Laborer Held in Slayings of 5 in Maryland

POTOMAC, Md. — A 20-year-old laborer was charged with five counts of murder Friday after a podiatrist, his three daughters and a house painter were found dead in the physician’s home.

The laborer, Bruman Alvarez, had first reported the killings in a 911 call to police about 11 p.m. Thursday. A bond hearing for Alvarez was scheduled for Monday.

After being summoned to the house, police found the bodies of Dr. David Marc Goff, 46, and Mark Aldridge, 30, the house painter, on the first floor. Upstairs they found the bodies of Goff’s three daughters: Andrea, 22; Sheri, 19, and Alyse, 14.

Investigators said the victims appeared to have been stabbed and beaten. All died of what police said was “blunt force trauma.”

Police refused to say whether a murder weapon had been recovered or whether the victims were bound or gagged.

“This crime was directed at all of the victims, not one in particular,” said Lt. Michael Garvey, head of the Montgomery County Police Department’s major-crimes division.

The killings rocked this wealthy Washington suburb, where the Goff family was well-liked.

“You hire a painter, and you die?” said Gary Bortnick, a neighbor. “This is unbelievable.”

Neighbors wanted to know whether police should have done more when they responded to a 911 call 2 1/2 hours earlier from the Goff home but found no one there. It was unclear who made the initial 911 call.

Officers checked the doors and windows and heard dogs barking outside, but found nothing out of place. A neighbor told them the entire family was vacationing, and the officers left.

Then at 11 p.m. Alvarez called 911 to say that people had been killed at the house, according to police spokeswoman Evans.

Alvarez’s mother, Guadelupe Bustillo of Wheaton, Md., said in an interview with WUSA-TV that her son claimed he had killed Aldridge with a hammer in self-defense after Aldridge had summoned him inside the house and asked him to help bury Goff’s body.

Bustillo said Alvarez had told his aunt he then found the bodies of Goff’s daughters and called 911 but hung up. After talking to his aunt, Alvarez then called police, his mother said.

Goff’s wife, Erma, and son, Scott, were vacationing in Ocean City, Md., police said.