Two Charged in Killing of 5 Family Members

Two men were charged Thursday with murdering five family members, including three young children who apparently walked in during a robbery at their suburban Detroit home.

John Wolfenbarger, 31, and Dennis Lincoln, 27, were charged with five counts each of premeditated murder and felony murder.

Jeweler Marco Pesce, 38; his mother, Maria Vergati, 68; and Pesce’s three children, Melissa, 6, Sabrina, 9, and Carlo, 12, were gunned down execution-style in Pesce’s home Saturday. Police said the safe was open and the house had been ransacked.

The killings happened after Pesce dropped his children off at his house in Livonia, then went to his office without entering the home, prosecutors said.

“We believe these three children walked into a home where the armed killers waited for them,” prosecutor Michael Duggan said.

The burglars may have forced Carlo Pesce to call his father and ask him to come home after realizing the children did not know the combination to the safe, Duggan said.

Wolfenbarger and Dennis also were charged with armed robbery, home invasion, being a felon in possession of a firearm and using a firearm during the commission of a felony, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office said.

Investigators suspect that the two men began zeroing in on Pesce’s house sometime in early December. Pesce’s 3,000-pound safe was filled with jewels, watches and other valuables.

A judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of the two men Thursday and ordered them held without bond. If convicted, they face mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole.

The men were believed to have been cellmates in a Carson City, Mich., prison and were paroled earlier this year, prosecutors said. Lincoln served nine years for armed robbery, and Wolfenbarger served eight years for a series of burglaries.

They were arrested Tuesday. At least one other person was arrested in connection with the case, but it wasn’t clear Thursday whether that person would be charged.

Prosecutors also were seeking a court order to detain two material witnesses who they said were reluctant to cooperate with investigators.

Witnesses led investigators to a house in Detroit, where a police search yielded watches, diamonds, melted gold and other items stolen from the Pesce home.

The suspects had been seen at the house by witnesses, investigators said.

Police also recovered several handguns thought to be connected to the slayings. Ballistic tests were being done Thursday.