DC Mansion Fire Suspect: 'No Reason to Believe' He Is in New York City, Police Say
— -- New York City police told ABC News that they have "no reason to believe" that quadruple murder suspect Daron Wint is in New York this evening, even though that was widely believed to be the case earlier today.
Police have not been able to confirm that Wint, who was named as the suspect in the attack on a family in their Washington, D.C., mansion last week, was ever in New York City despite his girlfriend's claims that he stayed at her apartment Wednesday night.
The girlfriend, whose name has not been publicly released, said that he might have come up to New York via bus after last Thursday's murders but police sources told ABC News that they are "not confident" that's accurate.
The girlfriend met with investigators today and told them that she was under the impression that Wint would be turning himself in, but police have no indication that will be happening. She is not a suspect in the case and does not face any charges, police said.
Wint was named by D.C.'s Metropolitan Police as the suspect in the yet-unsolved murders after they discovered his DNA at the scene, left on an uneaten pizza crust, authorities said.
D.C. Police Commissioner Cathy Lanier said this morning that Wint was in Brooklyn at that time and law enforcement officials confirmed to ABC News that the U.S. Marshals are working the case in New York and in D.C. through fugitive task forces that include investigators from dozens of law enforcement agencies.
Wint grew up in Guyana and moved to the United States in 2000. A Marine Corps source told ABC News that Wint went through their boot camp on a South Carolina base for two months in 2001 but he never graduated from the program, meaning that he was never a Marine and is qualified as a Marine recruit. The reason why he did not graduate was not released.
Lanier said that the investigation has determined that the attack which left four dead including a 10-year-old boy does not appear to be random.
"We do believe there is a connection between the suspect in this case through the business" of the male victim, Savvas Savopoulos, Lanier said.
Wint is believed to have previously worked at American Ironworks, the company which Savopoulos was CEO, she said.
Wint has previously been charged with second degree assault four times and one fourth degree sexual offense, all in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Three of the assault charges and the sexual offense charge were dropped but he was found guilty of second degree assault in March 2009.
NYPD detective bureaus in each precinct have been alerted to the possibility the suspect may be in New York or the surrounding areas.
Police do not know about any car that Wint may be using, but Lanier suggested that Wint may have traveled from the D.C. area to New York via bus.
Police urged anyone who sees Wint to call police and to treat him as armed and dangerous.
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