insurance scam, but in no way knowing that the vehicle was related to the murders until later. (Why do this? For life insurance reasons, or to save your reputation among surviving family and friends.)

That last paragraph would require so much advanced planning by Savvas, and is just so forced into the narrative, that I no longer believe this was familicide, but rather a more common, amateur theft gone terribly awry.

You realize that Savopoulos was one of the victims, right?

I know that now, of course, as the police have determined that all four were victims.

Imagine a man is assaulted on the street by an assailant with a knife. The victim also carries a knife, and he fights off the assailant to the death. You come run across the two men dead on the street, both have sustained numerous knife wounds and other injuries. Initially, how do you know which one is the assailant and which one is the victim?

The assailant in this case got away. Are you reading about the same case? Whoever killed them took the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did someone say upthread that there was a Christmas tour of the house where these master works were on display? If so, what is the basis of your knowledge of that?

The St Albans house tour at Christmas is an annual event. Anyone can attend: http://www.stalbansschool.org/CHT

1)While I think it's wonderful for families to open their homes for these types of events for a school fundraiser, I am also perplexed as to why they would want random people wandering through their homes. I've never been on a fundraising homes tour, but I would think it would be an excellent opportunity for professional thieves to case your home for a future burglarly.
2) I know the EU embassies had their open houses the weekend prior to the murders. The Belgian Embassy is around the corner. Maybe perps took opportunity to case neighborhoods during high foot traffic time when random visitors to the area wouldn't be thought of as strange?

professional thieves do not break into a house with 4 people, spend many hours inside the house, murder them and leave with a stolen expensive car they set on fire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw this posted on another forum..some audio from the voicemail left for housekeepr:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mansion-fire-mysterious-voicemail-latest-clue-dc-blaze/story?id=31121535

In the voicemail it sounds like you can hear a child cry out at one point..

it does! I really hope they have more by now than that crappy grainy video of a person moving thru an alley. Didn't she say before the dad said the little boy was injured in his go kart. on the tape he says "we are going through some stuff with Philip." Whoever it was sure wanted to keep that housekeeper away. And the text is either misspelled or esl.

Actually, the text looks like autocorrect--the person typed "fr" and it corrected to "from" instead of "Friday." Agree?

agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw this posted on another forum..some audio from the voicemail left for housekeepr:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mansion-fire-mysterious-voicemail-latest-clue-dc-blaze/story?id=31121535

In the voicemail it sounds like you can hear a child cry out at one point..

it does! I really hope they have more by now than that crappy grainy video of a person moving thru an alley. Didn't she say before the dad said the little boy was injured in his go kart. on the tape he says "we are going through some stuff with Philip." Whoever it was sure wanted to keep that housekeeper away. And the text is either misspelled or esl.

Actually, the text looks like autocorrect--the person typed "fr" and it corrected to "from" instead of "Friday." Agree?

agree

I noticed that too... Wondered if it was a signal, but yes, probably autocorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-were-riveted-when-bad-things-happen-to-rich-people/2015/05/18/53157fd6-fd71-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz

Not interesting/insightful and WAY TOO SOON.

Agree. This piece is garbage. Sounds like the writer is speaking for herself. Honestly, people are simply scared and intrigued by dramatic, difficult to solve events like this. There is a reason that the unsolved mystery shows have been around for years - and not all of the people featured in those shows are wealthy. And when it happens in your own neighborhood or town, people follow even more closely. The fact that this family is wealthy may be why they were targeted and is most likely part of the reason it got instant media coverage, but the real draw and reason people follow it is the highly unusual and dramatic circumstances and the outstanding big questions of who and why. I do not believe most people are gross enough to follow it for some kind of sick sense of "schadenfreude."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just saw this posted on another forum..some audio from the voicemail left for housekeepr:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mansion-fire-mysterious-voicemail-latest-clue-dc-blaze/story?id=31121535

In the voicemail it sounds like you can hear a child cry out at one point..

I just listened to the video, and think you're right. It sounds like a child crying out. Sickening, so, so sad.

[Anonymous]

So, perhaps the killer knew the housekeeper & the call was made as a set up: she's in on it?