A Michigan woman who traveled to Pennsylvania to meet a "friend" was kidnapped, brutally beaten, stabbed, and tortured before her body was wrapped in a tarp and buried in a dirt basement of the Wilkes-Barre house of horrors.
Five people were arrested in the gruesome death of Nicole Cuevas, 38, of Saginaw, Mich., Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce announced on Tuesday, the Times Leader reported.
Cuevas' body was buried in a basement in April 2023 and was recovered on Feb. 27, he said.
"During her stay there, she was handcuffed to a basement post, and over the course of several weeks, she was severely beaten, the beatings resulted in bruising, a broken ankle, nearly all of her ribs were broken, her nasal cavity was destroyed, her head was shaved, she was stabbed and slashed in several places including her arm, torso and all over her back, and her hyoid bone in her neck was broken, that is generally indicative to investigators of strangulation," Sanguedolce said.
The DA said Cuevas visited Wilkes-Barre believing she and one of the people who lived there were "friends."
"Obviously that went awry fairly quickly," Sanguedolce said, People reported.
"I think she came really just for a visit and tried to get home but was unsuccessful in that endeavor unfortunately by nature of the fact that she couldn't escape her kidnappers that resulted in her death," he said.
The five arrested were identified as Desiree Kehaun Linnette, 43; her daughter, Sarai Kamalani Doyle, 24; Jason P. Race, 43; Faith L. Beamer, 39; and William Benjamin Wolfe, 54.
They face charges of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, aggravated assault, and abuse of a corpse, the Times Leader reported.
According to court documents obtained by the outlet, Linnette told others in the house that Cuevas had molested a child.
The accusations led the others to repeatedly beat the Michigan woman.
Witnesses told police they were told to avoid the kitchen while visiting the home, and one saw a drooling Cuevas there, her head shaved.
After her ankle was broken, Cuevas was moved around the house in a handcart, the court documents say.
At one point, Cuevas, who was handcuffed, soiled herself, sending Linnette and Race into a frenzy that ended with Race stomping on Cuevas' head until she died.
They covered Cuevas' head in shopping bags and wrapped her body in a tarp, securing it with electrical cords and rope.
The five charged are being held without bail.
