New development in mysterious death of John Wheeler
Updated at 10:34 PM today
NEW CASTLE, Del. - January 14, 2011 (WPVI) — New details continue to emerge about the mysterious death of a former White House advisor from Delaware.
Investigators have been trying to figure out John Wheeler’s strange behavior in the days before he died. An email he sent out just a few weeks ago about this house under construction, may offer some insight.
“He was very vigorous in his opposition and was very critical of the parties involved including myself,” said Mayor John Klingmeyer.
Mayor John Klingmeyer is among those who’ve felt the wrath of John Wheeler. He has sued the town and the owners of this property, claiming the construction was illegally approved after a 13 year long battle.
Wheeler sent an email to friends and neighbors just before Christmas. He vents his growing anger over the new house across the street. It blocks his view of the river and Battery Park.
Wheeler says, “The core of Battery Park is dying, because as can now be seen, the huge mansion will dominate the site.”
The deeply patriotic former White House aide goes on to say, “In the very large picture, over history and generations, our country counts on each locality to guard American heritage. Here, in this beloved place, we are failing in that duty.”
“I think it became a major distraction for him, really. It became for him something very compulsive,” said Mayor Klingmeyer.
At one point the mayor had to publically deny a claim by Wheeler that he had a personal relationship with Regina Marini, the property owner.
In his email Wheeler says, “This started when Ms. Marini had her husband illegally knock down the existing historic house. Then Ms. Marini had all the big trees torn down illegally. Ms. Marini just knocked down whatever was in her way.”
Wheeler blames the mayor and the town for not stopping her.
Sources confirm that police are looking into the possibility that Wheeler tried to burn down the house on December 28th.
That was the day before he showed up lost and confused in Wilmington looking for his car, and three days before his body was found in the landfill.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7899464
Maybe we should e-mail Greta to get back on this story.
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VAN SUSTEREN: When was the last time you had any — when was the last time you had any communication with him?
SCALES: I talked to him about a month ago. We had a — we were talking about some issues related to doctrine. And we communicated occasionally by e-mail. He was my roommate when we were sophomores at West Point. Jack was a star man all four years. That means he was in the top 5 percent of the class. And as his roommate, I was in the top 5 percent of the bottom fifth of the class. And so Jack was responsible for getting me through physics and chemistry. And had it not been for him, I probably would have been a civilian at the end of my sophomore year, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: What — well, you’re lucky to have known him then. You — because you — you wouldn’t have had your military career. What was his military career?
SCALES: Jack served honorably in Vietnam. He was — he went to graduate school, of course, after he graduated because those in the top 5 percent had that privilege. Served in Vietnam. He got out of the Army in 1971. As you may recall, Greta, he was the motive force behind the design and the building and the fund-raising for the Vietnam memorial. And it was Jack Wheeler more than anyone else who was — who was a motive force in getting that magnificent memorial built.
And many of us, frankly, in the early ‘80s were opposed to what was then called, you know, the wall. But Jack understood the iconic nature of that memorial, and he was smart enough to figure out how lasting and fitting that memorial would be for generations of veterans. And so his — I believe his great legacy to the nation is the fact that that memorial never would have happened had it not been for the drive and the determination of my good friend, Jack Wheeler.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so now the weird details and the distressing ones. The Philadelphia Enquirer is reporting that he may have been involved in the attempted arson of a home of his neighbor that he was feuding with. And you hear the bloodshot eyes, may have been disoriented, carrying his shoe. When you read all those bits and pieces of information, what do you think?
SCALES: It’s not the Jack Wheeler I knew. No. Jack was a kind, an intelligent, a very urbane, a very polished, very articulate man, a very empathetic man, a very kind person. Those images — and I just saw some of those images on your screen — that’s just not the Jack Wheeler that I knew.
And I’m saddened by the fact that the images that our viewers will have of this great man are those sad images in that parking garage. No, no. The Jack Wheeler I knew was a much, much, much different man than the person you see in those images, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is there any sort of suggestion — have you heard from any of your classmates, anybody who’d known him in the last months or anything whether he might have had a drug or alcohol problem and you know, whether he just got himself into a fix and then sort of got a bad robbery or anything like that, or any work-related project that was unusual?
SCALES: No. Look, obviously, I’m not a detective, nor am I a doctor, I just know the man’s character, as do many of my classmates. No, Jack Wheeler, to my knowledge, never abused anything. He was the sort of person who had a very tempered personally. He was very mild-mannered. He was very kind. He had a brilliant intellect. He was extremely empathetic. He had an enormous love for veterans and also for our men and women serving in uniform, and in fact, devoted most of his adult life after he left the military in serving our men and women in uniform. No, all those images that I see, Greta, simply don’t reflect the Jack Wheeler that I knew.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it certainly is bizarre. We keep getting more information every single day, and it even looks stranger. General Scales, thank you, and hurry back to Washington, sir.
SCALES: I will, Greta. It’s good to see you.
VAN SUSTEREN: Nice to see you.