WILKES-BARRE — Five individuals were taken into custody for the abduction and brutal murder of a woman from Michigan. Her body was concealed in a tarp, covered with moth balls and lime, in the basement of a residence on Carlisle Street in Wilkes-Barre, as announced by Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce on Tuesday.
Sanguedolce confirmed that the woman was Nicole Cuevas, 38, from Saginaw, Mich.
Cuevas was murdered and buried in the dirt basement at 142 Carlisle St. in April 2023. Investigators recovered her body on Feb. 27, according to Sanguedolce.
“While she was there, she was attached to a post in the basement, and during several weeks, she was severely beaten. The beatings led to bruising, a broken ankle, nearly all of her ribs being broken, her nasal cavity being destroyed, her head being shaved, and she was stabbed and cut in several places, including her arm, torso, and back. Her hyoid bone in her neck was also broken, which indicates to investigators that she was strangled,” Sanguedolce stated.
Sanguedolce also mentioned that Cuevas was repeatedly stomped on, kicked, and strangled.
Taken into custody were Desiree Kehaun Linnette, 43, and her daughter, Sarai Kamalani Doyle, 24, both of Edwardsville, Jason P. Race, 43, Faith L. Beamer, 39, both of Wilkes-Barre, and William Benjamin Wolfe, 54, whose address is listed as homeless. All of them are facing charges of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, aggravated assault, and abuse of a corpse.
District Judge Rick Cronauer of Wilkes-Barre arraigned the five individuals, all of whom were denied bail.
Sanguedolce stated that the investigation is ongoing and is connected to the death inquiry of Debra Fox, 69, whose partially decomposed body was discovered in a wooded area along the North Cross Valley Expressway in Wilkes-Barre on March 26.
Fox previously owned the Carlisle Street residence until it was sold at a Luzerne County upset sale in September 2023.
Sanguedolce mentioned that Cuevas traveled from Michigan to Wilkes-Barre with the belief that she was entering into a relationship. Shortly after moving into the Carlisle Street residence with Linnette, Doyole, Race, Beamer, and Wolfe, their arrangement took a turn for the worse, according to Sanguedolce.
Legal documents filed against the five accused allege that Linnette turned on Cuevas by informing others in the residence that Cuevas had molested a child.
The accusations by Linnette resulted in Cuevas being repeatedly subjected to beatings, kicks, stomps, stabbings, and slashes, according to court records.
Individuals who spoke to investigators stated that they were told to stay out of the kitchen and basement when they were in the house. One of them accidentally went into the kitchen and saw Cuevas with a shaved head and drooling.
When Cuevas’ ankle was broken, she was moved about while propped up on a handcart, according to court records.
While handcuffed, Cuevas had an accident, which made Linnette and Race angry, resulting in Race stomping on Cuevas’s head until she passed away.
According to court records, investigators found the black boots that Race wore when he stomped on Cuevas’ head.
After Cuevas got killed, the five talked about moving her body to an empty house on Carlisle Street but Linnette wanted her buried in the basement.
Race handled the digging in the dirt basement and got help from others, according to court records.
Cuevas’ head was put in two plastic shopping bags and her body was wrapped in a tarp and tied with electrical cords and rope.
After detectives got information that a body was buried in the basement on Feb. 27, two detectives went to the residence and detected a strong moth ball odor.
As detectives started digging in an area where the dirt basement looked disturbed, they found the blue tarp about 12 inches below the surface covered in lime and moth balls, according to court records.
Students in the anthropology course at Mercyhurst University in Erie helped collect Cuevas’ remains and trace evidence.
Court records say Cuevas, soon after arriving in Wilkes-Barre in March 2023, asked for money from her relatives in Michigan for a bus ticket as she wanted to return home.
Sanguedolce declined to say if a cause and manner of death for Fox has been determined as he said it remains under investigation.
