Amy and Savvas Savopoulos, aged 47 and 46 years respectively, their 10-year-old son Philip and a 57-year-old housekeeper from El Salvador were identified as the victims of an upscale Washington D.C. fire – not far from Joe Biden’s residence – on Thursday. Three of the victims suffered sharp, blunt force trauma and their deaths were ruled as homicide with the police seeking to find who the persons involved in the killings are.

The crime scene

Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a Friday news conference that there was a “savage, bloody and obvious crime scene”. Evidence collection is ongoing. Firefighters were called at 1.15 p.m. and a neighbor said he saw smoke coming from the upper storey and a man knocking on the family door to try and get the family out. Police believe that the killers had entered the home on Wednesday, possibly keeping the victims bound and tortured. One of the victims had head injuries and smelled of gasoline. Savas Savvopoulos, CEO of American Iron Works, may have finally given the killers what they wanted on Thursday before he was killed.

The car 

The family’s blue 2008 Porsche 911 was seen leaving the home at 10.30 a.m. and was later found burning in a Maryland parking lot. A person of interest was seen in a surveillance video wearing a hood.

The housekeeper

Another housekeeper who cleaned the house every Thursday morning received a text message from Savas Savvopoulos on Wednesday, his voice was tense, stating that his wife was sick. She also received a message from Amy at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning: “I am making sure you do not come today,” it read. She received no answer after calling the family to see if everything was well.

The children

The unfortunate boy, Philip, was staying home from school after being involved in a go-kart injury. The other two daughters, Abigail and Katerina, aged 19 and 16 respectively were not home as they were at boarding schools.

The community

The local community was shocked by the deaths as the family was active in school events as donors to social and political causes and regularly attended St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral.

The week before

Police documents show an unusual amount of activity around the victims’ home before the incident. There are neighbor reports of a man banging on the door of one home, an aggressive vacuum cleaner salesman at another house, prowler reports and a blue Porsche, possibly that of the Savoupolos family, speeding down the street on the day before.