Two waive obstruction charges in Carlisle Street ‘house of horrors’

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WILKES-BARRE — Two people charged with the brutal torture murder of a Michigan woman whose body was found buried in the basement of a Carlisle Street house waived their rights to preliminary hearings related to assaulting a man in the same basement and obstruction city police last summer.

Jason Race, 43, and Desiree K. Linnette, 43, were charged by Wilkes-Barre police detectives with assaulting a man in the basement of 142 Carlisle St. on July 27, 2023, according to court records.

The man escaped and was found by city police officers in the area of Carey Avenue and Division Street, Wilkes-Barre.

Police went to the house to check on the welfare of a child when Race and Faith Beamer, 40, obstructed officers in their investigation, court records say.

Race waived charged of aggravated assault, kidnapping, terroristic threats and unlawful restraint to Luzerne County Court. Linnette’s preliminary hearing was continued to Aug. 8.

Race along with Beamer waived three counts of obstruction to county court. Beamer was not charged in the alleged assault.

A fourth person charged in the assault, Tafsir I. Harris, 30, of Pittston, remains at-large. Harris is charged with aggravated assault and unlawful restraint.

Race, Beamer, Linnette, Sarai Kamalani Doyle, 24, and William Benjamin Wolfe, 54, are facing criminal homicide charges for the torture and killing of Nicole Cuevas, 38, of Saginaw, Mich.

Cuevas’ decomposed body was found wrapped in a tarp buried in the dirt basement of the Carlisle Street residence on Feb. 28.

District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce previously said Cuevas was killed inside the residence in April 2023.