I'll bet it's an old phone....Maybe John gave it to one of the workman....maybe one who was a vet. John simply was not a nasty guy. I think he was more hurt by the building. It was like a family heirloom and he had inherited it from his brother. Probably lots of memories of them sitting on the porch, viewing sunrises on the Deleware.
I think the bootprints in the house have been determined to be insignificant and that the house was not the crime scene.
The louds sounds...Sounds like a timer thing while he was away. It couldn't have been that loud or they would have knocked on the door to see if something was wrong.
All I see throughout this is and via these witnesses is: "I don;t want to get involved"....and "Cover thy a**".
If it was an old phone the account would no loger be in his name, but the name of the new owner. It may have been a second phone as some business people keep phones for personal use and others for business use. Regardless the cab drivers phone number was on that phone and they also may have found it by using phone companies GPS service....
It took them a few days to find it.
In one article it mentioned that many had called without Wheeler returning their calls. FBI will be able to track all calls/ emails etc sent from that phone.