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...

[azishot]

Thanks for the ping, Albion Wilde. I’d brought up Jack Wheeler’s name to another FReeper just a few days ago. We still don’t know the reason he was killed. I wonder why he and Levene were friendly? They seemed so opposite. Could Wheeler have used Levene to get some kind of information?

[Sacajaweau]

I don’t know what to think ir if any of this scenario is real. It sounds like 99.9% conjecture.

[jacquej]

Thank you for posting to those of us who are concerned.

I pray that this evil-doing will all come to light some day. The good guys deserve it!

[Sacajaweau]

I went back and read a bit. The jeweler was killed with a gun which Levene had stored with a friend (a realtor). Levene used it in the jewelry heist and killing and then returned it to the storage space.

Hardly the same mo as Jack Wheeler.

My latest thought....Jack played dead the first time around and went back to retrieve his briefcase...and they caught him...and this time...made sure he was dead. He must have been close to where the dudes hang.

Someday!!

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the ping. BTTT.

[Vor Lady]

Thanks for the mystery ping.

[saleman]

Thanks for the update

[Bigg Red]

Thanks for the ping. So many questions in this case.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

We will not know until Levene's movements and financial history from the past 2 years can be documented.

Supposedly this is Levene's military history:  Andrew Levene.  New Castle is a small county so it is not beyond the stretch of the imagination hey  knew one another by sight at the very least.

Levene had a judgment of  $19,844.62, plus costs and interest, entered against him in September, 2010, awarded in Mass. November, 2011 they caught up with him in Delaware: Delaware Court Connect

Motive is not hard to find for the jeweler's murder.  I doubt he just "snapped" as his friend suggested.

When Jack was found he had his Rolex as well as his West Point ring.  I also read was found with his "neck wallet" which seems to be a small pouch on a lanard. Motive not so easy in Jack's murder, but rage ranks up there.

Then there is this snippet from the most recent article:
"...After Wheeler’s death, sources said, Levene often spoke of knowing Wheeler and asked a realtor to meet Wheeler’s wife about selling their expensive riverfront home in Old New Castle. The meeting never occurred...."

Levene lived on Snuff Mill Road.  The Marinis lived on Snuff Mill Hill Road.  The home were about 2.5 miles apart. If the time frame matches it is not a stretch to think they may have known of each other.

None of this proves anything or even points to the correct direction.  But it does open up an avenue to be explored.

After all of this time of nothing, suddenly this article appears.  Coincidence?  Hardly.  In my opinion, LE fed the info to the author of the article. What we don't know is if  LE  thinks there is a connection or wants the public to think there is a connection.

It is ripe for speculation, hopefully LE is working this up.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[TheOldLady]

Click the Pelts

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[Sacajaweau]

Deleware Court Connect....produced something interesting

Refers to Nemour Office Building in Wilmington, 1007 Orange St. Suite 1130

[Sacajaweau]

http://monolithik.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/the-mysterious-murder-of-john-p-wheeler-iii-part-one/

[brytlea]

Thanks for the ping, I hadn’t thought about this case for awhile.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

A zaba search turned up an Andrew R Levene (all with DOB March 1970):

5 NY addresses (2 in the city, 3 in the Hamptons)
1 Delaware
1 Nantucket
1 New Haven, CT
1 Fort Bragg
1 Butte, CO
and
4 DC addresses

Some are residential. Some look to be office space.I am not sure of the time frame of the addresses, or how many Andrew Levenes there are with a birthday of March, 1970.

The Spain connection does intrigue me. I wish there was someway to prove or disprove a connection.

[brityank]

A thank you bump.

[smoothsailing]

Thanks for the pings.

I wonder where Andrew Levene was on Dec. 31st 2010.

We know from the jewelry murder that he was a coldblooded killer. From his Army Ranger Recon training and his physical fitness from skiing and hiking, he was certainly capable of beating an older, disoriented man to death.

With the Sept. 2010 20K judgement he faced, he certainly had the motive to become a paid assassin. But paid by who, and why? The Marinis? The Pentagon?

Other thoughts come from Wheeler's wife, Katherine Klyce, in an interview she gave to Slate.com. The family has offered a $25,000 reward, but she said, "I think perhaps no one has been on the reward because they've already been paid."

"The way they disposed of his body, it's a miracle anybody ever found it. That just sounds like a pro to me," she said.

Who killed Jack Wheeler, Part 3: Conspiracy talk aplenty in Wheeler murder

Thanks for the info you provided,PBR. Who knows what to make of all this. Hopefully LE making some connections.

[BykrBayb]

The Spain connection does intrigue me.

Me too. There appeared to have been an altercation/struggle at Wheeler's house. If memory serves, there was no sign of forced entry (I hope somebody will either confirm that, or correct me). Klyce's identity was stolen, with a ticket(s) to Spain charged to her credit card. I read somewhere that Wheeler didn't carry his wife's credit card with him, so supposedly there would be no connection between Wheeler's death and the stolen identity - BUT, it could have been stolen at the home of Wheeler and Klyce, at the time of the struggle. If Wheeler considered Levene to be a friend, and Levene assaulted Wheeler, that friendship could explain why Wheeler didn't go to the authorities. I've believed all along that when Wheeler was wandering around, he had some sort of mental impairment; brain injury, stroke, drugs, etc. One good punch to the head from Levene would fit that scenario.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Intersting article from Feb 2. Note the sentence excerted below:

Former CB developer found dead

Andrew Levene, 41, reportedly committed suicide in a Spanish jail after being arrested for the suspected murder of a Connecticut jeweler following a six-week manhunt. It appears that Levene hanged himself using a sheet.

In recent years, Levene was embroiled in a litany of civil suits locally, brought after he failed to pay contractors for work completed on two mansions in the high-end Prospect neighborhood in Mt. Crested Butte. One of the homes — a massive structure at 103 Bear Scratch Road — was torched by arson in late 2008.

Although he reportedly discontinued frequenting the Gunnison Valley following the fire, Levene left in his wake a string of unpaid contractors from Gunnison to Crested Butte.

Locals interviewed for this story say the writing was on the wall long before the Mt. Crested Butte mansion was torched — a crime that has never been solved.

Steve Hecker’s Cement Creek Construction was building the home at 103 Bear Scratch in 2008 when it became apparent that Levene was running out of cash.

“He was asking me to do some things like cut my crew in half and cut corners to save money,” Hecker said. “I did that for awhile but about a month later he couldn’t pay his bills.”

In late 2008, after he confronted Levene, Hecker was fired. He said he flew to Chicago the next day. “Two days later I get a call from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation telling me that the house burned down and asking if I know anything about it,” he said.

The 7,200-square-foot trophy home — boasting six bedrooms and six-an-a-half bathrooms — was listed for sale for more than $5.4 million at the time of the fire. Property records identified Levene as the owner, though he reportedly had partners.

At the time, Mt. Crested Butte Police Chief Hank Smith told the Times that investigators had “definitely” ruled arson as the cause, and that “quite a bit” of gasoline was used as an accelerant.

Charges were never filed in the case, however.

Hecker later sued Levene in an attempt to recoup money for work his company had completed. He said Levene filed a countersuit.

Hecker’s attorney, Luke Danielson of Gunnison, described the legal fracas that would unfold as “a bunch of really wretched, endless lawsuits.” Levene and his own partners sued each other. The insurance company sued Levene.

Hecker said he ultimately settled out of court and was paid much less than he was due.

Levene reportedly rented a house in Crested Butte and had a tendency of flaunting his lavish lifestyle.

“When he was in town, he’d throw his money around,” said Hecker. “He’d take me and a couple people out to very expensive dinners.”

But as Hecker began to know Levene, he said a pattern emerged. Levene seemed to have some “temper issues,” Hecker said.

“He’d show up on the job site once or twice a month to gauge the progress of the project,” Hecker recalled. “Occasionally, he’d jump down the throats of the (sub-contractors).”

Hecker last saw Levene about a year ago during civil proceedings and recalled that Levene looked “stressed.”

Apparently, local legal troubles weren’t all that plagued him. Levene was reportedly in financial trouble and facing other civil suits prior to an alleged jewelry robbery, which took place Dec. 8.

An arrest warrant indicates that Levene allegedly stole six diamonds valued at $300,000, murdered a 65-year-old jeweler and critically injured the jeweler’s assistant.

Levene also reportedly had a past in the U.S. military with training in the use of weapons.

According to delawareonline.com, a suit filed in July 2010 claimed that Levene had solicited $445,000 to purchase the land in Crested Butte to build the home at 103 Bear Scratch, the one later destroyed by fire.

Levene received more than $2 million in insurance proceeds, according to the suit, but failed to distribute the funds to investors. That suit was reportedly dropped last year.

Jon Billingsley, who owns Gunnison-based Gold Hill Excavation, worked as the excavation contractor for both of the high-end Prospect homes that Levene built. Billingsley said he was never paid for approximately $30,000 in work.

Despite Levene’s numerous lawsuits and financial troubles that are known, Hecker believes there’s more.

“I think there’s more to all this than we know right now,” he speculated. “I guess we all kind of knew that Levene was a creep, but I really didn’t think it would come to this.”

Reports indicate that Levene left behind a wife and two children, living in Spain.

(Will Shoemaker can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or editor@gunnisontimes.com)

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Arson seems to be a common theme with Levene. Also, his wife was already living in Spain. I wonder when she went?

This article sheds more light into his personality. I can imagine the need for money might have led him to Jack that Christmas (or to Jack's house). Maybe it was a meeting of chance, who knows?

One thing we do know is Jack did not suffer fools. If there was some sort of confrontation, I would imagine Jack spoke his mind with one thing leading to another.