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...

[fatima]

So your thinking is there were 2 crimes.One he was mugged and then he was murdered.Also you think he was murdered at the house.?

[hoosiermama]

http://www.examiner.com/criminal-profiles-in-national/john-wheeler-case-cab-driver-comes-forward-claims-contacted-police-first

Good analysis of the cab driver who told police he’d picked Jack up on the 29. Includes all possibilities.

[piasa]

Trivia: The morning's first trash pickup by the truck which was later thought to have contained Wheeler's body was at a bank in College Square:

The [Waste Management] truck's first stop was a bank in College Square shopping center. Two trash bins at the rear of a bank are just yards away from two surveillance cameras, and are in sight of several storefronts and a heavily traveled road. [My note: Depends on time of night who would see anything, and we don't yet know if the cameras had recorded anything or not, or if the tape had been recorded over before wheeler's body was found, IMHO.]

There was a robbery the night before... not at the bank but at a pharmacy in College Plaza. The perp ran from the pharmacy towards a white car on the side of the plaza where the bank was.

Wonder if the driver [or passengers, if any] of the white car had dumped anything in that dumpster before the robbery?

DECEMBER 30, 2010 9 PM : (DE : A PHARMACY IN NEWARK IS ROBBED -- IS THIS A DIFF ONE THAN THE ONE WHEELER HAD VISITED?) They are looking for a suspect who robbed the pharmacy at the supermarket at College Square around 9 pm on Dec 30. Interesting that he ran to a white car on the south side of the parking lot. The bank is located there and the library is across the street. ------ http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110119/NEWS01/110119015/Photos-released-of-man-who-robbed-Newark-pharmacy 490 posted on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 11:16:33 PM by Abby4116|

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

You have a point. :-)

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I missed this:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/03/Prominent-veteran-found-in-landfill/UPI-74381294097675/

“... Identification was still on the victim’s body, enabling police to determine Wheeler’s identity, the Wilmington News Journal reported Monday....”

[hoosiermama]

Mentioned earlier that we have a pharmacist in our church who used to regularly give a person a couple of pills over the weekend until they could get into a DR, if they had had a prescription. It's possible he gave Jack a couple to tide him over the holiday.

Also most medications have a life that would keep it in his system for several days. So the abrupt change in his behavior IMO had nothing to do with his medication.

OTOH if we learned anything from Gabby's head injury it is that the swelling get worse in the first three days. IMO he'd been hit on the head when mugged.

[hoosiermama]

Do you know anything about the robbery in College Plaza on the 30th? Check out piasa post above.

[hoosiermama]

Good catch. So they knew who he was immediately.

Sloppy murder. Very amateurish or they just thought no one would find the body. OTOH maybe they were in a hurry to get his body in dumpster before truck came or to get to work themselves.

[hoosiermama]

Either two crimes or two parts of the same crime. IMO the police know where/how he was killed and are just waiting for the lab work to confirm and give them enough evidence to support an arrest.

[cricket]

piasa. . .this is a ‘most interesting’ catch/disclosure. . .

[cricket]

piasa. . .this is a ‘most interesting’ catch/disclosure. . .

[cricket]

Interesting in reading about numerous robbery’s in this area. . .oxycontin seems to be first ‘choice’. (Of course, other street drugs - and money - welcome.) And a knife, seems more often the weapon, than a gun.

[Sacajaweau]

Ah...Knife...blood....

If John got knifed or took a bullet, he would have bled out....someplace....

I think they have a witness hidden away and maybe even a crime scene.

IMHO, it's the only thing that makes sense of LE's almost total silence.

[cricket]

If John got knifed or took a bullet, he would have bled out....someplace....

For sure, at least, in the dumpster. (Of course, he could have been strangled; and/or as likely, a 'knife'. Moreso, than a gun. Quiet and quick MO most likely and cheaper, if 'not professional'.

As for knowing more here per perp and crime; yes, one would almost think. . .

[hoosiermama]

IMHO, it's the only thing that makes sense of LE's almost total silence.

Waiting for the perp to make a statement on wire, to a snich, or mole that only the LEO and the perp would know; thereby, giving them the evidence to convict him.

Remember the eighteen year old with the same last name as the uncle of the neighbor arrested for burglary? Worked in the same area IIRC.

[cricket]

One more thing. . .Wheeler's body easily seen/found when dumpster begins unloading; and that crime was described as 'clearly, a homicide'; and then the police do thorough sift/sort through garbage, makes one think they were looking for any other clues (of course) but perhaps, more significanly, there was clearly, a murder 'weapon'to be looking for. (Leading me again, to 'knife' consideration...)

Meantime, it would be nice to have announcement, that case has progressed and an arrest or plural, has been made. No one deserves this kind of demise; least of all, a man who served our Country and was a true Patriot.

[WestCoastGal]

Interesting comment on one of the News sites - don’t know if it has merit or not but......

“Was wondering who the construction firm doing the building was (Marinihouse). When I learn today it is a firm called Chatham Bay Construction. A simple internet search shows a Jay Freebery is the President of this firm.
With the long history of the family in NC and in NCC why is it when a member of this family is involved things always get murky!”

Response to comment “Yes....Freebury family - cops, connected - interesting....sad.”

—

Is anyone familiar with this company in De.?

[hoosiermama]

Can we check and see if they were also doing the construction of the site near one of the dumpsters. It started with an F...Posted a picture of it...I’ll go get it.

[hoosiermama]

Which of the sites match up with the picture given?
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#ixzz1C4kNVPlk

[WestCoastGal]

Garden Of White Chapel