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Body of murdered cyberwar expert found in landfill (Military man dumped into three-ring whodunit)
The Register ^ | 1-5-2010 | Dan Goodin

Posted on 01/05/2011 8:12:45 PM PST by smoothsailing

Body of murdered cyberwar expert found in landfill



Military man dumped into three-ring whodunit



Dan Goodin

January 5, 2010

The body of a decorated US Army officer was found dumped in a Delaware landfill on New Years Eve day, a few days after he expressed concern that the nation wasn't adequately prepared for cyber warfare, according to news reports following the bizarre whodunit.

Events surrounding the murder of John P. Wheeler III, who most recently worked part-time for defense contractor Mitre Corporation on cyber defense topics, read like a Tom Clancy novel. The 66-year-old worked for three Republican administrations, was special assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, served in the office of the Secretary of Defense, and penned a manual on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons, which urged US forces to show restraint.

The day after Christmas – five days before his body was found as it was being dumped from a trash truck into the Cherry Island Landfill in Wilmington – Wheeler sent longtime friend Richard Radez an email expressing concern that the US wasn't sufficiently prepared for “cyber warfare,” according to The Associated Press.

“This was something that had preoccupied him over the last couple of years,” Radez told the news organization.

Wheeler's focus on computer warfare, and his ties to Mitre, have already attracted conspiracy theories involving the military industrial complex, but there are plenty of other intriguing details that don't immediately fit into such a plot.

Among them are revelations that Wheeler was seen on December 29 and 30 in a “confused and disoriented” state in downtown Wilmington. During that last appearance, which occurred some 14 hours before his body was discovered, he was wandering inside an office building a few blocks from an attorney who was handling a contentious lawsuit Wheeler filed to stop neighbors from building a home near his. He refused help from several people who approached him.

A day earlier, he approached a parking garage attendant “wearing a black suit with no tie and only one shoe,” according to the AP report. He carried the missing shoe in his hand and wore no overcoat, despite the frigid temperature. He told the attendant he had been robbed of his briefcase and said repeatedly he wasn't drunk.

To further the intrigue, Delaware police have reportedly found evidence that Wheeler may have been involved in an attempted arson on the same neighbors he was suing. The attempted arson on December 28 came after someone tossed several smoke bombs used for rodent control into the neighbors' house, scorching the floors.

What's more, the AP has reported that yellow police evidence tape was seen surrounding two wooden chairs in Wheeler's kitchen, where several wooden floorboards were missing, even though Delaware police have said the victim's home is not considered a crime scene. A neighbor, according to Examiner.com, said Wheeler's television blared continuously in the days preceding his death.

Those details, combined with the fact that someone went to considerable effort to hide Wheeler's body in a trash dumpster in nearby Newark, Delaware, would suggest the homicide wasn't a random mugging.

The FBI has offered “technical assistance” to the Delaware police, and judging from the facts as they are so far know, they're going to need it. ®


TOPICS: Conspiracy
KEYWORDS: 201012; 20101228; airforce; army; biochem; biowarfare; cbw; chairs; chemwarfare; cherryisland; computerwarfare; cyberwar; cyberwarfare; floorboards; isolatedincidents; johnpwheeler; johnpwheeleriii; johnwheeler; mitre; mitreco; mitrecorp; mitrecorporation; nationalsecurityfail; richardradez; robbery; smokebombs; wheeler; wilmington; wmd; woodenchairs
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

The link in the article to “conspiracy theories” talks about the Mitre Corporation where Wheeler worked and cyberwarfare. Wild stuff.


21 posted on 01/05/2011 8:47:12 PM PST by smoothsailing
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To: smoothsailing

where is the Attorney General Biden for the State of Delaware?


22 posted on 01/05/2011 8:57:15 PM PST by MissDairyGoodnessVT ( JC Webster's fav words: "the boiling pits of sewage" roflmao)
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To: smoothsailing

where is the Attorney General Biden for the State of Delaware?


23 posted on 01/05/2011 8:57:28 PM PST by MissDairyGoodnessVT ( JC Webster's fav words: "the boiling pits of sewage" roflmao)
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To: smoothsailing

Iranian revenge for Stuxnet. FBI looking the other way. Shah of Iran’s son “suicide”. His sister “overdosed”. AHmanutjob in power and all’s clear.


24 posted on 01/05/2011 9:05:26 PM PST by FlyingEagle
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To: Travis McGee
Strange stuff ... it's possible....but then there are more "heroic" ways to fake one's own death than dying and being found in a dumpster.

He allegedly told someone his briefcase was stolen. I suppose a really angry neighbor might want to snatch a briefcase if he thought there was something in it that would work against him in in a lawsuit over the property dispute.

But then recall that O'Neil guy with the FBI who left his briefcase unattended or misplaced his briefcase in Tampa? Supposedly the thing contained info relating to aircraft security. He was transferred to the NY FBI office and ended up getting reported as killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

25 posted on 01/05/2011 9:06:39 PM PST by piasa
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To: FlyingEagle

Tin foil on. This is series.


26 posted on 01/05/2011 9:06:51 PM PST by FlyingEagle
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To: smoothsailing

May he was smacked around professionally and in a mental fog. the autopsy will show head trauma.


27 posted on 01/05/2011 9:27:23 PM PST by Cheetahcat ( November 4 2008 ,A date which will live in Infamy.)
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To: smoothsailing

Find later


28 posted on 01/05/2011 9:32:43 PM PST by Darnright (There can never be a complete confidence in a power which is excessive. - Tacitus)
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To: smoothsailing
bttt


29 posted on 01/05/2011 9:34:22 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: smoothsailing

Maybe there was a little chemical warfare early on finished off with the dumpster treatment.


30 posted on 01/05/2011 9:38:22 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's "Economics In One Lesson.")
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To: piasa
Are you referring to John O'Neil?

The man who knew

John O'Neil left the FBI and took the head of security job at the WTC, I believe. He was killed on 9/11/2001.

31 posted on 01/05/2011 9:58:00 PM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: smoothsailing

so a man is seen without a shoe and obviously confused, and when he refused help, everyone says “okay” and lets him wander away.

Sigh. If he’s confused, try to talk him into staying or ask the cops to take him to a hospital. But no one wants to help?

The question is if the death is from a stroke (causing confusion) or if he was mugged, and got confused, or if he was given a drug or poison that caused the confusion.

Another question: was he mugged when confused? I know cases where the wallet etc was stolen from a confused man and it sounds like he still had it on him...


32 posted on 01/05/2011 10:49:57 PM PST by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
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To: LadyDoc

Ergot!


33 posted on 01/05/2011 11:30:19 PM PST by quickquiver (No, means N O.)
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To: Liberty Valance

Never liked R. Redford but that was one great movie...


34 posted on 01/06/2011 12:15:52 AM PST by goat granny
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To: smoothsailing
The FBI will say that Col Mustard did it, in the library with the candle stick.
35 posted on 01/06/2011 2:43:10 AM PST by Yorlik803 (better to die on your feet than live on your knees.)
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To: Inyo-Mono
People saw him wandering around with a suit on....carrying a shoe, missing his coat in frigid temps and asking for help....

Why in the name of human kindness didn't ANYONE call an ambulance for this man or get him help????

36 posted on 01/06/2011 5:48:41 AM PST by Guenevere (....)
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To: Guenevere

Shirley Sherrod explained to the NAACP that white people need to seek help from their own kind. An old crazy cracker walking around with a shoe? they probably laughed.


37 posted on 01/06/2011 5:56:41 AM PST by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)
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