Posted on 01/09/2011 8:55:15 PM PST by 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
It may or may not be true. If true it may or may not be related to the murder. It was posted in the earliest days of the story with just enough detail to give pause.
It seemed to me that someone was trying to deflect. With all of the clutter, I still think it was a deflection attempt. It seems as if someone is going down a list. That didn't work, let's try to neighbor feud. Nope? Maybe the drunk angle. Dementia. Now we are into mental illness and PTSD.
I can't help but think that if this was a “simple” case of a man being held up and murdered, we would know the details.
I hesitated posting that but part of her article wound up in Newsweek, so for the sake of presenting everything here - I decided to post it.
I wish his friend whom he was in constant contact who said that John would have the wherewithal to burn that house down and no one would know, if he wanted to.
It seems ‘the friends’ have stopped talking. Never heard an oral word from family which puzzles me. If I were his wife, I would be on every show until the murderer(s) are caught.
The descriptions in this ‘he said she said’ article that I posted are far from what we heard from his buddies early on including General McInerney on Fox News.
New article this morning
Snip
page 2
How did it happen?” Maurer asked. “I don’t see how learning what happened could hinder the investigation. They do it all the time. They say he was shot, he was stabbed, he was strangled.”
The absence of information has fueled rampant speculation and conspiracy theories, like the one making rounds on the Internet that claims Wheeler was murdered after threatening to expose a supposed U.S. military test of poison gas that supposedly killed thousand of birds in Arkansas hours after his corpse was discovered.
In part because officials have not released more details, Wheeler’s former classmates in West Point’s class of 1966 who participate in an online forum have been hypothesizing about his disorientation before he died.
Some believe he was stricken by a sudden and severe medical trauma. Others think an enemy drugged him for political or personal reasons, said retired Col. Douglas Thornblom, who monitors the forum and once roomed with Wheeler.
“The theories are going around and around,” Thornblom said.
Thornblom said he believes it might be possible that someone poisoned his old college buddy, thinking he would die, but when Wheeler didn’t succumb to the toxin, an assassin was sent to Wilmington “to finish the job.”
Brown, a former New Hampshire police detective, said he realizes the silence has led many to entertain such scenarios, but stressed that Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Adrienne Sekula-Perlman, who is handling the case, needs time to complete her work.
“I can understand where those concerns lie, but I have checked six or eight times to see if anything can be released ... and she’s not saying a word,” Brown said. “She ruled it a homicide that day. I don’t know what caused her to make that ruling, but it’s obviously something she found.”
Jules Epstein, who teaches criminal law at Widener University School of Law, called it “curious” that authorities won’t reveal more about Wheeler’s death, other than to say they don’t want to compromise the probe.
“Either they are telling the truth and that means there is something interesting and peculiar about the way he died, or they are not telling the truth and there’s something very embarrassing or private” about the nature of Wheeler’s death.
Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN news correspondent and anchor who directs the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware, said he’s been surprised by the dearth of information.
“It adds to the mystery,” Begleiter said. “Anytime you have a vacuum of any kind, there’s somebody who will fill that vacuum in a news environment, whether it’s a political story or a criminal case. Somebody is going to come along and speculate.”
In the Wheeler case, and others that captivate the media and the public, law-enforcement officials should consider “filling the vacuum before it gets filled with crazy stuff,” he said.
“Maybe authorities have a responsibility to let the public know which ones are more plausible if they have information that leads them in one direction or the other. It might be helpful to say that there wasn’t an alien landing from the moon and abducting this guy and bringing him to Newark.”
What lady?
The red eyes. If he has rosacea or ocular rosacea, his eyes could have become extremely bloodshot if he was not taking meds for that condition (tetracycline, docycycline in low doses).
Some individuals suffer more from the ocular rosacea than they do with the facial rosacea.
If he had a lot going on, he may have forgotten to take his meds or just ran out explaining trip to pharmacy.
COLONEL DOUG THORNBLOM (FRIEND OF JACK WHEELER FROM WEST POINT)
What really bothers me about this whole thing is that the behavior that we saw on that tape was so out of character. It just wasn’t Jack at all.
Also from Nexis/Lexis ABC interview Jan 6th
snip
ROBIN ROBERTS (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) And you really read a lot into the fact that his body was found in a landfill. Why?
BRAD GARRETT (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) Well, because, typically, people that end up in landfills are prostitution murders, unfortunately mothers put newborns in dumpsters because they don’t want them and they end up in landfills.
BRAD GARRETT (ABC NEWS)
(Voiceover) You know, organized crime cases, drug cases, they’ll put bodies in landfills.
BRAD GARRETT (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) But, you know, the other hook is, they’re, they’re saying that he possibly came from Newark, Delaware, in a dumpster there, which is in another part of the state. And so how did he get from Wilmington to Newark when he’s only about 10 minutes from that dump when he’s, when he’s seen, he’s last seen on video in downtown Wilmington?
ROBIN ROBERTS (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) So what does your gut tell you?
BRAD GARRETT (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) My gut tells me it’s probably fragments, that something happened to him, that he did have some sort of catastrophic physical breakdown. And he, he falls into the wrong hands at that point. The rest of it just doesn’t work for me because of...
ROBIN ROBERTS (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) Mm-hmm. What you just said.
(why did she interrupt him before he answered, is it simply time to go to commercial? Ugh - Also, they forget to include in their theory he was robbed one day and killed the next - which is a pretty big coincidence)
snip
There's just so much they're not telling us. Why was he at that Plaza to start with. The cabbie said he called between 4 & 5 and pickup was at 273 and 9th.
My guess is that it was closer to 5, that he waited for an hour for the cab and then went to the pharmacy and asked for a ride. I don't think hitching a ride was unusual for John.
It was 6:00. I'd say he'd asked for a ride before. The pharmacist SAID he knew him AND HAD FILLED PRESCRIPTIONS FOR HIM BEFORE.
On Christmas Eve, his neighbor drove him to the train station in Wilmington. It's only 6 miles. Goes to evidence that hitching a ride was not unusual.
The red eyes...one of my buddies has eye problems...They simply get irritated.
Two things they could tell us with endangering a court case...1. How he was dressed at the pharmacy. 2. How he was dressed in the coffee shop.
I'm afraid the only thing we're going to see is the bottom line on the coroner's report.
Frank and Regina Marini are from the Hockessin DE area where they have another home, Francis “Frank” Marini appears to link to a William Q. Saienni, Sr., age 79 of Hockessin, DE who died on December 5, 2001. William Q. Saienni, Sr founded several concrete paving construction companies in the Wilmington and New Castle DE area, Material Transit, Material Trucking, Blacktop Products, and his beloved “Beaver Blacktop”. The Saienni family is based in the Hockessin, DE area as was/is Frank Marini.
Stefano G. Saienni…….July 26, 2010—-DELAWARE..Newark Police have charged two men in connection with several car break-ins in the Newark area. SEE LINK http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/jul/cars072610.html Bradley M. Hooks, 18, of Newark, and Stefano G. Saienni, 18, of Hockessin, were charged with multiple counts of third degree burglary theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy and criminal mischief at the the parking area of Foxcroft Apartments at 120 Wilbur St., Newark DE 19711 (North East area)
An officer saw Bradley Hooks and Stefano Saienni walking out of the parking lot at the Foxcroft Apartments on Wilbur Street (Newark DE zip code 19711) around 1:15 am Sunday morning and noticed one of the two had a glove on one hand. The cop went into the parking lot, saw a car with broken glass around it and saw Hooks and Saienni driving away in a pickup truck. Saienni also was charged with possession of burglar tools. They were committed to the Young Correctional Facility; Hooks in default of $10,250 bond and Saienni in default of $9,750 bond. Stefano G. Saienni DOB 8/26/1991 739 Loveville Rd Hockessin DE he also links to an address in New Castle.
The dumpster chosen for his burial was off an easily accessible highway that allowed his carrier to bypass local law enforcement attention and get back on the road quickly after the deed was done. This is a person who had to have familiarity with that dump site (Newark DE zip code 19711) . Someone who works or lives nearby; someone who does business with one of those 10 establishments next to the dumpster used, or someone who has to travel through that area–and uses I95 (495) or 273 to do it–would fit this profile.
The Medical Examiner called it a homicide right away but isn't talking anymore. Did he die as a result of something we've never encountered before? I'm not so sure the family has been told and if they have, they were told not to say anything. Or maybe they know as much as we do.
New Castle not the city of New Castle?
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/jul/cars072610.html
That pickup would before or after the end of the run.
Maybe the body never actually got to a big dumpster....That so called fact is really an assumption unless it was caught on video.
Maybe we have to look at some cold cases.
How close is the Foutainview Condo’s 1000 Fountainview Cir, Newark DE, 19713 (one of the dump sites) to Foxcroft Apartments 120 Wilber Street (criminal mischief site)?
Starting Location
120 Wilbur StEditNewark, DE 19711-2221
Cancel
Ending Location
1000 Fountainview CirEditNewark, DE 19713-3864
Cancel
Total Travel Estimate: 7 minutes / 2.48 miles Fuel Cost: Calculate
http://classic.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Newark&1s=DE&1a=120+Wilbur+St&1z=19711-2221&1y=US&1l=39.687138&1g=-75.751964&1v=ADDRESS&2c=Newark&2s=DE&2a=1000+Fountainview+Cir&2z=19713-3864&2y=US&2l=39.67346&2g=-75.73499&2v=ADDRESS
Read WCG post at #308
Check out:
Material Trucking: Sand , gravel, cement
Delaware Trucking Dump ...
If you need a way to transport loose material to and FROM a construction site, search under Trucking Dump in Delaware
So was the dump truck’s company connected to Delaware Trucking mentioned in article.
From everything I’ve read this morning about the 10 dumpsters, it appears the one at the senior living home - Gardens White Chapel under construction was the only one w/o surveillance cameras. From Examiner comments “Gardens/Fountainview with the 3 photos of this facility. It’s secluded from the main rtes nearby 2/72/273. There are no surveillance cameras and another thing, it’s right next to the Amtrak right-of-way which could mean, similar to a dead end, very little traffic would be down there”
The bank and car dealer would be definitely out. McD’s was within view of drive-through.
The 10 site locations, according to the City of Newark’s website, are as follows:
1. WSFS Bank, College Square
2. Newark Library, Library Avenue
3. Gardens of White Chapel, White Chapel Drive
4. Hudson State Service Center, Ogletown Road
5. Newark Toyota, Marrows Road
6. McDonald’s, E Main Street
7. Attila Wings, E Main Street
8. Newark Emergency Center, E Main Street
9. Bing’s Bakery, E Main Street
10. Goodwill, Newark Shopping Center
Continue reading on Examiner.com: John Wheeler 10 trash bin sites: Delaware sleuth provides photos, commentary - National Criminal Profiles | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/criminal-profiles-in-national/john-wheeler-10-trash-bin-sites-delaware-sleuth-provides-photos-commentary#ixzz1B7RUn6Q4
Interesting timeline provided by a commenter at that link.
The day after Christmas – five days before his body was found as it was being dumped from a trash truck into the Cherry Island Landfill in Wilmington – Wheeler sent longtime friend Richard Radez an email expressing concern that the US wasn’t sufficiently prepared for “cyber warfare,” according to The Associated Press.
“This was something that had preoccupied him over the last couple of years,” Radez told the news organization.
Wheeler’s focus on computer warfare, and his ties to Mitre, have already attracted conspiracy theories involving the military industrial complex, but there are plenty of other intriguing details that don’t immediately fit into such a plot.
snip (my note :New Castle PD requested initial home search warrant and conducted search of it. AG Biden followed up four days later with request to have that search warrant sealed. THEN, the additional search warrants were sought and obtained by Newark PD for home, car and cell. AG went back to request those be sealed as well, on the 13th.)
(cont)
What’s more, the AP has reported that yellow police evidence tape was seen surrounding two wooden chairs in Wheeler’s kitchen, where several wooden floorboards were missing, even though Delaware police have said the victim’s home is not considered a crime scene. A neighbor, according to Examiner.com, said Wheeler’s television blared continuously in the days preceding his death.
Those details, combined with the fact that someone went to considerable effort to hide Wheeler’s body in a trash dumpster in nearby Newark, Delaware, would suggest the homicide wasn’t a random mugging.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/05/cyberwar_expert_homicide/
Note: I hope the police aren’t as confused as I am at this point - clues point in many direction.
If it had been a simple robbery/mugging murder - usually they don’t take the time to dump body in dumpster. More interested in getting away.
I kept thinking he was pursuing the perps for a day but that no longer makes much sense BECAUSE whatever happened, he was still on a mission...evidenced by his visit to Nemours asking for money to get a train to Philadelphia.
What I still don;t understand is: Why didn't he call his wife or one of his kids or a friend. He had $120 at one time. I don't care if they were half way around the world.
Who was going to meet him in Philadelphia?
Where did he get the sweatshirt...someone knows. That's an absolute.
I'm having so much trouble with the pieces, I'm starting to think that it was a hit....WIFE most likely...according to Dinozzo...
What if the briefcase was the target.People at his house waiting for him to come home.They found the bombs.They get tired of waiting and have someone rob him when he gets off the train.They see his blackberry in it and throw that and the bombs in the house.He knows his attackers and goes on the hunt for them.He doesn’t want anyone to know because he really needs the briefcase back.The bad guys figure just take him out because he is not going to let up.
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