Ongoing FR Analysis: Jack Wheeler Murder

cnn.com ^ | January 9, 2011 | Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt

[Albion Wilde]

Wilmington, Delaware (CNN) -- Police have found homicide victim John Wheeler's cell phone, according to a taxi driver who was interviewed by investigators this week.

Athel Scott told CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti that police told him they found the cab driver's number in the phone of Wheeler, the former Pentagon official who was found dead in a Delaware landfill. He said investigators wanted to know how his number got there. Scott... says he told the police he didn't have any idea.

"I never got a call from the man. I don't know him... He's never been in my cab. I don't know how my number got in his cellphone," Scott says he told police...

[Albion Wilde]

This article goes on to describe in detail a series of email correspondences between Wheeler and his classmates from West Point '66, describing his lucid state of mind and facility with computing in the days prior to the murder.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump

[Parley Baer]

“He’s never been in my cab”

Well, someone sure was with Wheeler’s cell phone. Looks like the taxi driver will need some water boarding.

[J Edgar]

The murder of John Wheeler is significant, this crime must be solved!
Too many politically connected murders have gone unsolved over the past 10 years.

[Albion Wilde]

It has amazed me that one fact seems to escape many of the FReepers posting about this case -- that the body was found in a dumpster in Newark, DE, twelve miles from the site of Wheeler's security-camera-recorded wanderings in Wilmington at 8:42 p.m. on a very cold night, hours later and a change of clothes after he was taped in the parking lot looking disoriented or injured.

So please, those of you who are not paying attention, stop saying he had a stroke and climbed into a Dumpster to get warm. It just doesn't fit.

[Albion Wilde]

FReepmail Albion Wilde to be added/removed from a John Wheeler ping list.

Here's a round-up of several recent postings on the Wheeler case:

Jan. 7

Radell Smith in The Examiner:
John P. Wheeler: Eliminating the red herrings

from Philadelphia Daily News (WARNING - this rag attempts to explain away the appearance of murder):
Private eye questions if death was murder

Jan. 6

from WPVI-TV Philadelphia:
Source: Wheeler's phone found in home across the street

by Eric Shawn, FoxNews:
Wheeler: Super Bloodshot Eyes

Jan. 5

by Dan Goodin in The Register:
Body of murdered cyberwar expert found in landfill
(Military man dumped into three-ring whodunit)

from the blog of Private Detective Bill Warner, Sarasota:
In a Scene Right Out of “Goodfellas” John P. Wheeler’s Murdered Body Dumped Out Of The Rear of Garbage Truck in Wilmington DE, Who Set Up The Mafia Style Hit?

[OCC]

I’m afraid this story may drop off the radar due to Representative Giffords attempted assassination.

[petitfour]

Mark to read later.

[hoosiermama]

While switching stations this evening there was a crawler on Geraldo that said the FBI was being called in this case. Was it a rerun? I thought they already were involved.

[TwoSwords]

I would have to think that the police, over a day, let alone two, would’ve talked to this person and known he was either on drugs, drugged or physically incapacitated. You don’t wander around any city, big or small, in this condition, unless your a known homeless person.

[sheik yerbouty]

Curiouser and curiouser..

[LucyT]

~ Ping ~

Wheeler's cell phone discovered, taxi driver says,

. . . . Article, and # 6.

Thanks Albion Wilde.

[HollyB]

Thx

[eddie willers]

From the article:

"This is so out of character and I can tell you right now, all of us at West Point went through demolitions and mine-clearing technique training and even how to construct field expedient napalm. If Jack had wanted that house disappointed or burnt down, he would've done it. Nobody would have known about it. And he certainly wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave his iPhone there," Thornblom said.

Quite so.

[Moonman62]

I believe the police have been saying all along that Wheeler was murdered.

[vbmoneyspender]

Wheeler didn’t dial the taxi guy - the killer did.

[smoothsailing]

Fox News Video-Eric Shawn-Dead Official Linked to Smoke Bombs?-Cops look into John Wheeler's feud with neighbors

Thanks for the ping, A.W.!

[lonevoice]

Please add me to your Wheeler ping list! Thank you so much.

[azishot]

I agree with Lt. Gen. McInerny when he told Megyn Kelly he thinks it was a professional hit.

[Albion Wilde]

"This is so out of character and I can tell you right now, all of us at West Point went through demolitions and mine-clearing technique training and even how to construct field expedient napalm. If Jack had wanted that house disappointed or burnt down, he would've done it. Nobody would have known about it. And he certainly wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave his iPhone there," Thornblom said.

Bears repeating.