Detective: D.C. mansion murders suspect couldn't have acted alone

WASHINGTON -- The suspect in the murders of four people inside a Washington, D.C., mansion could not have acted alone, according to a detective who was questioned for hours Monday during a court hearing in the case.

Det. Jeffrey Owens also revealed that two of the four victims were strangled in the fatal beating attack. The disclosure came in a hearing for Daron Wint, who is accused in the murders.

A judge ruled Monday that there is enough evidence to hold Wint on first-degree murder charges.

Forty-six-year-old Savvas Savopoulos; his 47-year-old wife, Amy; their 10-year-old son, Philip; and the Savopoulos family's housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, were found dead on May 14 in the Savopoulos family's mansion. The home had been torched and the family's car was later found set aflame as well.

Wint -- who was captured on May 22 after a massive multi-state manhunt led to his girlfriend's apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- entered the courtroom in Wash., D.C., at 11 a.m. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and his long braids were pulled back. He was restrained and seemed indifferent to much of the proceedings.

He was studied closely by one of the Savopoulos' surviving daughters -- both of whom were away at school during the massacre. Though her view of Wint was obscured by his lawyer, when she was able to, she stared directly at him, and appeared to be taking notes throughout the morning's testimony.

Owens said during questioning from prosecutors Monday that Savvas Savopoulos and Figueroa were strangled during the attack. Owens was only briefly questioned by prosecutors before the defense began a lengthy cross-examination focused on one of the prosecution's witnesses, who was identified in court only as Witness 1, but was previously identified by CBS News as Jordan Wallace, an assistant and personal driver to Savvas Savopoulos before he died.

Search warrants revealed that Wallace lied or "changed his account" about a $40,000 ransom he allegedly delivered to the Savopoulos family's mansion on the morning of the murders, including "how he received the package, where he left [it] and when he was told to get the package."

Wallace has not been charged and was never told by detectives that he was a suspect, according to court testimony.

Wallace allegedly returned to the scene of the crime and said his car was parked inside police tape. The detective said that indicated he was there before the tape went up and came back hours later.

The car was searched and found to contain his passport, checks, and the registration for one of the family's expensive cars, according to court testimony.

Owens testified that the witness changed his story several times about how his boss contacted him to ask him to drop money off at the house. He said that at 9 a.m. on May 14, Wallace texted a picture of stacks of cash to a romantic partner, referred to as Witness 2 in court testimony.

The defense then showed footage from Bank of America surveillance cameras that show the money wasn't picked up from the bank until 9:40 a.m.

The prosecution said the text actually came after the bank pick up, at 9:57. It noted that the text said, "my job is insane, don't tell anyone," which they said indicated that Wallace was surprised about what he was being asked to transport.

The defense, seeming to hint that Wallace was involved in the plot, also noted that it was odd that Wallace didn't ask for more details when his boss texted him to "pick up a package" -- containing thousands of dollars -- from another employee and bring it to his house. Wallace seemed strangely unsurprised that the package was tens of thousands of dollars, according to the defense.

Owens also described testimony from a person identified as Witness Three, who saw a man driving the family's Porsche before it was torched. The man was described as being a slender black man in his late 20s or early 30s, with short "edged" hair.

Owens acknowledged during testimony that Wint, the defendant, has long braids and does not match the description given by the witness.

Wint's DNA was found on a pizza crust at the crime scene, but on nothing else in the home, Owens said. He acknowledged that police had not completed DNA analysis for the entire crime scene.

Defense attorneys also grilled the detective about money found in two vehicles that were stopped when Wint was arrested.

It was revealed that the passenger in one car, a truck, was Wint's brother. Wint was in the other vehicle.

Defense attorneys said there was $13,000 in money orders and $7,000 in cash near Wint's brother. They said the suspect's brother had ordered other people, who defense attorneys say had no connection to Wint, to get the money.