Transcript
Ryan Smith (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by Greenlight. Get this, adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, Us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free trial at greenlight.com Spotify greenlight.com Spotify welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault where heart stopping headlines come to life. A burning mansion in the flames. A terrible secret. The fire appears to be intentionally set. It shook that community to the court. Especially, especially when those horrific details started to come out about what happened inside that house. A mother, father, 10 year old son and the family housekeeper, all held hostage for almost 20 terrifying hours. Finally, a ransom in cash. But it doesn't save the helpless captives, only the smoke escaping out a window. This in a wealthy Washington enclave, the Vice President's neighborhood. This could happen there. What about the rest of us ordinary Joes? What chance do we have? Tonight, 2020 takes you inside the court case that just wrapped. New details, new voices. My guess is they used the 10 year old to get whatever they wanted out of the adults. I can't stop thinking about that day. We'll hear from the surviving housekeeper about life at the mansion. Was there anything in the Savopolis that suggested they had enemies? Room by room, clue by clue, the burning Porsche. The shadowy figure caught on surveillance cameras. The bizarre late night pizza delivery tries to burn the house down. But guess what doesn't burn the pizza with his saliva on it. Boom. They get a hit. We've got a name, we've got a face. Police have their target. Thus begins an intense 48 hour nationwide manhunt. We really had a lot of motivation to catch this guy. The high stakes capture of suspect Darren went through the eyes of the U.S. marshal who stalked him up and down the east coast. So this is where it happened, at the red light. That's where we made our move. So you had to block him in from all four sides in some way? That's right. Tonight, the long awaited verdict in the case that outraged the country. You can't take your eyes off of this case because it's just that horribly Incredible. This is 20 20. Reporting tonight, Ryan Smith with the breaking verdict in the story he's been covering now since it began some three years ago. DC911, what is your emergency? I think there's a house fire at 3201 Woodland Drive. And we begin with that breaking news right now out of D.C. four people confirmed dead in a house fire. When firefighters arrived, it was engulfed in flames. This investigation continues as we speak. We have firefighters, we have D.C. police. Police say the call came in Thursday at 1:30 in the Afternoo. Coming from. It looks like it initially from a bedroom, but it's going sweeping across the whole overhang on the front of the house. Nobody's answering the door. And there's an alarm going off inside. I drink wick. We're out on a story. Something else. They said, hey, there's a fire on Woodland Drive. Get over there right away. Got there. Whoa, big fire. And then moments later, the realization something's going on here. Something really bad is going on. A $3.5 million mansion engulfed in flames. The second floor is completely burned where there is now an unusual intensity. Firefighters and police combing through the scene on the street. Sheer panic, says WJLA reporter Steven Shida. Investigators do believe this fire was deliberately set arson. Oh, dear. Nothing like this ever happens. So it's really kind of just rattling. This woman comes up and she's distraught, and she's like, I'm so afraid. I was supposed to be there. They texted me. They told me not to come. And I work here. I know this family. And she's frantic and hysterical. That woman is Nellie Gutierrez. For the past two decades, she's worked for the homeowners Amy and Savva Savopoulos. What were they like together? They love each other. She says the Savopouloses were the picture perfect couple. And my 19 years, 20 years working for the family, they never fight. They were so good together. He really loved Emmy very, very deep, in the same way, you know, she was the same way. When firefighters arrived at this house, they thought it was just a fire where they were crawling around in their hands because this is their training. He's feeling around the room, and he feels a chair, and he feels the chair is weighted. And then he feels for a head, and he feels the head, and he tries to pick the person up, and they slip right through his grasp. He's radioing in, we've now got a crime scene here. The room is a crime scene. These photos giving us a look inside the house, inside the carnage. You could see the blood covering the floor. You could see one of the chairs that they had been restrained in. You could see it was just covered in blood. It's tossed over on the side. Then the room were filled. Philip was just charred. His bed charred. I mean it had sunken, it had collapsed, it had burned all the way through to the floor below. It was awful. Fire is definitely suspicious in nature. We have three adults and what appears to be possibly a child or deceased inside of the home. Amy and Savasavopoulos. Their posh home now boarded up, newly surrounded by by a locked chain link fence. Starkly out of place in this quiet leafy D.C. neighborhood. An abrupt ending to a love story that seemed destined to play out as happily ever after. They both attend the University of Maryland. Tavas had a crush on her for all four years and pursued her and pursued her and pursued her and she would never say yes until the very end. She finally agreed to go on a date and they seemed like a perfect match for each other. After college, the couple has a large Greek Orthodox wedding pictured here on an Instagram tribute page. Saba, known for a strong work ethic and gentle manner, succeeds his father as CEO of American Ironworks. As a young wealthy Washington couple, they settle in this red bricked home with its own library and music room surrounded by manicured lawns, hedges and gates. Helping maintain the inside of the home. Veda Figueroa, a mother of two supporting her family back in El Salvador. She wouldn't make it out alive. So tell me about Vera, what was she like? Vera liked first of all she liked to work hard and she was very happy lady. The couple have three children, Abigail, Katerina and Philip. The two girls away at boarding school during the fire. Philip unfortunately losing his life in the flames. What about Philip though? He's 10. He was very, very mature. Like he was very funny, you know, like when I always talk to him in Spanish, he gets so excited. But then when I talk to him a little bit more he's like no, no, no, no, no. I don't understand. 10 year old Philip, known as Flip, is a fan of Harry Potter and has an atypical hobby, go kart racing. This is not the thing your normal 10 year old gets to do. Philip had a coach and he had a top of the line go kart. And Amy made her son do his homework between races. And it's at one of these go kart tracks that Sebastopolis meets this man. I feel good. Fellow racing enthusiast, 28 year old Jordan Wallace. Wallace creating his own website with videos of the extreme sport. My life is awesome. Like I have nothing to complain about. Their friendship would lead to a job as Savvz's personal assistant. Wallace will later end up playing a pivotal role in those final hours. That assistant says he got a call from Savva Savopoulos to bring $40,000 cash to the house. Was it an armed robbery gone wrong or a calculated murder for hire? Questions that would confound police and this once peaceful neighborhood. I talked with several neighbors who said that they saw Philip playing in the driveway. They would see Amy walking around the neighborhood exercising. Now passing by that house is an eerie feeling for these neighbors, one that will never go away. So this had to shake them to their core. It shook that community to the core. It shook the city to the court. Next, a flag family held hostage for nearly 20 desperate hours. The calls they were forced to make during those hours hey Jordan, it's Dava. Slight change of plans tomorrow. I've got a package that I'm going to need you to bring down to me. Stay with us. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com this episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two factor authentication, strong passwords and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast for 40% off terms apply. It's Wednesday, May 13th around 6pm as Washington, D.C. is closing for the night and people are sitting in traffic. The Savopoulos family, with the teenage girls away at boarding school, are trying to survive the most desperate night of their lives. It begins with a terrifying home invasion. Also inside the mansion, the family's housekeeper, Vera Figueroa. She had been with the Savopolises since her friend and the family's other housekeeper, Nelly Gutierrez, got her the job. You helped her work with the Savopoulos family, right? Yes, and I took her over there. And it was like almost five years ago. Authorities now believe that housekeeper is the first person to encounter the intruder. She actually tried to fight him off, and he used a bat because her DNA was found on the handle of one of the baseball bats. Longtime crime reporter Jennifer Donilon covered the story. This started out as a story about a fire, right? Right. We're trying to figure out did something more sinister happen before the fire that evening. One of the captives, Sevasivopoulos, leaves a voicemail to telling Gutierrez not to come in the next day. I hope you get this message. Amy is in bed sick tonight, and she was sick this afternoon, and Vera offered to stay and help her out. So she's going to stay the night here. But Gutierrez doesn't get the message until the next day. When I got that message on Thursday, I was thinking, and I start calling them. So I called her and I say, hi, Vera. What's on? Going, going on. No answer. Vera's husband, Bernardo Alfaro, telling reporter John Gonzalez from ABC Washington station WJLA, he begins to worry. At 5 o' clock Wednesday afternoon, he goes home, starts calling her nonstop on her cell phone until the cell phone really stops ringing. But at about 9pm the strangest call by far, a call for a food delivery. We can confirm that we made a delivery to the house. Police say it's Amy Sabopolis calling Domino's Pizza. She orders two pies, gives a credit card number and special instructions. Don't ring the doorbell. I'm caring for a sick child. Just leave it on the front door. The Domino's driver leaves the pizza, rings the bell and drives away, taking with him an opportunity to end the ordeal for the terrified people just inside. There were things that happened that, of course, now we can look back on and see, say, what if this Domino's pizza box later found inside the burned home, seemingly innocuous evidence of a horrifying night. And to think that the killer actually ordered and ate a pizza during the middle of all this. I couldn't even eat after I heard about it. This guy's eating a pizza in the middle of it. That night, Savva Savopoulos calls his assistant Jordan Wallace, the man the family met at that Go kart trap. Hey, Jordan, it's Sava. Sava leaves a voice message, a really upbeat message, saying, can you stop by the office and get us a package? Slight change of plans tomorrow. Would you please go straight to the Hyatt School office and wait? I've got a package that I'm going to need you to bring down to me. Police say that Wallace responded by text. Got your message. I'll call once I get the package. The longest night passes on Woodland Drive as Thursday dawns. Housekeeper Vera Figueroa's husband, after working an overnight shift, finds his wife still not home. He goes to the mansion looking for her, knocks on the door, rings the doorbell. Nothing. But it's interesting. He says, it felt to me like someone was inside. Could he hear them? He just says he heard like noises, like someone shuffling inside. Just then his phone rings. It's Savva Savopolis inside the house. They're just a few feet apart. He says, lito, I'm sorry I didn't call you last night. Vera stayed the night with us. And he said that he was apologizing profusely. So the husband, a little more satisfied with that, the fact that he's heard from someone, he goes home. That morning, the next phase of the plan becomes apparent. Jordan Wallace meets another employee at a bank near Savopoulos company, American Ironworks. A couple hours later, we see surveillance video of Jordan Wallace and another colleague of his taking out $40,000 from a bank of America. And Jordan later testifies that, you know, I'd never seen that much money in my entire life. Savas Savopoulos tells this assistant to bring the cash to his house, come into the garage, the car is unlocked. Not to give it to him, but to put it in a car which you would think would set off alarm bells. And then you wonder, why didn't that person call police? At 10:26am Wallace sends this text message to his boss. Package delivered, the cash is dropped. But for some reason, that doesn't stop the crime. Police say the killing begins. We were getting source information that there was blunt force trauma to the bodies, that there were stab wounds to the bodies, that the bodies also had been tied up. Authorities will later piece together the family's terrifying final moments alive. The three adults, Sava Namie Savopoulos and Vera Figueroa, are held in an upstairs bedroom. The little boy Philip, separated from the grownups in another bedroom. The sun is where it appears, according to court documents, is where they set that fire. With the house on fire, the killer flees. To think that a human would torture and murder a 10 year old little boy while his mother and father sit in the next room hearing him scream in order to get money. It's heinous. Before the fire can spread to where the adults are, the fire department gets the alarm. It's 1:30pm on Thursday. The story blows up the case that is shaking the neighborhood to its core. Tonight, the media descends on the neighborhood crime scene. Investigators have been here all day long. Early that afternoon, someone notices Amy Savopoulos blue Porsche is missing from the house. Police ask the public for help, but it wasn't hard to find. Just follow the smoke. The Porsche torched in a church parking lot in Maryland. Back at the mansion, authorities are already sifting through the grisly scene. How much more difficult is it for them to try to figure this out with that house being burned so badly? The whole reason why you set something on fire in a case like that is to get rid of evidence. When we come back, a microscopic clue in the strangest place. And the daring late night manhunt and takedown. U.S. marshals tell us they're forced to do something they've never tried before. And he said move. Go, go, go. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milkey, host of ABC's Daily News podcast. Start here. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations with T Mobile. No trendspotter has to deal with trendspotty service because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch. Up to 4 lines of a virtual prepaid card allowed 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service report in 90 plus days device in eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card is no cash access and expires in six months. Police are on the scene of a deadly house fire. Four people were found dead inside. It is the case that is shaking the neighborhood to its core tonight. If the fire at 3201 Woodland Drive in Washington, D.C. had burned faster, if the Washington, D.C. firefighters had responded a little slower, the key evidence in the case might have been destroyed. But the location of the crime, the nation's capital, gives authorities a special advantage. This is Washington, D.C. we're unique in that sense. Our Metropolitan Police department and our D.C. fire department is backed up by federal agencies. The arson task force at the mansion includes the atf, which boasts perhaps the one lab in the country best equipped to extract DNA from fire damaged evidence. Greg Zarnopos is the deputy assistant director who runs the lab. Typically we're looking at debris from a fire scene. This is where that strange delivery, the Domino's pizza and those discarded pieces of crust comes back to bite the mansion home invader. A slice of pizza crust broke this case wide open. Crime scene specialists recover the leftover crusts. Nothing more than household garbage to you and me. But for them, the perfect serving of prime evidence. They rushed the crust to the ATF lab. Working around the clock looking at food. When someone takes a bite of it, we could see if there's any DNA present. Todd Bill, an ATF analyst, lifted the DNA profile off that pizza crust. If there's something like in this situation where there's a violent offender, we can call the FBI and they will do a immediate search for that profile. I have never seen a DNA hit turned around that quick. Never. Tuesday, May 19th. Only five days after the fire and the murders, a breakthrough. Boom. They get a hit. We've got a name, we've got a face. Darren Wint, 34 years old. Because of that lengthy criminal record, his DNA was on file. And now we knew at least one person who was allegedly inside that house. Now all they have to do is find him. Thus begins an intense 48 hour nationwide manhunt. From what I understand, the cars were right over here. Robert FERNANDEZ with the U.S. marshals Service is part of the task force now hunting for Wyndt. We try and draw a picture of relatives, locations where he's lived, friends, patterns of life. Then Wednesday night, exactly one week after the family had been taken captive in their mansion, authorities get a line on Wyndt. We were able to determine that he had fled the D.C. area. Two days after he commits these murders, Darren Wint takes a road trip and he goes to New York of all places. Gets on a bus and goes to his fiance's apartment. Took her on shopping sprees, paid off her credit card, all the while paying with hundred dollar bills. Always hundred dollar bills. So while D.C. police are looking for the killer of these three adults and child, Darren went is living it up in New York City. Police have identified the suspect accused of killing four people and they think he is in our area. They're sitting in bed together in her New York apartment and see his face come on the news. He saw himself on the news from what we understand, and then fled the area. And you just missed Ketchinger. That's right. Eventually he takes a taxi, a $900 taxi from New York City to D.C. back to his father's house. And that's where he and his brother concoct a plan. They're gonna get a lawyer and they're going to turn him in. But Wint's brother and a cousin, who say they had nothing to do with the crime, begin plotting to deliver Darren to the police immediately. At that point, the plan changes. And Darren isn't aware that the plan changes. Thursday night, a week after the murders, U.S. marshals Track went to this Howard Johnson's in the D.C. suburbs. You're going in ready for anything. That's right. And immediately, a surprise. The U.S. marshal's advance team notices Wint leaving the hotel. But he isn't alone. That advance team radioed to us, they had a suspicion that he was in one of two vehicles that were right over here. In one of those vehicles, Wint and three women. In the other, Wint's younger brother Darrell and their cousin. At that moment, both of those vehicles left and turned northbound. Didn't see that coming? Not at all. But we're ready to roll with it. Air support is called in from Prince George's County PD Authorities tail the group now traveling in a two vehicle caravan. A box truck with North Carolina tags, followed by a white Chevy Cruze. How many cars are following him at this point? Altogether, it could have been 25, maybe 30 vehicles. Moments later, authorities spring the trap, employing a daring maneuver to stop the car's cold. It's called a vehicle pin blocking maneuver. The Marshall's car surround the white Chevy and the box truck on all sides. And on the commander's go, the front car reverses, the rear car speeds forward and four more cars surround the target vehicles on all sides, basically pinning the car at four points and immobilizing them. They were looking in their mirrors, they saw the lights and they put their hands on immediately, immediately. I think they were completely and totally startled and surprised. So this is where it happened? Yeah, right here in the rear passenger seat of the white Chevy. Darren went trapped. He followed commands. He got out, he crawled, he got on the ground. He was immediately handcuffed and brought over to a police vehicle. And he didn't say a word. It was the end of a painstaking 48 hour manhunt. No sleep. The nation has quite frankly watched the search go from D.C. to New York, now back here to the D.C. area. And now he is in custody. In the car Wind was driving in, police report finding clothing, an iPad, two knives, cash, and thousands of dollars in money orders. What did you see in the truck, I saw in the side compartment of the passenger door a big wad of cash and it was $100 bills. You could tell it was hundreds. But the strangest find in the truck with Wint's brother and cousin a crumpled piece of paper scribbled on it. 300 Indiana Avenue, which is the address for the headquarters of the D.C. police. That may be another piece of information that would suggest the relatives are working with the marshals and we're going to ultimately drive him up to the front door. Possibly of the D.C. police. Wint appears in Superior Court the next day charged with first degree murder while armed. The community wanted to see everybody who was responsible locked up at once. Case closed. But this case is not closed, not by a long shot. When we come back, a man who came face to face with Darren Wint at the wrong end of a knife. Stay with us. A vexing criminal case. Four people murdered, the house apparently torched to destroy any clues. But some evidence seems to have survived the blaze. Hair, DNA and fingerprints were removed from the scene. And yet only one suspect in custody, 34 year old Darren Wint, linked to the case by the DNA evidence found on that Domino's pizza crust. Wint's family and friends have ducked the cameras. But out of the blue, a new player emerges. His former attorney, Robin Ficker, who takes the national stage to go out on a limb for Wint with outlandish observations. He never eats pizza. He doesn't like pizza. The bombastic Ficker makes sweeping statements about the innocence of a man he he defended on a handful of traffic tickets. I know him to be a kind, gentle, non aggressive person. Someone you wouldn't mind your grandmother going to lunch with. Mr. Ficker says that he's really a gentle giant, that you'd want to sit down and have tea with your grandmother. Well, not my grandmother. Clearly Ficker hasn't done his homework. He's got a fairly impressive number of arrests that involve a stage. There's some, I believe, domestic violence charges. And more importantly, there is the use of a knife. Yet when Wynd emigrated from the South American country of Guyana to the US his future seemed bright. Twelve years before the mansion murders, he landed a well paying job as a welder at American Ironworks, the company owned by Savasavopoulos. But for reasons unknown, Wint left the company after only two years. And that's when things went south for him. While living in suburban Maryland, Wyndt's own father, shown here on his Facebook page, feared living with him. Getting a protective order after he says Wint threatened to shoot him. A relative who didn't want to be named said Wint was known for his hair trigger temper. He's very hostile, he's arrogant. Everywhere he went, he fought with people, he fight with his father, with his brother, everybody. By 2006, Wint picked up stakes and moved here to the quiet upstate New York town of Oswego. Living in this apartment building. It's in this port city nestled along Lake Ontario, where Michael Babcock is about to see Wint's temper up close. We brought him back to the scene of his cousin's house where Babcock was trying to get Wint to leave after his cousin complained. After an altercation, Wint suddenly attacked. Darren had come out and was windmilling with the knives, and I went up at that and blocked and this is where he stabbed me on the wrist. Wind was arrested and ordered to stay away from Babcock. But while waiting for trial, he suddenly ambushed Babcock a second time on this bridge. Babcock was rushed to the emergency room where he was told he was lucky to be alive. When Darren stabbed me in the neck, if it would have been Ludwig, doctors told me that I would have died before I made it to the first hospital. He was convicted and jailed briefly, only to assault again, another man in Oswego and a girlfriend back in Maryland. He has a rap sheet as long as my arm, and that gives a perfect example to the claim of revolving door justice. Wint dates another woman, but the script is the same. He's arrested after threatening to kill her, her daughter and her friends, telling her he's good with a knife and could kill them easily. But despite that graphic threat, Wint is convicted only for smashing the windows of his girlfriend's car. And as the years pass, Wint apparently had not forgotten his former employer. In 2010, he made a bizarre and menacing return to American Ironworks, the company he had left five years earlier. He's found outside the American Ironworks with a machete, a BB gun and a can of beer. So there's this weird incident that occurred outside of the very place where Sava Savopoulos was president and CEO. Although charged with concealing a deadly weapon, Wyndt was allowed to simply plead guilty to having an open container of alcohol and fined $919. I wonder what those prosecutors are thinking now. I let that guy go on a lesser offense. Win was able to avoid the courts for the next five years. But along the way, his own siblings kick him out, searching for shelter. He is increasingly desperate. The suspect in that brutal murder at a Washington, D.C. mansion. Arrested, he was on the run. The next time he surfaced was when he made national news as the prime suspect in the Sevopolis murder case. For him to then take that a step further and get involved in potentially killing four people with a knife is really not a stretch based on his background. Coming up next, a courtroom family feud. Wyndt points the finger at his brothers. He couldn't pull this off on his own. No way. I don't think he's got it up here. Stay with us. For the team ready to conquer the grandest stage, immortality awaits. Moments of sweat and sacrifice forge the composition of champions. An unforgettable journey is nearing its finale. Four more wins to take home the trophy. The NBA final, presented by YouTube TV, begin June 5th on ABC. We interrupt this program to bring you an important Wayfair message. Wayfair's got style tips for every home. This is Nicole Byer helping you make those rooms flyer. Today's style tip when it comes to making a statement, treat bold patterns like neutrals. Go wild like an untamed animal. Print area rug under a rustic farmhouse table. From wayfair.com oh, fierce this has been your Wayfarer style tip to keep those interiors superior. Wayfair Every style, every home. Three years after he walked into this posh mansion, Darren Winn finds himself in another unfamiliar house. A D.C. courthouse. Darren's defense strategy a curious one, pointing the finger at his own brothers. The defense's argument was just that, that Darren Went was duped by his brothers Stephon. And Darrell went into coming to the house, into loaning his minivan to be part of this whole crime that Darren Went had nothing to do with will be an uphill battle for Wind as his friends and family come to testify not for him, but against Darren. Wynn's stepmom testified against him, saying that, you know, I don't know where he was for the entire day of May 13th and most of the day on May 14th. Where was this man for that entire time that this crime was taking place? There was the ex fiance who testified under immunity. That was a very key testimony because again, she testified that he spent all this money on her. Obviously she didn't want to be there. She still obviously very much cares for Derrin Wentt, but it's also the first time that we saw emotion from Derrin Windt. Derrin Wentt began crying when she began crying. The notion of brotherly love is put to the test. As Wyndt's own siblings take the stand. Stephan and Darrell, these two individuals are key to this story because Darren went on the first day of trial, he implicated both of his brothers as being the actual ones involved in this crime and not himself. Staphon Wint testifies first. Stephon credible answered the questions forthright, has a job, works really hard. He presented his employment records which showed he was at work on the 13th, he was at work on the 14th. What was interesting about Stephon Wyndt is that the defense attorney said he was the one who was in that bedroom, whose hair was found in the bedroom where the three adult bodies were found. And that's key because siblings who have the same mother also have the same part of a DNA. Next up was Darrell Wint, the defendant's half brother, who initially appeared half asleep during the lunch break. It was a 75 minute lunch break and he was outside the courtroom taking a nap. But eventually his testimony heats up. He said, you know, Darren went, that's my big brother, and you put me in this situation, you know, you're throwing me under the bus. He really looked at Darren and just said, I can't believe you're doing this to me. Whether you believe Darren or whether you believe Darrell, you saw this sort of brotherly fallout playing out in front of everybody. The defense strategy also includes other alternative suspects. On the first day of trial, not only did they implicate wince brothers, but they also implicated Jordan Wallace. Jordan Wallace, you'll remember, is the young man who dropped off the $40,000 at the house. Jordan Wallace, I believe, was simply an innocent person who got roped into this. Seen on video Getting the $40,000, driving it there the day they were being held hostage. Seen on video shopping for Saba the day they were murdered. But on the stand, he was credible, he was emotional, he was believable. Prosecutors insist Darren Wint acted alone. But as the alternative suspect strategy begins to implode, the defense throws a Hail Mary. The defense said, we're going to call one witness, and then Mr. Wind. People are like, what? What did she just say? It's very rare to see a defendant charged in a murder case unless they're claiming self defense. Take the witness stand, they're opening themselves up for a lot of potential questioning which could implicate them. And he just decided he's sharp enough, he's shrewd enough, he could take on that prosecutor. For about five hours. Darren went, talked about his role in all of this. He was very calm, very, yes, ma' Am, no, ma' am. You know, prosecutors coming at him, drilled, throwing questions at him left and right, throw left to right. By most accounts, Darren Wint was a cool customer on the stand, perfectly prepped to explain it all away. His testimony was so precisely crafted to counter every single prosecution piece of evidence. Oh, yeah, that was me. I walked into the house, but that was because my brother brought me over there. And I didn't even know, you know, what was going on in that house. Try as he might, Darren went. Cannot fully explain that slice of pizza. The slice he could not finish. The slice that may finish him right now. Darren went. Fate in the hands of a jury that after impassioned and emotional closing arguments from attorneys on both sides in the Manchin murders case, the jury deliberating right now, it could continue to deliberate through tomorrow, perhaps for several days. That prediction was accurate. Two days later, the verdict was in. A verdict in the mansion murders trial. Just moments ago, one word echoed through the courtroom. That word guilty. Guilty. Guilty. All 20 counts, guilty. And on the first, the first guilty delivery savas Vopoulos father. His shoulders just start to shake and you can tell he's weeping. And I looked over to Darren Wind. He just drops his head. And it just stayed there the entire time. Prosecutors recommending a sentence of life without parole. We cry and say, well, now Vera is going to rise in peace. And the whole family providing some measure of comfort for the woman who still holds on to the house keys to that mansion long after it was demolished. I worked for them for so many years, and I miss them so much. And why? Why bad things happen to good people because they were such a good family. At long last, justice for those two surviving daughters in that family. Thanks for listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. We hope you'll join us Friday nights at 9 on ABC for all new broadcast episodes. See you then. Hi, I'm Brad Milke. I'm the host of the Crime Scene Weekly, a new show from ABC Audio about the latest headline in true crime. This week, I'm talking about a major development in the Murdoch murder trial. The allegations that a court clerk lied on the stand. Could this mean a retrial for Alec Murdoch? Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
