Carlisle Street Death Investigation Archives

Killer Carlisle Street Quintet Waives Hearing; Is Debra Fox Confirmed Murdered?

The five individuals arrested for the horrific kidnapping, torture and murder of Michigan mother Nicole Cuevas waived their right to a preliminary hearing this week.

That’s no surprise. The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine if there’s enough evidence to bring a defendant to trial. The eyewitness and forensic evidence against them has got to be overwhelming.

Is Debra Fox Confirmed as Murdered?

The last report I’ve seen into the manner and cause of death of Debra Fox, the woman who owned the home at 142 Carlisle Street where where Nicole Cuevas was tortured and murdered, is that her cause and manner of death are both “undetermined.”

Her body was found on March 26, 2024, at the bottom of a steep embankment behind a budget hotel. She’d been staying there with at least one of the murder suspects after she lost her home to unpaid property taxes. (That home had been in her family since the 1940s, per Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds.)

But a recent news report from PAHomepage states that Debra Fox was murdered.

It says, “The longtime owner of the home, 69-year-old Debra Fox, was also murdered.” and “If you have any information about the murder of Debra Fox, contact Wilkes-Barre Police.”

Did that news outlet jump to that conclusion, or do they have access to some new (or inside) information? While it’s not exactly a giant leap to assume Debra Fox didn’t trip and fall down that embankment but was a victim of foul play, news outlets typically stick to the documented facts.

I can’t find any news reports that state Debra Fox’s death certificate has been amended to show the manner of death as homicide. And I haven’t had a chance to request a copy of the coroner’s report to see for myself if there is a change.

The Citizens Voice reported on 1/31/2025 that Debra Fox’s cause and manner of death are undetermined.

The Times Leader didn’t specify homicide, either.

If you know anything about the death of Debra Fox, contact the Wilkes-Barre Police Department. You can call anonymously by phone at 570.208.4200, Extension 4, by sending the Wilkes-Barre Police Department Facebook Page a private message, or using the form at the WBPD website.

Hometown Service Held for Nicole Cuevas; New Court Date for Suspects

The family of homicide victim Nicole Cuevas held a service today at St. Mary’s Cathedral Church in Saginaw, Michigan, according to a Facebook post by Nicole’s brother Paris Scroggins. Nicole’s obituary reads, “Nicole loved to read. Nicole truly loved being with her children and her family and friends. She loved visiting, chatting, and helping family and friends whenever needed.”

Court Date Moved for Suspects

All five suspects in the brutal kidnapping, torture, and murder of Nicole Cuevas are locked up in county jails without bail (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. It was originally set for all five defendants on Friday, May 31, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., in the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

It has been continued, aka rescheduled, to August 2, 2024, Friday, at 9 a.m.

Sources:

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

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

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.

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 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/#

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

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.

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’.

Previous news reports revealed that a man was held captive and beaten at 142 Carlisle Street but managed to escape in July 2023. (Thank God he escaped!) According to a report by 28/22 News, that man was Anthony Cook.

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

Cook, like Cuevas, was reportedly held in the basement and assaulted at the same location, 142 Carlisle Street, after accusations of child molestation were made against him. Per the Citizens Voice, he was beaten by two of the murder suspects, Desiree Linnette and Jason Race, and two individuals described only as “drug dealers.”

Cook escaped through a window on the night of July 27, 2023, and made it to the Turkey Hill at 632 Carey Ave to call 911. When police arrived, they found him “beaten and bloodied,” with injuries to his face.

In an interview with 28/22 News, Patricia London, Cook’s sister, shared disturbing messages she received on her phone. She told Andy Mehalshik that murder suspect Desiree Linnette, who she’d been friends with for more than 15 years, sent her a message saying, “Your brother’s a child molester, he got what he got.” London said she also received a photo of her brother from his ex-girlfriend.

London pointed out the inconsistency in Linnette’s statements: 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?” asked London.

Police checked on the child Cook said he was accused of molesting, but Jason Race and Faith Beamer attempted to block the police from seeing the child. For that, they were charged with obstruction. Cook was never charged with any crime related to 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