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...

[WestCoastGal]

Don’t know much about the law but was just re-reading stuff and came across this again “Delaware Chancery Court judge denied Wheeler’s application for a temporary restraining order on Dec. 13.”

By restraining order, would that mean to stay away from him or stop building on the house?

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

NEVER FORGET

.

Once a soldier and young,
....They are still soldiers

http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66978

.

NEVER FORGET

.

[hoosiermama]

Wheeler had asked that the court restrain or stop the neighbors from doing any further work on the house. It was denied. IOW the court said they could continue to build.

BUt note the house was suppose to be finished last fall. They are WAY behind.

[Sacajaweau]

Wheeler asked for a restraining order to stop constuction...It was denied.

There are different kinds of restraining orders for different purposes. You're thinking of a certain kind..."Order of Protection"

[smoothsailing]

Hey Brother.

[buck61]

when spell-check doesn’t

Tough tit, you’ll get over it !!!!

[hoosiermama]

Watching a crime show:

Motive:

Opportunity:

Method:

RE: Method: Jack was not a small person. It would take a large strong, person or people to “beat” him to death. Injuries on the perps? He would fight back.

OTOH surprise attack from the back, or he was attacked with an weapon.

[smoothsailing]

RE: Method: Jack was not a small person. It would take a large strong, person or people to “beat” him to death. Injuries on the perps? He would fight back. OTOH surprise attack from the back, or he was attacked with an weapon.

I'm leaning towards a weapon, maybe a baseball bat or a heavy metal pipe.

......................................................

Officials determined several weeks ago that Wheeler was a homicide victim, but they did not disclose any other details. Authorities had said they would not release the cause of death until toxicology tests were completed. They still refused to disclose the results of those tests on Friday.

Hal Brown, deputy director of the medical examiner's office, said specific results of toxicology tests are not released in homicide cases, but that if the presence of drugs or alcohol was deemed relevant, that fact would be included in the cause of death.

Brown said blunt force trauma involves "nonpenetrating" injuries such as concussions, contusions, lacerations, broken bones and abrasions, which are distinguished from penetrating wounds inflicted by stabbing or shooting.

"It's the result of an external object impacting your body," he said, adding that the object could be a hand, a foot or a weapon.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/114829784.html

[hoosiermama]

Since they were able to state he was murdered immediately I'd say hit with a weapon is a probably correct.

Motive is the thing that has me puzzled? Not burglary. Not a crime of passion What does that leave?

[smoothsailing]

Professional hit, the mob or the government, but I repeat myself.

[hoosiermama]

Have been trying to find the pictures of the inside of THE new house . Do you remember any tools in the picture?

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Quote of the day: No murder is perfect. There is always one or two mistakes. (They didn't expect anyone to find the body, so IMO they'll find a lot of mistakes)

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Professional? (Youngish {sloppy job} trying to get his murder committed so he could become a full fledged member of the family?)

Mob uses the dump to send a message. They've used the dumps on numerous occasions. It's their MO.

If it had been the government. They would have just picked him up with a nondescript car, put him in a plane and dropped him somewhere over the ocean....Never to be seen again.

[smoothsailing]

AW, this is the only source I've found that contains the actual complete text of the ME's official news release:

ME says Wheeler death caused by blunt force trauma after an assault

The State Medical Examiner says that John Wheeler, whose body was found on New Years Eve at the Cherry Island Landfill in New Castle County died as a result of blunt force trauma after he was assaulted. Wheeler, a former Pentagon official who was instrumental in the creation of the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial, was reportedly seen just days before his body was found seemingly disoriented and wandering around Wilmington with no coat and carrying one of his shoes.

NEWS RELEASE: MEDICAL EXAMINER RELEASES CAUSE OF DEATH IN WHEELER CASE
Homicide victim died of blunt force trauma

WILMINGTON – The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner today announced that John P. Wheeler, III, whose body was found December 31, 2010 at the Cherry Island Landfill in Wilmington, died as a result of blunt force trauma after being assaulted.

Any further inquiries regarding the case should be directed to the Newark Police Department and the Delaware Department of Justice.

[smoothsailing]

This video has some interior shots of the Marini house...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=7883768

I don’t see any tools, but there are some pieces of wood and pipe laying around.

[blueplum]

not so sure about the ‘wallet’ - I’ve read that he had ‘identification’ on him making the id immediate. “Wheeler told court employees in the 5th and King parking garage about 7:30 that his wallet and briefcase were stolen and was wondering if he was in the correct garage”

[blueplum]

If he didn’t go to his house then how did the phone get into the house across the street.

good question.

I'm stuck on this phone thing. My gut says it was planted as a distraction, same as the smoke-bombs.

Wheeler had a blackberry and an iphone? or just an iphone? (warrant was for the iphone, right?) I've read he had both, or that people referred to his phone as a Blackberry and also as a I-phone (and also as a 'cell phone') so it's a little confusing at this point.

according to new Castle cab driver Azuzde: - "The police asked if I received a call from an old man, at a certain number" (What number????-what phone????) -called Azuzde from a Dollar Store at about 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. (dollar store next to Happy's at rte273/rte9(ferry cuttoff) - made it in 20 minutes - came a long way -

Azuzde's statement leaves open the possibility that at 4 or 5pm on the 29th, Wheeler was still in possession of his phone which the police identified to Azuzde by number - which he used to call Azuzde's cab company - giving that same number as a call-back number to Azuzde. Wheeler said he was physically at 273/rte9 where there was a Dollar Store. So we can almost confirm that was Wheeler's location as of 5pm on the 29th. So what time slot is there, where he could have gone home, decide to go lookie-loo at the construction site, drop his phone, and still be at the pharmacy at 6pm?

and, more importantly, and something noone's mentioned, if Wheeler hadn't heard any gossip, if he hadn't heard something was going on across the street, if he hadn't heard already he was wanted 'for questioning', what reason would he have had at all, to go over to the site in the first place, much less lose his phone there??????

Thoughts?

[Sacajaweau]

btt

[blueplum]

questions I haven't seen asked yet:
were there workers at the site across the street from the Wheeler house on the 28th or 29th of Dec?
were fire inspectors at the site on the 29th? and what time did they clear the site the night of the 28th?
did the neighbors see any unusual or out-of-place vehicles in the neighborhood on the 28th or mid-afternoon of the 29th?

question "we" still don't have an answer to: on what day and time did the ‘heard through the walls’ tv/radio type noise emanating from the Wheeler house cease to be noticeable?

[Sacajaweau]

I'm having a terrible time finding an article with Azuzde's name but I remember seeing it way back....

There's something wrong with this cell phone story. I simply think he has more than one phone....just like my daughter has...in fact...and John gave it to whomever he hired to work at his house. The worker also works at the house next door.

One of my buddies lost his phone and had to buy a new one. Then he found his old one. Then he had two phones.

What the police aren't telling us was what calls were made from that phone...And they don't want to...and so...sealed warrants.

Smoke Bombs: One of the workers planted them....The place had rodents...It's that time of year...Or it was kids..It's close to New Years and in lieu of Fireworks...sounds like something my bro's kids would do...

[Sacajaweau]

Jack ABSOLUTELY got a ride after leaving the Pharmacy because it's only 40 minutes until we again know where he is.

It takes about 15 minutes for a man of Jack's stature to walk a mile. It is about 8 miles from the Pharmacy to Wilmington so it would have taken Jack 2 hours to walk it.

It also means he was robbed damn close to where we see him in the garage in Wilmington (2 miles at the very most). Of course that leaves no time for Jack to recover from being "robbed"....so he was more likely within one mile of the garage.

I think the change of mind to just get to Wilmington is because there are hotels and cabs all over the place. It simply increases his options. He's only an hour behind schedule when he leaves the Pharmacy.

I'd check all the cameras withing a mile of the Pharmacy....all along Rte 9 to Wilmington and concentrate on the last mile before the garage.

[hoosiermama]

Lot of unanswered question.

Re phone. Last call was on the afternoon of 28th around 5:00 pm. If he was still in DC at the time he probably put it in his brief case...Battery rundown??? Was it taken when his b-case was taken. Active sim card would ID it as his.

Suspect the phone to cab was made from his house phone. He didn’t have it with him or he would have called called driver back.

Something happened between the time he called the cab to go to Philly and the time the pharmacist asked him if he wanted him to call a cab to change his mind. He ws headed to his car then to drive to where ever he wanted to go.....Suspect the theft, first attack happened then. Either in his home or on the way to location of cab...daylight/someone would have seen something. (The cabbie said he called between 4 & 5 and pickup was at 273 and 9th.)

BBL