WASHINGTON (KRON/AP/CNN) – A manhunt is under way in the mysterious slayings of a wealthy Washington, D.C. family and their housekeeper. Investigators on Thursday said they believe the suspect is in the Brooklyn area of New York City.

At a news conference, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier said that her department is in touch with police in New York as they search for 34-year-old Daron Dylon Wint on charges of first-degree murder.

Wint was spotted in Brooklyn as recently as Wednesday night, said Michael Czin, spokesman for D.C. Mayor Muriel Browser.

When firefighters responded to the house for a fire on May 14, they found the slain bodies inside. Authorities believe the fire was intentionally set. The victims have been identified as 46-year-old Savvas Savopoulos; his 47-year-old wife, Amy; their son, Philip; and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa.

Chief Lanier says investigators believe Wint worked for Savvas Savopoulos’ company American Ironworks in the past.

She advised Wint to turn himself in, noting that his family has asked him to do so.

Investigators used DNA analysis conducted at a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lab to identify Wint, and his name has been known to federal authorities since Tuesday, a law enforcement official involved in the investigation said. His name was released publicly as a suspect Wednesday.

DNA left on a delivery pizza may be a major breakthrough in the case, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Investigators discovered Wint’s DNA on the crust of a Domino’s pizza — one of two delivered to the Savopoulos mansion May 14 as the family was held hostage inside — the source said.

The victims all suffered from blunt force trauma. Authorities believe the all four were killed before the house — located in a tony, embassy-dotted neighborhood near the home of Vice President Joe Biden — was set ablaze, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

The source said the victims were bound with duct tape and signs that Philip had been stabbed and tortured before he was set on fire.

The pizza apparently was paid for with cash left in an envelope on the porch, according to police.

The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for Wint, said Drew Wade, an agency spokesman. Wint had ties to New York, and police there were working with District of Columbia authorities to help track him down, but so far he has not been spotted in the metropolitan area.

Online court records show that Wint was convicted of second-degree assault in Maryland in 2009 and sentenced to 30 days in jail. He also pleaded guilty in 2010 to malicious destruction of property, and a burglary charge in that case was dropped, court records show.

Wint was born and raised in Guyana and moved to the United States in 2000, when he was almost 20 years old, according to court records filed in Maryland. He joined the Marine Corps that same year and received an honorable discharge for medical reasons, the records show. Following his discharge, he worked as a certified welder, the records show.

Savopoulos was the CEO of American Iron Works, a construction-materials supplier based in Hyattsville, Maryland, that has been involved in major projects in downtown Washington. Company representatives have repeatedly declined to comment. Savopoulos moonlighted as a martial-arts instructor and a he planned to recently open a new martial arts studio in northern Virginia.

The Savopouloses lived in a $4.5 million home Woodley Park, where mansions are protected by fences and elaborate security systems and local and federal law enforcement officers are a constant presence, in part because Vice President Joe Biden’s official residence is nearby.

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Associated Press writer Colleen Long in New York and photographer Alex Brandon in Washington contributed to this report.

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