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...

[BykrBayb]

Chatham Bay Construction is the builder, according to the New Castle Tree Commision. http://www.ci.new-castle.de.us/city_gov/TreeCommission/tc_20091102.html .

The Breckstone Group is the project engineer, according to the New Castle City Board of Adjustment. http://www.ci.new-castle.de.us/city_gov/meeting_info/mm_adjustment/BOA_MINUTES_Marini1.html and http://www.ci.new-castle.de.us/city_gov/meeting_info/BOA_MINUTES_0108-1.html .

[WestCoastGal]

Can you help us look for the construction company building the add’l units at Garden at White Chapel where one of the trash bins in question is located? :) Thanks

[WestCoastGal]

http://www.sterling-realestate.com/about-us/senior-management/

[BykrBayb]

I’ll see what I can do. That’s in the city of Newark, right?

[WestCoastGal]

Yes and thanks :)

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I have been on the run today...just peeking in before I have to make dinner. IIRC, one of the early articles I reviewed yesterday said that the authorities thought he was in the dumpster at the bank or the library.

That might make sense if they had to wade through all of the Medical Waste. But the compactor issue factors in. Had the truck been compacted after the dumpster he was in was emptied? Perhaps that is why WM said they knew where he was picked up, based on the condition of the body and the last run of the compactor. I would think the autopsy would not have been completed so quickly had he been compacted.

Do we know if the list of dumpster sites is in the order of pickup?

I need to think some more.

[hoosiermama]

Garden of ...pictured above is third on the list. Right after the bank and the library.

It is condominiums for people 50 + and there is probably some medical (Diabetes) and a few depends in the garbage.

The picture caught my attention because it to is under construction/workboots. Both the neighbor and this location would be recieving sand, gravel etc from the family trucking business.

[hoosiermama]

Do you know anything about this construction company or the family that owns it. Do they have any connection to the constuction at dump site pictured?

[smoothsailing]

New Thread, New Info about the briefcase.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2663281/posts

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Another quote I missed: (don’t know if I believe it)

“...But law enforcement sources say the murder was apparently not related to his government work. ...”
Jan 6th, 2011

source for above:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/06/eveningnews/main7220513.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

[hoosiermama]

Quote from the link above:
“Spence says Wheeler was holding a small briefcase at the time....”

Spence is the cab driver that picked Jack up at the depot and took him to the Dupont hotel area on the 29th.

[blueplum]

Perhaps some of the confusion over ‘crime scene’ comes from earlier news reports that the house was not being considered a crime scene.

I’ve been preoccupied lately and now playing catch-up on this case - has the house been reclassified since Jan 6th?

here’s a quick review of earliest reports:

Newark police had a crime-scene van at Wheeler’s home at 108 W. Third St. in New Castle on Sunday, with crime-scene tape roping off the prominent three-story brick home with black shutters...Newark police....Sunday...wouldn’t say whether they’re treating Wheeler’s home as the crime scene.
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=166065

Investigators have searched the home, where yellow police tape can still be seen in the kitchen, but they have not identified it as a crime scene.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/05/national/main7215666.shtml?source=related_story&tag=related

Though the police have searched the home, it is not considered a crime scene, Farrall said. (Newark Police Lt. Mark Farrall)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/04/national/main7213061.shtml?source=related_story&tag=related

“We still don’t know the location of the crime scene,” Farrall said Tuesday.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/police-still-searching-crime-scene-john

[blueplum]

I’m not sure how they do things in DE, but in the Left Coast state, cabbies are required to keep what’s called ‘run sheets’, detailing pickup/drop-off times/places & fare paid covering their entire shift with a new one each shift. Gypsies may not keep them but most PDs require them as part of licensing and companies require them to be handed in as part of check-in paperwork. They can be very useful in determining truth and patterns.

[BykrBayb]

http://revenue.delaware.gov/unprop/a-e.pdf

[hoosiermama]

The cab driver who picked him up on the 29th had the ride notated in his “book”.

As to crime scene I think some of the quotes you posted were written about the dumpsters. They had not decided which one he was put in..hadn't determined the crime scene.

They spent a week end gathering evidence from his house. You don't gather evidence unless there are links to something criminal. Took floor boards, found foot prints and at least two articles said “other evidence”.

Someone was in the house without permission...That's a crime. It may not be or may be related to the murder. Still waiting on lab work.

From what I can tell, if the joist are standard 16” apart they cut out an area approx 18X64. Why so large? Wood would absorb liquid (like blood) is it to test that?

[hoosiermama]

Lots of pages...What are we hunting for?

[BykrBayb]

There was some reference there to The Gardens at White Chapel. Isn’t that one of the dumpster sites?

[BykrBayb]

I thought 18” was standard.

[WestCoastGal]

Either they don’t know what they’re doing or purposely trying to obfuscate the facts for some unknown reason.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I am a visual person. I have to see what I am thinking about, otherwise the brain does not function. :)

Last CCTV sighting (so far) Wheeler is seen :
--exiting the 11th St side of Nemours Bldg (abt 8:27pm) --walking southeast on 11th, past & through Hotel DuPont valet parking area.
--Continues SE.
--Crosses Market St.
--Last seen walking west sidewalk of 11th at 8:42

The above is a 15 minute time span. Below the red arrows represent his route. Note the blue arrow pointing to the bus stop on the west side. I do not recall any sightings further down 11th but I could be wrong...won't be the first time nor the last, by a longshot.



My hunch is the last reported sighting is the last released sighting.
We don't know how he got to Newark and if he was alive or dead in Newark. Did he take a bus ending up in Newark because he missed his stop in New Castle (fell asleep for instance). Are there bus stops near the dumpster sites that would be on a Newark--Wilmington route? IOW, he gets off in Newark and waits for a return bus back towards New Castle.