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 ...
Same here figure it’s because of this computer is still on dial up.
Did either of you notice in any of the videos released whether he had signs of a head injury. He’s not wearing a hat.
No visible signs of a head injury. Very animated with his hands at times—once throwing them up in the air like “Oh for God’s sake, I give up.” That was near the entrance, not the glass window.
At one point he pushes an elevator button I think he gets on it, but it is hard to tell if he goes anywhere or gets back off.
He does seem to steady himself once ot twice whie walking (hand against the wall or a counter)
Lots of head movement. I am not sure if he is looking for something or different things get his attention. At one point, he leaves the glass counter, walks down the hallway and closes the entrance door.
It is hard to tell if everything is in sequence (no time stamp)
I have also read he changes clothes twice. I don’t know if that takes into account what he had on when he left DC.
If hit on the head and the scalp did not break, he could have bled internally.
I'm leaning towards thinking nothing happened to Wheeler at his house. I don't think he went home at all before showing at the pharmacy.
It looks like Wheeler got back into town the 29th - and the smokebombing of the house across from his would have been current morning news and all the local gossip. Maybe someone called him the night before and told him, and that is why Wheeler intentionally took a cab to a public place.? Maybe he was meeting someone? Maybe he thought the smokebombs were a warning to him - a your house is next, type warning, especially since he had sent an email to his neighbors before he left on the 24th. Maybe he also found out about the mysterious goings on at his own home - was it related to the smokebombs or related to something else?
Maybe he didn't go to the police because he felt they would have arrested him anyway, jepordizing his job/security clearance, even though he would have later been exhonerated. Maybe he thought if he was going to be arrested as a suspect, it would be better to have that event occur away from his neighbors. Maybe he was waiting for the news to filter down via a certain senior law partner to a police chief's ear that Wheeler had indeed, arrived on the 29th.
At first I thought perhaps Wheeler was wandering drugged or suffering from some sort of memory lapse, but with the subsequent information about his own home and the construction, I find Wheeler's actions, that of intentionally seeking out trustworthy individuals, more of a man trying to lay low while locating appropriate people to clear his name (and/or get him out of town), dealing with knowledge his own home had been intruded - on top of being robbed of his probably pretty valuable briefcase, his cash and credit cards most likely, and manhandled to boot - than actions of a man having a mental break and wandering aimlessly about. Wheeler's actions are focused and coherent to me in the big picture of being apprehensive about any local police contact.
the prime suspects in Wheeler's death could be any one of the slimeballs running around committing armed robbery in the Wilmington area (and there seems to be a rash of them) and second in line are the person or persons who were in his house
I actually ran through one frame at a time looking for a head injury and couldn’t see one. At the same time I was looking for his ring and watch, but the security videos were so grainy it was hard to tell.
snip
Police believe Mr Wheeler's body was in one of 10 rubbish skips emptied by a bin lorry on New Year's Eve and dumped at the landfill site.
Former homicide detective John Apeldorn said: "I think you could probably rule out a highway robbery.
"Somebody's going to rob you, they're not going to kill you and throw you in the dumpster. They're going to take what they want and get out of there."
If he didn’t go to his house then how did the phone get into the house across the street. They mug him in Wil. and then take his phone there...Doubt it.
Is there an eatery or sports bar in the area with TV? (If they weren't often in the home could see him not having cable there....Did he go somewhere nearby to eat and watch the game?)
What time do construction workers get off the job in Delaware? How does that time compare to his being at the mall?
Thank you.
Friends who described Wheeler as a “constant emailer” said they began to suspect something was wrong when his electronic communications dwindled and he didn’t even respond to celebratory missives after Army won its bowl game on December 30.
Army Bowl game on Dec. 30 at 12 p.m. Would esplain what he was doing on the afternoon of the 30th. Wonder if there is a TV lounge area in Wilmington that he could watch it on?
Quick check doesn’t show any sports type place in Hotel Dupont, but there is a Hooligans 1616 Delaware Ave.
Have to get my car from shop and take dogs to get blood work from poison event last week, so will be in and out.
Maybe he did stay in a room at another hotel to watch the game. If so the FBI will know by now.
reminder to self
It’s still odd to me that everyone has dropped this, except the Examiner Radell and us. I even found it on America’s Most Wanted from early on just this morning, but they haven’t updated anything, not even the cabbie info.
Both the Turton case and this one may be delayed waiting on lab reports. I'm curious to see if there was any smoke in her lungs or if she was dead before the fire.
Have several young friends that are LEO or Criminal Lab tech majors... They work long stressful hours. Please pray for the family of the officer shot in Indianapolis this week he was a close friend to one of our friends. Pray for all who are working on these cases.
Prayers!
It is as if the video was edited to fit the narrative of a disoriented old man wandering the parking garages of Wilmington. (Could be quite by accident, those things happen.)
However....If LE edits the video, it is one thing. I understand that. But once it released, the various outlets should say it is edited instead of leaving the impression it was as good as it gets. It just does not seem right.
Last opinion (as if anyone really cares, LOL!): Next time I read how someone killed him and then ‘tossed’ his body into a dumpster, I just might scream. One does not simply ‘toss’ 225 pounds of dead weight into a dumpster.
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