Posted on 01/08/2011 8:56:21 AM PST by La Lydia
His body tumbled from a garbage truck into a landfill, reports CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford. John Wheeler, the driving force behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and former White House and Pentagon aide, was found dead on New Year's Eve, buried in the trash. Police say Wheeler's body was picked up from a dumpster in Newark, Delaware. But there's much they don't know about a crime that seems to get more baffling with every new clue.
In the days before his death, Wheeler seemed to come unhinged. On Dec. 29th, he showed up at this pharmacy in New Castle, Delaware, asking for a ride. That night, Wheeler was captured on surveillance tape, stumbling through a parking garage, looking for his car -- which wasn't there.
"He didn't look good, he was really weird," said parking lot attendant Iman Goldsborough. "He had no overcoat on and one shoe in his hand."
At about 8:30 the next night, Dec. 30, Wheeler was seen at a former DuPont Company building in Wilmington, again seeming disoriented. The next day his body was found at the landfill. Robert Dill, a neighbor who had seen Wheeler Christmas Eve, was shocked at Wheeler's condition on the tape.
"I have never seen him like that in my life," said Dill. "I have no idea."
Wheeler, a veteran, was working in Washington for a defense contractor...But law enforcement sources say the murder was apparently not related to his government work. ...
Police haven't said how Wheeler was murdered or even where he was actually killed. They are looking at a legal battle with a neighbor -- but friends say they can't imagine that dispute would have led to his death.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
As conspiracy theories go, that’s a doozy.
Oh boy, here we go again. The Medical Examiner’s office is a den of “I’ll get ahead by stabbing you in the back” incompetents. I sat on a murder trial years back where the Cheif Medical Examiner testified one way and his assistant totally contradicted him. Then there’s the Capano case, where the jury convicted him in spite of their testimony, as we did.
And don’t get me started on DE police. Some fine individuals there, but as a foce, they couldn’t find their rear with both hands. Politics, politics, politics.
We know for sure that he was robbed and THAT was why he was not neat as a pin.
We know for sure that he was looking for his car. (Was he carjacked?)
We know for sure that he talked to his attorney.
The cabbie said he saw him twice. If he had changed clothes, and was wearing a hoodie, how is that possible??
I think Moose must be the lead LE officer in this.
The thing I find most perplexing is how so many people saw this guy staggering around, obviously in some kind of mental distress and nobody called the police.
Since that neighbor's house is still under construction and not sealed, I'd bet it was either a workman or the owner himself who purchased tham. Makes MUCH more sense than John doing it.
I think John went looking for his muggers and found them and I bet he was carrying.
By that time, they knew from his briefcase that they had a biggie on their hands. When they saw him...they ran...he ran...they trapped him and killed him and figured LE might care a bit more about finding John's killer.
He was is a progressive state. Progressives hate their neighbors and leave them alone to die..... unless they are Black or Hispanic or a union member or a teacher
Why was he in Wilmington in the first place. He was 20 minutes from home.
I wrote about this one the other day...No one can be stupid enough to believe their theory of how he died.
This story will really get buried now because of the AZ tragedy . Do we know what he died from yet ?
Somehow, I don't trust his attorney. GUT..)
My opinions: If you get mugged....you call your wife...unless there is a "marital problem". She's traveling?? So what.
Mention of his brother and mother....if you thought you were going to be killed, it was kinda like mentioning two guardian angels. The workers likely didn't catch exactly what he said and certainly didn't know what he meant. In other words, John probably felt that although he was bruised and robbed, it was his bro and mom watching over him that had saved his life....At least initially. (We all have these types of incidents.)
The lost car...He also mentioned a Hertz Rental??
Every bit of information we have been given has been deliberately shorted. This is Moose all over again.
Still no cause of death being released. The combination of disorientation with protestations of not being drunk and extremely bloodshot eyes suggest the possibility that Wheeler was poisoned or drugged. A cursory online search for toxins that produce disorientation and bloodshot eyes turns up—besides alcohol poisoing—the myotoxins from stachybotrys and the ‘date rape drug’ rohypnol. Doubtless there are dozens of more exotic toxins that also produce disorientation and bloodshot eyes.
The Wheelers maintained three residences. They had the family home in DE; he maintained an apt in DC; and, she had an apt in NYC where she works. His wife goes by her maiden name.
In another story, neighbors recounted driving him to the Amtrak station on Christmas Eve to take the train to be with his wife in NYC. Then, he was seen in DC the following work days. And, reportedly, he was coherent.
Something had to happen en route to or in DE. Given his background as a USMA, Yale and Harvard grad, the man was clearly intelligent. His ability to bring people together to raise funds and get the VN Memorial constructed, and to have served in 3 Administrations says he was quite accomplished.
Something was done TO him. No one as accomplished as Wheeler just cracks overnight. I have to wonder why, if the parking lot attendant noticed someone - anyone - who was disoriented, coatless and shoeless in the bitter cold, wouldn’t he have called 911 or some source of help.
One theory I have been nursing is that something happened to him that could cause him extreme embarrassment, and that would likely be something sexual. Either he had a bad date with a hooker (mugged / robbed) or a similarly bad date with a man. Something prevented him from going to the police or otherwise seeking help... from anybody.
Now what happned to him after that... well, I'm still working on that. Maybe he somehow reconnected with the person or persons he had had trouble with and things went from bad to worse.
Of course, the "house across the street, under construction" angle is the most interesting mystery. The police found Wheeler's cell phone there? And connected him to "incendiary devices" planted in the house? That would make the site an obvious point of abduction, if he was indeed abducted. It would also point to the neighbor as a "person of interest", if you get my drift. But then why was Wheeler later taped walking free (though "disoriented")? And from there, dumped like garbage into a landfill? And what's with the floorboards removed in the Wheelers' Delaware kitchen, which was then sealed off with evidence tape?
This is one very, VERY strange case.
fyi
fyi
It’s a super intriguing case, the stuff of spy thrillers. Unfortunately, a horrible ending for a man who led a stellar life.
To do the type work he did, Wheeler would have had to have had at least a Top Secret Clearance, most likely above. Would he jeopardize that for an evening with a hooker of either gender? Folks with those clearances guard them jealously and don’t take chances.
IF he were to take that risk, would he do it in a place like Wilmington? At one of the town’s premier luxury hotels? It’s a pretty small town where chances of his running into someone he knows would be high.
Even tho he was 66, he had to be in pretty good trim. (those USMA guys rarely quit the fitness thing). Unless he was drugged, his fighting instincts would have come back in a nanosecond.
I’d sure like to know a whole lot more about the owner of the nearby property that caused the legal dispute.
And I don’t know I feel really comfortable about the Wilmington Police getting to the bottom of this. Hopefully, I’m wrong about that.
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