Private eye questions if death was murder

Philadelphia Daily News ^ | Fri, Jan. 7, 2011 | WILL BUNCH

[Gondring]

APROMINENT Philadelphia crime sleuth is speculating that the region's high-profile murder mystery - the shocking discovery of ex-Pentagon official John "Jack" Wheeler III in a Wilmington landfill - might not be a murder at all.

William Fleisher, an ex-cop who co-founded Philadelphia's murder-solving Vidocq Society, said that the discovery of eyewitnesses and surveillance video of a disoriented Wheeler before he died suggests that the 66-year-old man had suffered a head or brain injury.

And that apparent disorientation, Fleisher speculated, could have caused Wheeler to voluntarily crawl into a trash Dumpster - either seeking shelter, as happens sometimes among the homeless, or perhaps looking for his reportedly lost papers.

[...]

Fleisher's speculation came as police in Newark, Del., who are leading the investigation, conceded that they have no suspects. And another downtown Wilmington worker came forward with a disturbing account of Wheeler's wanderings before his death.

An unnamed Wilmington deli owner told Fox News that Wheeler entered the eatery at 8 a.m. Dec. 30 and had "super bloodshot eyes" as well as dirty cuffs and seemed homeless, but lucid.

[...]

But, Fleisher emphasized, the new evidence about Wheeler's disorientation suggests that he may not have been murdered at all. He noted that violent movement of the Dumpsters [sic] could have caused injuries to Wheeler or his corpse, which might appear consistent with murder.

[Scarpetta]

I’ll wait to see how the mystery’s solved on next season’s CSI.

[Fishtalk]

That’s my theory exactly.

Course I speculate.

Using the Occam’s Razor method, I choose the easiest explanation first.

[Fishtalk]

So here I am having a very sincere discussion about this case.

Very first sentence you gotta be snotty about my medical training.

We’re speculating here. Why be nasty?

I didn’t read the rest of your post cause I really wanted to just have a nice discussion.

I’ll not post on this thread again.

[dirtboy]

You can kill someone by knocking them off their feet and having them hit their head on the pavement. Wouldn’t necessarily be readily visible on the body if the bump was within the hairline.

[latina4dubya]

People don’t normally go walking around after a stroke but hey, I know, weird things happen. I still think Wheeler was drunk on that video.

perhaps, but my aunt had two strokes weeks apart before anyone even realized she had suffered a stroke... she was acting strange after the first one... couldn't remember things, didn't quite know where she was... she was elderly, so my uncle didn't think too much about it... as things got worse, he took her to see her doctor... two strokes...

[4Runner]

In a Fox News report. By Megan Kelly. She interviewed retired Air Force Lieutenant General Tom McInerney, a Fox contributor. He said he thought this had to be a professional hit job.

He said there was a need for an FBI investigation into Wheeler’s death based upon the fact that Wheeler had top government security clearances and moved in very high government circles. He had also been an “expert” in cyber-warfare.

My take on this is that the timing of his death coincides with two very significant developments.

One, Wheeler may have been targeted and neutralized by Iranian black ops agents as a result of the covert Stuxnet virus attack on that country’s nuclear reactor computers. Israel just recently came out with an estimate that the Stuxnet virus attack set the Iranian goal of a nuclear weapon back as much as five years. It is generally acknowledged that Stuxnet was a covert op but no one is talking ownership.

Two, the Iranians could have combed the “chatter” from the WikiLeaks dump. What they found may have pointed the finger at Wheeler. It’s how they would respond even if it was after the fact and the damage had already been done. Retaliation is a strong currency within these regimes.

Iranians would almost certainly be able to position a black ops team in the U.S. for as long as it was necessary to take out a target. Wheeler may just be the first in a long line of casualties resulting from the WikiLeaks debacle.

[hosepipe]

Two words...... “Vince Foster”...

[Georgia Girl 2]

“Fleisher speculated, could have caused Wheeler to voluntarily crawl into a trash Dumpster ...”

“Easy for me to make this claim now, but I honestly had this same thought cross my mind after seeing the confused Wheeler video the other day...”

I actually thought about it also. Maybe the guy had a stroke or something who knows?

[Gondring]

How is this different from murder?

As you pointed out, manslaughter is homicide but not murders. Only partly tongue-in-cheek, what if the police found a hood ornament embedded in Jack Wheeler? A disoriented man might have wandered into traffic, where a New Years Eve reveler might have hit him and then--in a DUI panic--quickly dumped the body. I'm not claiming that's what happened, but just illustrating.

Or what if he had wounds consistent with him attacking someone who defended himself? Self-defense killing is homicide.*

I’m not trying to be argumentative, just trying to figure it out.

Hope this helped to clarify my comments. It's just frustrating that many people don't realize what they're reading and jump into conclusions from it....that could then lead people to think some coverup has happened later, even if there wasn't.

*as a side note, this is one thing the anti-gun creeps use to mislead the public. When "homicides" are up, it doesn't bother me if that stat included a decrease in murders with an increase in self-defense killings--but many people would assume it meant "murders" are up.

[Gondring]

In a Fox News report. By Megan Kelly. She interviewed retired Air Force Lieutenant General Tom McInerney, a Fox contributor. He said he thought this had to be a professional hit job.

Yes. He was hit by a sea-launched missile, right on the head. BONK! I saw the contrail.

</sarc>

[ml/nj]

So when he decided to sack out in this dumpster, did he have his cell phone, or not?

ML/NJ

[angcat]

Interesting but what about the change in clothing? It is now reported that he had on a different zip up jacket after he left his job in DC? Do you thing he was drunk for two days? What about his house and the floorboards missing? The whole thing is so crazy. Does a drunk wander around for two days? I agree about his wife not reporting him missing. I would think she tried his cell phone and no answer but you would think she would notify authorities he was missing.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

4Runner, my theory meshes with yours. I will add that the outlandish character assaults (the ‘incindiary’ devices in the neighbors house—rat bombs; the finding of Wheeler’s cell phone in that home’s kitchen; he was drunk and ‘homeless looking’) are all designed to make this ‘go away’ as some kind of flukie, sad, holiday crime.

Not so fast.

He was a veteran; he had to be incredibly intelligent to hold the positions he held in our Government.

I think (again, just my theory) that he knew he was being watched; followed. He tried to stay ‘public’ (the trains, the restaurant). The hit was first tried...with him being possibly drugged to get ‘information’ about who else was working on those programs; he got away.

I still think the shoe (that he carried...what man’s shoe gets so badly damaged that it cannot be worn?) has evidence of his attackers (that is why he carried it).

The FBI allowing the local Police to do the heavy lifting? The weird news trickles (like the near viral, goofy tie in to the Arkansas bird kill). This ‘happened’ and now public damage control (it went newsworthy too fast) must be done it get it off of the front pages.

[tutstar]

My husband had a stroke while sleeping. Woke up with left side of body numb, normal speech and gait, other than weird walk due to trying to move a numb leg. They didn’t think he had a stroke because of the speech, and no diminished strength. MRI a few days later confirmed stroke. 13 months later still numb on left side and takes a long time to feel pain in the numb areas.

My neighbor on the other hand has had several strokes. The last one, her eyes looked wild. She couldn’t talk etc,but could write her words down.

It seems strange that the initial story about Wheeler being murdered suddenly changes to something innocent.

[Gondring]

Discussing this with my son the other night, I offered that it was quite possible that he was mugged and in the ensuing struggle, suffered a brain injury causing the disorientation. Also, similar scenario as the P.I.'s, he then crawled into a dumpster and passed out. Truck picked him up and compacted him along with the other trash.

Yes, I agree with that being a good possibility. And if that was what happened, it meant that the mugging occurred between the train station and his actual parking garage. That makes sense.

Now, how did he get home to New Castle then (to where he talked with the pharmacist while his car was still in Wilmington)? What's with the noise over Christmas?

Then how did he get back to Wilmington for the parking garage incident?

Then where was he that night?

And where was he all day until 8:30 pm at Nemours building?

And how did he get from Nemours to Newark dumpster in the next 8 hours?

There are other people who know things--who gave him rides, etc. And these are only a few questions. The reported boot footprint in the kitchen, etc...they can be red herrings or important.

Note that people did try to help him. He refused help, and though disoriented, his responses were reportedly labored but lucid. In fact, people might have given him rides, not even now realizing this is in the news. Plus, if every disoriented person in Wilmington had a police report, we'd have police doing nothing else!

[Gondring]

Very first sentence you gotta be snotty about my medical training.

I apologize. I did not at all mean it to be snotty. ("I'm a lover, not a writer!") You seemed to make a very sure statement and I suggested you review your information because I knew your claim was incorrect.

Please forgive my unintentionally abrasive way of responding--I don't want to add you to the "wants Gondring dead" total, as I think I'm up to 93% of FR now!

I didn’t read the rest of your post cause I really wanted to just have a nice discussion.

Sad. You don't read my posts, you'll miss a whole lot of wisdom and brilliant wit! ;-)

I’ll not post on this thread again.

I hope you break your word on this.

[buck61]

But it’s a mystery and we speculate.

I read too much, and not in details as often as I should.
Thinking in some of the first reports I read he had told
some-one he had been robed ???

[tutstar]

Testing chemical or biological weapon on him? “If” he was involved with stuxnet or something secret, could be anything.

Wonder how long til the autopsy results are in?

[Gondring]

The FBI allowing the local Police to do the heavy lifting?

Sometimes the system works as it's supposed to!

I bet we have gotten far more info this way than if the FBI had taken over and screwed it up in usual fashion! The locals are far better at questioning witnesses--they have more experience than FBI agents, who get only a few cases. People would be appalled to learn how many perps go free because an FBI agent did something that blew the case (either on a legal matter such as improper techniques, or just plain errors).

On accounting-fraud type cases, they are top-notch, but it's a good thing they're rarely involved in homicide cases.

[Hatteras]

Sounds like I did not see all the info that is available (Boot prints, etc...). What I gathered from the TV reports and what I have read to date was that he regularly parked his car in a parking garage near the train station in Wilmington and took the train to D.C. and that everything that took place, happened in and around those few blocks in Wilmington, DE. after he got off the train.

I will try and catch up.