Search warrants filed in the homicide investigation of Nicole Cuevas found buried in the dirt basement of a Carlisle Street, Wilkes-Barre, residence were unsealed Tuesday at the request of the Times Leader. Ed Lewis | Times Leader
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Cuevas
Residence at 142 Carlisle St., Wilkes-Barre, where the body of Nicole Cuevas was recovered buried in the dirt basement on Feb. 27. Ed Lewis | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Search warrants filed in the homicide investigation of Nicole Cuevas, whose body was recovered buried in the dirt basement of a Carlisle Street, Wilkes-Barre, residence earlier this year, indicate detectives obtained phone records, text messages, videos, records from a Hazleton-based welfare referral office, items seized from a storage unit in Edwardsville and a garage near Berwick.
Nearly 12 search warrants filed under seal since Feb. 27 were unsealed Tuesday at the Luzerne County Courthouse at the request of the Times Leader.
A review of search warrant cover sheets and attached affidavits say Wilkes-Barre City police detectives were alerted to Cuevas’ homicide from a counselor on Feb. 21, suggesting that an 8-year-old child witnessed Cuevas, 38, being killed inside 142 Carlisle St. and buried in the basement.
City police detectives along with Luzerne County detectives and the Pennsylvania State Police, Troop P, Forensic Services Unit searched the Carlisle Street house, finding Cuevas’ body buried about 12 inches deep in the the dirt basement on Feb. 27. Court records say detectives were met with a strong odor of moth balls when they walked down stairs to the basement, where forensic testing revealed blood was found at the base of the stairs.
Cuevas’ body was wrapped in a tarp and tied with electrical cord.
Other search warrants and affidavits sought phone records including text messages, emails and videos from the cellular phone of Desiree Kehaun Linnette, 43.
Unnamed witnesses who were interviewed by detectives claimed Linnette had saved videos and confessions related to Cuevas’ homicide. Two search warrants were served upon Apple, Inc., and one served on T-Mobile.
Another search warrant was executed for a self-storage unit in Edwardsville leased by William Benjamin Wolfe, 54, who was reportedly living at a homeless camp near the now closed Kmart in Edwardsville.
Detectives were alerted that a knife, handcuffs and a stethoscope were placed inside the storage unit after Cuevas was killed.
Court records filed in the case say witnesses told detectives that a stethoscope was used on Cuevas to determine if she was still alive.
During a news conference on April 9, District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said Cuevas was killed sometime in April 2023, after arriving in Wilkes-Barre from Saginaw, Mich., with Linnette in February 2023.
Shortly after arriving, Sanguedolce stated Cuevas wanted to return to Michigan but was tortured inside the Carlisle Street house for weeks.
Sanguedolce at the April 9 news conference announced Linnette, Wolfe, Sarai Kamalani Doyle, 24, Jason P. Race, 43, and Faith L. Beamer, 39, were charged with criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, abuse of corpse and aggravated assault for Cuevas’ murder.
Cuevas’ was kept against her will including being handcuffed as she was tortured for weeks, including Beamer using her fingers to gauge the eyes of Cuevas, court records say.
Cuevas was also stabbed with a knife as fishing line was used to stitch wounds.
Court records say when Cuevas soiled herself and attempted to escape, Race found her on the rear porch and stomped on her head several times until she died. A stethoscope was then used to determine if Cuevas was dead, according to court records and search warrant affidavits.
An autopsy conducted by a forensic pathologist at Mercyhurst University in Erie revealed Cuevas suffered stab and slash wounds to her back, a destroyed nasal cavity, broken ribs, a broken hyoid bone in her neck, a broken leg and missing teeth, court records say.
One of the 12 search warrants was served at a Hazleton-based welfare assistance office where Linnette and her children received assistance.
Search warrants that became unsealed do not list information about the death investigation of Debra J. Fox, 69, whose body was found in a wooded area near Exit 1 of the North Cross Valley Expressway in Wilkes-Barre on March 26. Fox formerly owned 142 Carlisle St., which was sold in a county tax sale in September 2023.
The Luzerne County Coroner’s Office in response to a Right to Know request filed by the Times Leader released autopsy findings for Fox, indicating that the cause and manner of her death was “undetermined.”
Sanguedolce, during the April 9 news conference, said Fox was last seen alive in January 2023 and her death investigation is linked to the Cuevas investigation.