Posted on 01/23/2011 8:39:10 AM PST by brityank
* Radell Smith John Wheeler case: Cab driver comes forward, claims contacted police first
* January 23rd, 2011 6:05 am ETJohn P. Wheeler III's murder investigation has been going on since his body was found on New Year's Eve of 2011, but it wasn't until this week that a cab driver named Roland Spence of Seacoast Cabs came forward publicly to say he was the one who gave Wheeler a lift from the Amtrak station that fateful week the ex-Pentagon official died.
According to USA Today, Roland Spence contacted the different police agencies involved in the John Wheeler homicide investigation, each referring him on to the next, until he was directed to Newark PD.
Spence said that he spoke with an officer at Newark's Police Department, but he didn't give the officer's name. According to USA Today, Spence claims the officer asked him for details about when he allegedly picked up John Wheeler--and what Wheeler looked like, ...
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Ping for those following this case.
How did Wheeler get around? Still too many missing points on his time-line, and indications that maybe the various police agencies are less than communicative between each other.
Oh - and follow up on the USAToday link Radell provides at the bottom.
Thanks for continuing to follow up on this
link to USA Today article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-23-wheeler_N.htm
This cabbie says Wheeler was “lucid.”
Thanks for the ping
I posted earlier on the other thread that when reading the USA Today’s article this cabbie gives, the timeline is a day off.
This cabbie says he picked Wheeler up from train station on 29th when in fact the police say he arrived late the 28th but, can’t place him there. However, the smoke bombs go off in the neighbors house the evening of the 28th.
The timeline has him arriving at Amtrak on the evening of 28th. (my notes have - Dec. 28 (Tuesday) - Takes Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington)5.00 pm - Last response to ongoing email conversation concerning West Point and college football.
28th 11.30 pm - 5 smoke bombs used to exterminate rodents thrown into Marinis’ building site
Cabbie says he wanted to go to 10th and Orange St. (not necessarily Hotel Dupont - Nemours is there too.) If it was the Dupont, what was he doing there - meeting someone? (if that meeting was BIG, and then something happened to him - that’s big! - now there’s even more questions!) Couldn’t be the lawyer, he has his own office in town. SO? (OR is the cabbie lying because his days are off? - OR, did John not make it to Wilmington the 28th?) Sigh - very confusing.
Cabbie : Remembers Wheeler as “calm, relaxed and lucid.”
Of course that makes sense because we know whatever happened to him was between the pharmacy at >>>6pm and the Nemours on the 29th at 6:40pm<<< then disoriented and robbed of his briefcase. NOTE I have a pic up on the other thread of his left arm if someone has photo ability to blow that up and see if his watch and ring are still there. If they are, then it was a robbery to get what was in his briefcase.
About 3:30 p.m. Thursday, (30th) John P. Wheeler III, 66, was seen in Wilmington in the area of 10th and Orange streets by a member of the public, said Newark police spokesman Lt. Mark Farrall. (goes to coffee place earlier on this day as well - no mention of him being disoriented)
One more piece to the puzzle, but there still a lot missing.
It's 8:48 AM on the 29th. The cabbie was parked at the Amtrak Station in Wilmington at Walnut and French.
John was going to the DuPont Hotel so I would guess he stayed in DC on the evening of the 28th. Did someone book the DuPont for him?? He complained about the cost.
Did he actually check in??
At 6:00 that same evening, he was near his home.
Some cabbie is like soooooo lying....Which one?? SCOTT
Maybe, but I believe the cabbie has a notebook to track his fares by date and time - pretty sure they need that for the company and tax records. Did Wheeler go up to NYC first on the 28th, then come down on the 29th after seeing his wife at their condo?
Too many missing pieces.
Thanks for the added link, shhrubs.
Well, I saw he also had his lawyer in the Nemours Building that is attached to the Hotel; also the company he worked for - Mitre - had a corporate apartment in the Nemours Building. I don't know if John used that or had access to it, but if so could explain his staying in Wilmington and changing his clothes.
Mitre is saying "0".
Assuming it was a full day meeting...John must have had casual conversations with his cohorts....Something like..."Where are you heading John?"
It's between Christmas and New Years, a time when conversation about "what are you doing" abounds.
I'm betting there were sleeping facilities in DC for any of these folks.
DC Temps-Hi/Lo
1/28 37/29
1/29 45/29
Jayne Armstrong, Delaware District Director for the SBA Office issued the following statement, but would not comment on anything that took place during the encounter with staff at the office at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 30th.
1. That John did not arrive in Wilmington until the morning of the 29th.
That John did not check in but there was a reservation for him at the DuPont.
That sometime shortly after this 8:48 AM cab ride on the 29th, John took a cab from the DuPont to his home in New Castle. He needed different reports for his next meeting in (Philadelphia?)
That John had business (Post Office??) in the Plaza that has the Pharmacy. That he walked (10 minutes) to the Plaza, did his business, then called a cab 4-5 PM.
The cabbie said he was there in 20 minutes but John was not there. (I think that's a lie.)
Mitre’s main HQ is in DC, but they have branches around the country, including the Nemours Building in Wilmington. We do know he went to the 10th Floor of Nemours to see “his” lawyer, or was that his Mitre contact? Also I believe he was shown in the parking garage that is next to Nemours after he seemed to be attacked and disorganized.
I'm almost considering a dirty cop...or Dirty Town....given the Town Officials said they don't want LE to spend extra time on finding John's killer.
Ohhhh...I think this is a very dirty Town....
Three different towns/cities: New Castle, Wilmington, Newark. All different including different police departments. That quote you had about not wanting to spend more time came from Wilmington. I believe Newark has said nothing of the sort.
Not sure, but that is likely either in the Nemours Building, or the Hotel Office area, or even the DuPont Building at the head of that 10th Street complex. (Tan, round-front building just west of Nemours.) I drove that route many times while working in the area.
Hope someone at FR lives near John.
No - he went to the 10th-floor offices of Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz law firm in Nemours Building; asks to speak with managing partner, but leaves when the secretary goes in back to find him — he may have thought she was calling someone else?
Johns lawyer is Bayard Marin Law -
521 North West Street, Wilmington, DE (302) 658-4200
Map of SBA office - seems in the opposite direction of everything we’ve looked at, although only a few blocks away.
The police have to know when he came through the Amtrak building - they have security cameras everywhere - it doesn’t take 23 days to do that.
They have more than they are telling us for various reasons. If they never release any of it and this isn’t solved, then we can go to the conspiracy theories because of everyone’s silence in this matter.
Everyone in the media has dropped this including Geraldo who had a special hour planned and dropped it only to have a 10 minute rehash of old news on this case. Why?
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