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  • Carlisle Street Debra Fox’s autopsy inconclusive; intense investigation ongoing

    Carlisle Street Debra Fox’s autopsy inconclusive; intense investigation ongoing

    Debra Jane Fox portrait photo
    Debra Jane Fox

    The autopsy was inconclusive for Debra “Debbie” Jane Fox, 69, whose remains were found behind the All Host Inn and Suites in Wilkes-Barre on March 26, 2024. The coroner could not determine what caused her death or whether her death was accidental, homicidal, suicidal, etc. This ruling can be changed if more evidence comes to light.

    Debra was reportedly last seen alive in mid-January 2024, per the district attorney. Her daughter Melissa Fox said she last saw her mother in November 2023, when Debra was staying at a local hotel.

    Donate to GoFundMe to help with Debra Fox funeral costs

    Local law enforcement didn’t publicly announce Debra’s cause of death; it was released in response to a right-to-know request from the Times Leader. Per the TL, investigators seem to be actively pursuing leads, with several search warrants filed. County President Judge Michael T. Vough has sealed those warrants so their contents aren’t available to the public at this time.

    Debra was the owner of 142 Carlisle Street and apparently was living at that home when Nicole Cuevas was held there against her will, tortured, murdered, and buried in the basement in April 2023. The D.A. says there is no evidence Debra was involved.

    Deep family roots at Carlisle Street

    The house at 142 Carlisle Street was owned by Debra’s parents since 1948. Debra’s aunt, her father’s sister, lived and raised a family in another one of these rowhouses. Debra’s father, Luke T. Race, died in 1974 at age 55. He was a veteran of World War II and had worked for the Glen Alden Coal Company.

    Debra’s mother, who was born in Virginia, passed away in 2002. After her mother’s passing, Debra and her husband Daniel Fox inherited the home, according to a deed filed in 2002 with the Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds. Husband Daniel Fox died in 2021. Only two years later, Debra lost the family home because of unpaid property taxes.

    Information needed

    Do you know anything about the death of Debra Jane Fox? Anyone with related information can contact Wilkes-Barre City Detective Division c/o Lt. Mathew Stash at 570-208-0911 or Detective James Conmy at 570-208-6775.

    You can also submit an anonymous tip through Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers. If your tip leads to an arrest, you could qualify for a $5,000 reward.

    Sources

    “Luke T Race, 55, of City, Taken by Death,” The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Monday, September 09, 1974, accessed on newspapers.com

    Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds, book 3002, page 214485, Estate of Elsie V. Race to Debra Fox and Daniel Fox

    “Daniel Fox,” Obituary, Citizens’ Voice, October 22, 2021, viewed on newspapers.com.

  • ICYMI: Recent NEPA True Crime News

    In case you missed it. Select local crime headlines from the past week or so:

    Murderous ‘trick roll’ in Nanticoke? Local PD and State Troopers nvestigating this death and similar incidents.

    A “trick roll” is a scam using the false promise of sex for money to rob a would-be customer. Victims of the scheme usually don’t report the con. But when the mark dies, it speaks volumes to law enforcement. The suspicious death of 36-year-old Mark J. Harrison in Nanticoke is under investigation after he was found deceased in his home on April 14 from a possible drug overdose. Law enforcement sources suggest that one or two women, possibly advertised as prostitutes on social media, might have intended to induce the overdose to steal from Harrison.

    In 1931, a man who lived at 142 Carlisle Street ‘House of Horrors’ was murdered with an icepick.


    The Times Leader’s Look Back column by Ed Lewis reports on the 1931 murder of George H. Belles, who was living at 142 Carlisle Street. Belles was murdered by a coworker with an icepick and died in Mercy Hospital.

    Milford man charged with killing grandmother “She was the devil I had to do it.”

    George Sisco, 28, believed his grandmother was the devil and brutally attacked and murdered her when he saw her applying flea medication to the cat. According to court documents, Sisco believed she was poisoning the pet and initially attacked her with his fists and then with a knife, stabbing her in the chest and later setting her body on fire.


    Missing local woman was informant on dangerous Brooklyn gang; endured brutal beating and torture requiring reconstructive surgery during FBI investigation.

    [Paywall] The Citizens Voice published an in-depth feature on the case of Danielle Marie Drozdowski, who was 25 years old when she vanished in the spring of 2014. Family members and court documents reveal that in the months leading up to her disappearance, Drozdowski became involved with members of a notorious gang and a gangster rap group from Brooklyn, New York.

  • GoFundMe created for Debra Jane Fox funeral costs

    GoFundMe created for Debra Jane Fox funeral costs

    Danielle Fox, daughter of Debra Jane Fox, has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses for her mother.

    Debra Jane Fox, 69, was the former homeowner of 142 Carlisle Street in Wilkes-Barre, where Michigan woman Nicole Cuevas, 38, was held against her will, tortured daily for three weeks, brutally murdered, and buried in the basement. Officials say there is no evidence Fox was involved in the crimes against Cuevas.

    Mrs. Fox, a widow and mother of two daughters, was reportedly last seen by her daughter Melissa Fox in November 2023. Unfortunately, Debra Fox was found deceased on March 26, 2024, at the bottom of a wooded embankment behind the Host Inn All Suites hotel in Wilkes-Barre.

    As of now, Debra Fox’s death has not been ruled a homicide, and no charges have been filed in relation to her case. No cause of death has been publicly released yet, either.

    In an interview with reporter Andy Mehalshik about the Debra Fox case, District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said, “It is not yet being called a homicide. Her body was in such a state of decomposition we are still investigating the cause and manner of death. Obviously, it’s very suspicious to us and we believe it’s linked to Carlisle Street home after we found Nicole Cuevas’s body buried in the basement.”

    Unofficial sources say that after Debra Fox’s husband, Daniel Fox, 66, died in late 2021, Debra started taking in lodgers to help with expenses. (If that’s true, it seems they weren’t much help since she lost her home, which was in her family since 1948, due to unpaid property taxes in Sept. 2023.)

    One of those lodgers, Jason Paul Race, a homicide suspect in the Nicole Cuevas case, was Fox’s nephew, according to a 2010 obituary for Fox’s brother. In a recent WVIA news report, Melissa Fox said that Jason Race was a cousin through adoption.

    Debra Fox obtained a protection-from-abuse order against her nephew Jason Race in August 2023, four months after the murder of Cuevas. Per the Citizens Voice, Fox alleged Race had threatened to kill her, shot her with a BB gun, held a knife to her throat, and more.

    Fox wrote on her application for protection, “I was elderly abused, starved, hit with his fist, kicked, raped, got shot with BB guns — hit with the BB gun. Threatened for (my) life.” She also alleged she was locked in her room.

    While Debra Fox was still missing, her daughter Danielle Fox described her mother to WNEP news, “She had a big heart. She’ll take anybody in. She’d rather see people safe than being homeless and all that.”

    I hope we get some answers about what happened to Debra Fox soon.

    View the GoFundMe for Debra Fox here.

    Sources:
    • New Details in Carlisle Street ‘House of Horrors’ Investigation, Pahomepage.com (April 12, 2024)
    • [PAYWALL] Murder Suspect Was Target of PFA by Second Dead Woman, The Citizens Voice (April 10, 2024)
    • “Luke Thomas Race, Jr.” obituary, The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, (July 31, 2010), page T32, col 1, 2, viewed on newspapers.com
    • Family, friends hold vigil for Wilkes-Barre torture house victim, WVIA.org (April 20, 2024)
    • Human remains found at former home of missing woman, WNEP.com (March 13, 2024)

  • All 5 Nicole Cuevas Homicide Suspects Scheduled for May 31 hearing

    All 5 Nicole Cuevas Homicide Suspects Scheduled for May 31 hearing

    All five individuals arrested for the brutal kidnapping, torture, and murder of Nicole Cuevas are currently locked up in county jails (Jason Race, Desiree Linnete, Faith Beamer, and Sarai Doyle are in the Luzerne County Jail; William Wolfe is in Lackawanna County Jail, per court documents).

    The next action on their court dockets is the preliminary hearing, set to take place for all five defendants on Friday, May 31, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., in the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

    During a preliminary hearing, a magisterial district judge listens to the evidence from both the prosecution and the defense. The prosecution needs to prove there is good reason to believe a crime was committed and that the accused is likely the person who did it.

    The judge determines if there’s enough evidence to believe the accused committed the crime. If the judge thinks there is, the case will move on to the Common Pleas Court. If not, the charges will be dropped.

    The accused can choose to waive the preliminary hearing, and the case will go straight to the Common Pleas Court.

    Personally, I think since there is so much evidence and most of the defendants have confessed to their roles in the horrific crimes against Nicole Cuevas, I’d guess this bunch would waive the hearing rather than sit through a play-by-play of the horror they so cruelly inflicted on another human being. It seems like only Linnette is trying to say she wasn’t present when the torture and murder took place, per the police affidavit.

    I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

    Sources:

    • https://prdpcv.pwpca.pa.gov/available-services/Pages/Preliminary-Hearing.aspx
    • https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/#

  • GoFundMe Set Up for Wilkes-Barre homicide victim Nicole Cuevas

    GoFundMe Set Up for Wilkes-Barre homicide victim Nicole Cuevas

    The family of homicide victim Nicole Cuevas, whose remains were buried in the basement of 142 Carlisle Street in Wilkes-Barre, has set up a GoFundMe. The fundraiser was established by Paris Scroggins, Cuevas’ younger brother.

    The GoFundMe page says all money raised will go toward transporting Cuevas’ remains to Michigan, funeral costs, traveling back and forth from Michigan to Pennsylvania for trial dates, and helping with unanticipated costs related to funeral and burial costs.

    Scroggins wrote, “My sister was a good person and neither her nor her family deserves what happened.”

    Visit the GoFundMe here: https://gofund.me/2ee60183

  • Photo of murder suspect Desiree Linnette with now-deceased woman Debra Fox, posted 6 months after Nicole Cuevas homicide

    Photo of murder suspect Desiree Linnette with now-deceased woman Debra Fox, posted 6 months after Nicole Cuevas homicide

    Debra Fox and Desiree Linnette, posted on October 28, 2023
    Former 142 Carlisle St homeowner Debra Fox, whose suspicious death is still under investigation, pictured next to murder suspect Desiree Linnette. Photo posted to FB in Oct. 2023

    This photo shows Debra Jane Fox, 69, who went missing and was later found deceased behind a Wilkes-Barre hotel. She is seated next to murder suspect Desiree Linnette, 43.

    This image was posted to Facebook on October 28, 2023. According to Fox’s daughters, Debra Fox left the Carlisle Street home in the summer of 2023. She was staying at a local hotel, possibly with the group of people she had previously lived with at Carlisle Street, including Linnette.

    If that date stamp reflects the actual day the photo was taken, we are looking at the face of a woman, Linnette, who already viciously tortured and participated in the murder of a woman who was supposed to be her friend and possible love interest, Nicole Cuevas, 38.

    That is the face of a woman with a body in the basement.

    Linnette was also involved in the false imprisonment and assault on Anthony Cook, age 38, just three months before this.

    So far, there is no evidence that Debra Fox participated in the torture or murder of Cuevas. Fox’s PFA against her nephew Jason Race alleged that Fox was kept locked in her room.

    The exact date of Debra Fox’s disappearance isn’t clear. In a recent press conference, the Luzerne County D.A. said Fox disappeared in January. In an interview with Fox’s daughters in March 2024, they said they last saw her in November 2023, at a hotel.

    “I haven’t seen her since November,” Melissa Fox told WNEP. “I left the hotel, and she was there, and after that, nothing.”

    Here is the WNEP news interview with the Fox sisters from March 13, 2024:

  • Vigil planned for murder victim Nicole Cuevas, deceased W-B woman Debra Jane Fox

    Homicide victim Nicole Cuevas
    Debra Fox, deceased former 142 Carlisle St homeowner


    A candlelight vigil is planned for Friday, April 19, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre in honor of murder victim Nicole Cuevas and former 142 Carlisle Street homeowner Debra Jane Fox, whose body was found behind the Host Inn hotel in Wilkes-Barre. The public is invited to attend.

    The D.A. has not yet released a cause and manner of death for Fox.

    View the Facebook Event page here:

    https://www.facebook.com/events/796131918675793

  • Murder suspect Faith Beamer in ironic Street Talk column

    Faith Beamer, aka Fay Beamer, age 38, is one of five suspects arrested for the torture and murder of Nicole Cuevas in Wilkes-Barre.

    What she is accused of is very graphic and disturbing.

    The Citizens voice reports that “Beamer dug her fingers into Cuevas-Ingram’s eyes, causing severe damage and blindness. Beamer also stabbed and slashed at Cuevas-Ingram’s back, using fishing line to stitch up one of the wounds, police said.”


    Back in April 2017, Faith Beamer was asked by the Citizens Voice Street Talk column, “Do you believe in the death penalty?”

    Here is what she said.

    Faith Beamer, murder suspect, said she believes we need the death penalty.
    Faith Beamer said she believes in the death penalty. From “Street Talk,” (April 23, 2017) Citizens Voice, Wilkes-Barre, PA

    Pennsylvania technically is a death penalty state, but no one’s been executed since 1999. The last execution was Gary Heidnik, a Philadelphia serial killer who abducted, tortured, and raped six women, killing two, in a dungeon he built in his basement.

    There is currently a moratorium on executions in PA and a push to abolish the death penalty in the state.

    Extra: More Beamer from news archives

    28/22 News has been digging through its archives. They found this footage of Faith Beamer from June 2016. She is at the soup kitchen and appears to be crying for her murdered friend Kurt Swan. I don’t see any tears, though.

    Sources:

    “Street Talk,” The Citizens Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Sunday, April 23, 2017, digital archives

    [Paywall] “Court records detail history of horrors at murder house,” The Citizens Voice, April 11, 2024

    “Five things to know about the death penalty in Pa.” The Pennsylvania Capital-Star, Feb 24, 2023

    “Wilkes-Barre homicide investigation suspect previously interviewed” Pahomepage.com, April 10, 2024

  • Murder suspect Jason Race for years knew man he and Linnette held captive and physically assaulted

    Mugshot of Jason Race, one of the murder suspects in the Nicole Cuevas homicide.
    Mugshot of Jason Race, one of the murder suspects in the Nicole Cuevas homicide.

    Back in 2012, Jason Paul Race, one of five people arrested for the horrific torture and murder of Michigan woman Nicole Cuevas at 142 Carlisle Street in Wilkes-Barre, was involved in a sketchy car accident in Plymouth Township.

    One of the people in the car with him was Anthony Cook, the man who escaped from the Carlisle Street house of horrors in July 2023 — three months after the murder of Nicole Cuevas.

    It’s shocking how quickly this house of people took a vicious turn against another human being. One of them they knew for many years. The other was a newcomer.

    The 2012 car accident on Mizdail Road occurred when a Pontiac Aztek with Race, Cook, and a young woman in it was hit by a pickup truck that lost control making a left turn. Both vehicles stopped, but the driver of the pickup took off “when he was confronted by 31-year old Jason Rece [sic].”

    The article says the young woman was driving the car, but Race admitted in a later Facebook post that he was actually the person behind the wheel.

    From May 27, 2012, Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Penna.

    Jason Race posted this on one of his Facebook accounts in November 2012:

    “This is to all the people who think u know me why cant u just let the past die to clear things up yes i was the one driving when the azteck got smashed but i was only driving cause she asked me 2 drive.”

  • New details about man whose escape helped crack Nicole Cuevas homicide case; footage of Carlisle St welfare check

    Reporter Andy Mehalshik interviews the sister of the man who escaped 142 Carlisle Street; shows footage of police welfare check on ‘house of horrors’.

    In July 2023, a man named Anthony Cook escaped from the same basement where Nicole Cuevas was held and her remains were buried. Cook, like Cuevas, was reportedly assaulted in the basement of 142 Carlisle Street in Wilkes-Barre after being accused of child molestation. But unlike Cuevas, Cook managed to escape.

    Officials say Cook’s escape was crucial in advancing the investigation into Nicole Cuevas’ homicide.

    According to 28/22 News, Cook was held captive and beaten by murder suspects Desiree Linnette and Jason Race, along with two unidentified individuals described as “drug dealers.” He escaped through a basement window on the night of July 27, 2023, and ran to the Turkey Hill at 632 Carey Avenue, where he called 911. Police found him there, “beaten and bloodied,” with visible facial injuries.

    In a televised interview, Patricia London, Cook’s sister, shared disturbing text messages she received around that time. She told 28/22 News reporter Andy Mehalshik that murder-suspect Desiree Linnette, whom she’d known for over 15 years, sent her a message that read:

    “Your brother’s a child molester. He got what he got.”

    London also received a photo of her injured brother from his ex-girlfriend.

    She questioned Linnette’s conflicting claims. Linnette claimed she wasn’t there [when Cook was held captive and beaten] but Linette also said she’d tried to help him.

    “Well if you weren’t there, but then you also tried to help him — which story is correct?”

    According to The Citizens’ Voice, when police attempted to perform a welfare check on the child involved in the molestation allegation, Jason Race and Faith Beamer tried to block their access. Both were charged with obstruction of justice. Cook was never charged in connection with that allegation.

    Sources

    April 11, 2024: ‘House of Horrors’ investigation intensifies, PaHomePage

    [PAYWALL]: April 10, 2024: Court records detail history of horrors at murder house, The Citizens Voice

    April 10, 2024: Man claimed he was held captive in Carlisle Street basement, The Times Leader