Former Guest Led 2 Men to House, She Tells Police
By Ruben Castaneda and Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 28, 2008
A young woman who had once stayed overnight at the Chevy Chase home of a couple who were killed there last week led two fellow attackers to the house, according to police charging documents released yesterday after her initial court appearance.
Angela Hernandez, 20, told D.C. homicide detectives that she and two friends were riding in a white Toyota on Nov. 20 when she pointed out the home of Michael Spevak, 68, and his wife Virginia, 67, according to the charging papers. One of her companions said, "Let's rob it," the documents state.
Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder and felony murder, federal prosecutors said.
The Spevaks' bodies were found Saturday in their home in the 5300 block of Belt Road NW. Hernandez, arrested late Wednesday, is the second suspect charged in the killings. On Tuesday, police arrested Piero Fuentes Hernandez, 21, of Capitol Heights in connection with the case. He is not related to Angela Hernandez.
Yesterday, after a brief hearing, D.C. Superior Court Judge Melvin R. Wright ordered Angela Hernandez held without bond pending a hearing Monday. Fuentes Hernandez is also being held without bond.
The charging documents filed to support Angela Hernandez's arrest provide the most detailed account to date of the way detectives allege the crime unfolded.
The Spevaks were well-regarded in their neighborhood. Michael Spevak, a psychiatrist, saw patients in the family home. Virginia Spevak devoted time to helping youths in the District's foster care system. It was the Spevaks' commitment to foster care that provided the nexus with their killers, the charging documents allege.
In the early hours of Nov. 23, a few hours after the Spevaks' bodies were discovered, police found their car, a blue 2005 Toyota Scion, in an alley behind the 500 block of Ingraham Street NW. The car had been set on fire.
The next day, a witness called police and reported finding a partially burned identification card in the name of Molly Spevak in the alley behind the 600 block of Ingraham. Officers canvassed the area, and in the back yard of a house on the block found additional credit and identification cards for Molly and Sidney Spevak. They were the parents of Michael Spevak, according to the charging documents.
The owner of the house invited police inside, where officers met Angela Hernandez. She agreed to be interviewed by detectives, according to the charging document.
Initially, police said, Hernandez said she knew the names of the people who might have stolen the Toyota Scion but denied any knowledge of the killings. She then admitted that she knew the victims, had visited her friend "Anna," the couple's former foster child, at the Spevak home several times and had spent the night there, although she had not been at the home in two years, according to the charging document.
Eventually, the court document states, Hernandez admitting pointing out the home to her two companions, one of whom was armed with a metal "pole type weapon," the other a gun.
According to the account provided by the charging document, Hernandez said she told Fuentes Hernandez to ring the doorbell and ask for Anna. Hernandez said Michael Spevak opened the door, and her two companions forced their way in and dragged Spevak into the house. Hernandez said she left the house and waited in the Toyota. Minutes later, her two companions came out carrying computers, which they put in the trunk before driving away.
Three computers were among the items stolen from the Spevak home, police have said.
On Wednesday night, in a follow-up interview, Hernandez waived her Miranda rights and told detectives she also provided the telephone cords used to restrain the victims, the document states.
Fuentes Hernandez told police that he is a member of the MC Gang, or Master Criminals, which is an affiliate of STC, or Street Thug Criminals, according to the charging documents filed in support of his arrest. Hernandez told detectives that she has not been initiated into a gang but has friends who are with the MC Gang, STC, and MS-13, according to charging documents in her case.
Over defense objections, Wright yesterday granted a request by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Sines to compel Hernandez to provide blood, hair and saliva samples so investigators can obtain her DNA. A judge granted the same request with respect to Fuentes Hernandez.
Three days after the killings, Hernandez and Fuentes Hernandez posed for photographs in a photo booth, copies of which federal prosecutors attached to the Hernandez charging documents.
A legend above the series of photos proclaims "WANTED For Just About Everything." The two are kissing in one photo and sticking their tongues out in another.
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