Transcript for A $3.5 million mansion, a beautiful family’s future up in flames: Part 1
with the breaking verdict in the story he’s been covering since it began some three years ago. There’s a house fire. Breaking news out of D.C. Four people confirmed dead. A house fire. This investigation continues as we speak. We have firefighters and D.C. Police. The call came in at 1:30 in the afternoon. Looks like it’s sweeping across the overhang on the house. I’d come quick. We’re out on a story, something else. They said, “Hey, there’s a fire on woodland drive. Get over there right away.” Got there. Whoa, big fire. And then moments later, the realization. Something’s going on here. Something really bad is going on here. Reporter: A $3.5 million mansion engulfed in flames. The second floor is completely burned. Reporter: Where there is now an unusual intensity, firefighters and police combing through the scene. On the street, sheer panic, says WJLA reporter Stephen Tschida. Investigators do believe this fire was deliberately set. Arson, oh dear. It’s really rattling. This woman comes up and she’s distraught. And she’s like, “I’m so afraid. I was supposed to be there. They texted me. They told me not to come. And I work here. I know this family.” And she’s frantic and hysterical. Reporter: That woman is Nelly Gutierrez. For the past two decades she worked for the homeowners, Amy and savvas savopolous. What were they like together? They love each other. Reporter: She says they were the picture perfect couple. In my 19 years, 20 year working for the family, they never fight. They were so good together. He really love Amy very, very deep. And the same way. You know, she was the same way. When firefighters arrived at this house, they thought it was just a fire. They were crawling around on their hands, because this is their training. He’s feeling around the room. And he feels a chair and he feels the chair is weighted. And he feels for a head. And he feels a head and he tries to pick the person up. And they slip right through his grasp. He’s radioing in, we’ve now got a crime scene here. The room is a crime scene. Reporter: These photos giving us a look inside the house. Inside the carnage. You could see the blood covering the floor. You could see one of the chairs that they had been restrained in. You could see it was just covered in blood. It’s tossed over on the side. Then, the room where Philip was. Just charred. His bed, charred. It had sunken. It had collapsed. It had burned all the way through to the floor below. It was awful. The fire is definitely suspicious in nature. We have three adults and possibly a child deceased inside of the home. Reporter: Amy and savvas Savopoulos. Their posh home now boarded up. Newly surrounded by a locked chain link fence, starkly out of place in this, quiet, leafy D.C. Neighborhood. An abrupt ending to a love story that seemed destined to play out as happily ever after. They both attend the university of Maryland. Savvas had a crush for four years, and pursued her and pursued her and pursued her and she would never say yes till the very end. She finally agreed to go on a date and they seemed like the perfect match for each other. Reporter: After college the couple has a large Greek orthodox wedding. Savvas, known for a strong work ethic and gentle manner, succeeds his father as CEO of American iron works. As a young, wealthy Washington couple, they settle in this red-bricked home, with its own library and music room, surrounded by manicured lawns, hedges, and Gates. Helping maintain the inside of the home, Vera Figueroa. A mother of two supporting her family back in El Salvador. She wouldn’t make it out alive. So, tell me about Vera. What was she like? Very liked. First of all, she liked to work hard. And she was very happy lady. Reporter: The couple have three children, Abigail, Katerina, and Philip. The two girls, away at boarding school during the fire. Phillip unfortunately losing his life in the flames. What about Philip, though? He’s 10. He was very, very mature. He was very funny, you know, like, when I always talk to him in Spanish he gets so excited, but then when I talk to him a little bit more, he’s like, “No, no, I don’t understand.” Reporter: 10-year-old Philip, known as flip, is a fan of Harry potter and has an atypical hobby — go-kart racing. This is not the thing your Normal 10-year-old gets to do. Phillip had a coach and he had a top of the line go-kart and Amy made her son do his homework between races. Reporter: And it’s at one of those go-kart tracks that savvas Savopoulos meets this man. Fellow racing enthusiast Jordan Wallace. Wallace creating his own website with videos of the extreme sport. My life is awesome, like, I have nothing to complain about. Reporter: Their friendship would lead to a job as savvas’ personal assistant. Wallace will later end up playing a pivotal role in those final hours. That assistant says he got a call from savvas Savopoulos to bring $40,000 cash to the house. Reporter: Was it an armed robbery gone wrong? Or a calculated murder-for-hire? Questions that would confound police and this once peaceful neighborhood. I talked to several neighbors who said they saw Philip playing in the driveway. They would see Amy walking around the neighborhood exercising. Now, passing by that house is an eerie feeling for these neighbors. One that will never go away. Reporter: So this had to shake them to their core. It shook that community to the core. It shook the city to the core.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
