New Attorney in D.C. Mansion Murders Case Claims Suspect was 'Set Up'

The new defense attorney in the D.C. Mansion Murders case told local ABC affiliate WJLA that although his client, a resident of Prince George’s County, is tied to the crime through DNA found on a pizza crust at the crime scene, the suspect may have been set up.

“(He) believes that once people begin to understand who else was out there and what was going on, they’re going to see him in a very different light,” Fairfax attorney Sean Hanover said of his client, Daron Wint, the suspect in the quadruple homicide. “I think it’s fair to say that he feels at this time that he was definitely set up.”

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Wint, a native of Lanham, Maryland, has been charged with first-degree murder following the deaths of millionaire Savvas Savopoulos, his wife Amy, their 10-year-old son Philip and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa. Police have reported, according to WTOP, that Wint allegedly held all four victims captive for roughly 18 hours before he was paid a five-figure ransom to kill all four and then set the house on fire.

Authorities responding to the fire were the first to find the bodies of the four victims in their home, which lies in an exclusive neighborhood that even U.S. Vice President Joe Biden calls home.

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In his interview with WJLA, Hanover noted police believe one man was not capable of accomplishing these crimes alone, which could reinforce Wint’s claim that he has been set up to take the fall in this case.

Wint was a former employee of Savopoulos at American Iron Works in Prince George’s County, the same place he calls home.

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The case has begun to make national headlines, and was even featured on ABC’s “20/20” last week.