WILKES-BARRE, PA — Nicole M. Cuevas died hard.
Accompanied by what she thought were friends, the 38-year-old woman left her hometown of Saginaw for Pennsylvania in the spring of 2023. After arriving at a row house in the city of Wilkes-Barre, it took only days for Cuevas’ supposed friends to turn on her, according to prosecutors.
Desperate to return to Michigan, she reached out to loved ones seeking money for a way back.
Then contact with her stopped.
By then, Cuevas was no longer in control of her phone, police allege. Instead, she was in the control of group of people, including a mother-daughter duo, within a den of crack cocaine.
The group would imprison, starve, and torture Cuevas for nearly a month before brutally killing her, possibly as she made an escape attempt, prosecutors allege.
It would take 10 months before police found Cuevas’ body, buried in a foot-deep grave in the house’s basement. Just shy of a year since Cuevas’ death, prosecutors announced five suspects had been arrested and charged with six felonies each: criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, aggravated assault, and abuse of corpse.
Charged in Cuevas’ slaying are Desiree K. Linnette, 43; Faith L. Beamer, 39; Sarai M. Doyle, 24; Jason P. Race, 43; and William B. Wolfe, 54.
The grim and sobering details are outlined in an 18-page probable cause affidavit provided to the media by Luzerne County District Attorney Sam M. Sanguedolce following an April 9 press conference.
A nightmare begins
In late March 2023, Cuevas left Saginaw with Linnette and Doyle and three children, partly because she was pursuing a relationship with Linnette, according to the police-authored affidavit. They began living at 142 Carlisle St., where Beamer, Race, and Wolfe already resided, the affidavit states.
As soon as they arrived, Linnette turned on Cuevas, police wrote.
“Linnette began attacking Cuevas’ character,” police wrote, including accusing her of inappropriately touching one of the children present. “Investigators believe Linette’s intention was to tarnish Cuevas’ reputation and turn the house against Cuevas.”
Witnesses would also tell police Linnette “was calling the shots in the house” and that she, Race, and the mother-daughter duo of Beamer and Doyle were heavily using crack, supplied by Linnette.
Within about three days, Cuevas called her mother and asked for money for a bus ticket, saying she was “in Pennsylvania with friends,” the affidavit states.
She also sent a message through Facebook Messenger to a friend saying Linnette had just hit her and she was bleeding and in tears. She wanted to leave badly enough she was considering walking back to Saginaw, she messaged her friend.
After an unusually lengthy delay, Cuevas’ Facebook account began responding in a more aggressive tone, demanding money and denying she’d been abused, the report states.
“This don’t even [expletive] sound like you,” her friend replied.
According to police, it wasn’t her, as Linnette had taken her phone. As witnesses later told police, Linette and Cuevas got into a fight, with the latter initially getting the upper hand. Beamer and Doyle then joined in and overpowered Cuevas, police wrote.
“After that fight, Cuevas was subjected to daily beatings and torture,” police wrote.
Her confinement and abuse would end with her death on April 21.
A Mystery Unearthed
Though no one had seen or spoken to Cuevas since early April 2023, it wasn’t until February 2024 that police learned the homicide had occurred.
A witness came to them on Feb. 21 to report Cuevas’ possible homicide at the Carlisle Street house.
This person and a subsequent witness indicated an 8-year-old girl was present for Cuevas’ beating and killing. The girl claimed Beamer and Race were using animal feces and urine to mask the odor of Cuevas’ body, the affidavit states.
Police spoke with Linnette, who admitted to driving from Saginaw to Wilkes-Barre with Cuevas. She said she left the Carlisle Street house at some point and when she returned, Cuevas was gone. She assumed she had returned to Michigan, she told police.
Investigators spoke with Cuevas’ mother, who said she contacted Michigan authorities in January about her daughter’s disappearance. She said she hadn’t heard from her since April, when her daughter asked her for money for a bus ticket. She had sent her daughter $400, but she never arrived home.
Police on Feb. 27 entered the house, having obtained permission to do so from its current owner, who bought it at a tax sale the previous fall. Entering the basement, they were greeted with the overwhelming smell of mothballs and noticed an anomaly in the dirt floor, they wrote.
They returned that day with a search warrant and excavated the basement floor, finding Cuevas’ body buried a foot deep, quicklime and mothballs mixed in with the dirt.
Her body was found wrapped in a tarp tied with rope and extension cord. An Autopsy revealed she suffered broken bones and stab and slash wounds, the affidavit states.
A pathologist ruled Cuevas died of asphyxiation.
Arrests and admissions
Throughout the probe, police interviewed numerous witnesses and suspects. Beamer, Doyle, Wolfe, and Race would all make incriminating statements, according to the police affidavit.
Through this, investigators were able to put together a timeline of Cuevas’ final weeks after Linnette, Doyle and Beamer allegedly beat her.
Multiple witnesses described Cuevas being handcuffed to items in the house, including a post in the basement. The affidavit says that she had to ask to use the bathroom and was only being fed bread and water at Linnette’s direction.
Beamer admitted to digging her fingers into Cuevas’ eyes, punching her, and stabbing her, the affidavit states.
Doyle told police she regularly struck Cuevas and helped Linnette shave her head because “no one could be prettier than Linnette,” the affidavit states. Doyle said the hierarchy in the house had Linnette at the top, followed by Race, then Beamer, then everyone else.
All the interviewed suspects said Linnette had hit Cuevas in the face with a hammer, causing her to lose a tooth, affidavits state.
Race and Wolfe also told police they had engaged in torturing their prisoner, their handcuffs being used on her. Wolfe and Beamer told police Cuevas was killed during an escape attempt, with Wolfe saying he and Race kicked and stomped her.
Doyle gave a slightly different account, saying Beamer, Wolfe, and Race attacked Cuevas after she had soiled herself on being unable to make it to the bathroom. They then fetched a stethoscope, with which they determined Cuevas was dead, the affidavit states.
The group considered placing her body in an abandoned house down the street before electing to bury her in the basement, the affidavit states.
Police on Tuesday, April 9, arrested Linnette, Beamer, Doyle, Race, and Wolfe. District Attorney Sanguedolce said the Carlisle Street house was previously owned by a Debra Fox, who was last seen alive in January. Her body was found near an expressway in March.
Sanguedolce said the probe into Fox’s death is ongoing, with investigators believing the two cases are related. He did say investigators don’t believe Fox was involved in Cuevas’ killing. There is no mention of Fox in the affidavit related to Cuevas’ death.
Police noted in their affidavit this isn’t the first time the house has played host to violence. In July 2023 — after Cuevas’ death — a man was badly beaten at the Carlisle Street house. He told police Linette, Race, and two others kept him captive in the basement for hours and accused him of inappropriately touching a young girl.
MLive has reached out to several of Cuevas’ relatives but have not heard back. In a public Facebook post, her brother asked all messages be directed to him.
“I’m asking everyone to think about what my mother and our family are going through,” the post states. “We need support but talking about it is difficult ESPECIALLY for my mom. She needs time but all support is appreciated.”
Her brother also alleged the family previously tried to file a missing person report for Cuevas.
Cuevas’ brother has also started a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral and travel expenses and for Cuevas’ children.
“My sister was a good person and neither her nor her family deserves what happened,” her brother wrote.
The Saginaw Police Department, Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan State Police, and Buena Vista Township Police Department have said no missing-person report for Cuevas had been filed with them.
The five suspects are scheduled for preliminary examinations on April 19.
