Posted on 01/17/2011 1:51:22 PM PST by Wolfstar
An unfitting end to an illustrious career.
That's how several West Point classmates viewed the New Year's Eve discovery of a prominent defense expert's body in a Wilmington landfill.
Two weeks after Newark, Del., police identified John "Jack" P. Wheeler 3d, 66, of New Castle, as a homicide victim, investigators still have released few particulars about the case, allowing conspiracy theorists of all kinds to draw pictures of their own.
Although the case was deemed a homicide, police have declined to list a cause, raising questions about whether Wheeler was drugged, shot, beaten, or stabbed. New information from police sources suggests he might have stopped taking medication for some sort of medical or mental-health condition.
"We're very disappointed that we've heard nothing," said Doug Thornblom, a retired Army colonel who described his roommate from West Point's Class of 1966 as a kind, respected, passionate patriot.
[SNIP]
Randy Loftin, another classmate, said Wheeler's death shocked their tight-knit group.
"This is really off the charts for someone like Jack," Loftin said. "There are few people who would stun us like that, especially the way in which he died. He was a fabulous man, someone who was always watching your back in whatever you were doing."
Newark Police Lt. Mark A. Farrall, a spokesman for the department, declined to say whether detectives had more information and had chosen not to share it, or whether clues were scarce.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
An article in yesterday's The News Journal, posted on Delaware Online (can't be posted here due to copyright issues), indicates that the silence from authorities about the Wheeler case is unusual. See the article here: Delaware police mum about cause of former Pentagon official John Wheeler's death
Is he the Wheeler who was prominent in funding the Vietnam Vet’s Memorial?
Was he involved in the development of Stuxnet ?
At the link your provided the article says the police still await the results of Toxicology tests and that the tests will still be a few weeks in coming. Article also reiterates the fact that police are not releasing the cause of death.
Couple of thoughts here, and I speculate only, feel free to argue, rationally and without ad hominum, with me but please do not call me stupid or nasty names as has happened in other threads I participated in about this crime....why so long for the toxocology tests?
It’s still a couple of weeks off and by now it’s a couple of weeks beyond the crime before the results are returned?
Because I saw that video of Wheeler and to me the guy looked drunk.
Now I know the meme is that he was “disoriented” and such and of course he could have had some kind of awful health event.
I’m sticking with Occam’s Razor here. I think Wheeler was drunk, I think some street thug got a hold of him as he looked like a juicy pigeon waiting to be plucked, I think there was attempts to roll or rob him, I think things got out of hand, I think his dead body was thrown into a dumpster with an intent that it would never be found. Somebody knew the pickup times on the dumpster as I theorize.
I don’t believe for a minute the toxocology results will take several weeks. Give me a high profile crime and I’m getting the results back tomorrow, latest the day after.
Like they’re not releasing the cause of death, I think the police know the toxocology results of Wheeler’s blood (including the blood alcohol level which is where I’m going with this) and they’re not releasing any information.
I think that garage attendant is somehow involved with this crime, which would explain why she didn’t call the police to help this obviously “disoriented” man. I’m thinking garage attendants see drunk folks late at night quite often. Don’t know whether she called her homie friends or what but I think the cops are holding off to find the perp.
I’ll leave with providing another tidbit which I learned here locally as I do live in Delaware. I heard that when the police went to Wheeler’s house that the TV was blaring, BLARING....louder than we’d ever keep such a thing.
Don’t know what that means but I learned it from a local up Wilmington way.
Also, where Wheeler ended up dead is a high crime, high gang area....again, for what that’s worth.
A morbidly fascinating case!
Was he directly responsible for Stuxnet? I sure don't know, but it would make a whole lotta dots take shape with that line connecting them.
Yes, the same man.
Dec. 24: Wheeler's neighbors, Robert and Phoebe Dill, reportedly took him to the Wilmington train station. He was to ride the train to New York City to deliver a present to his wife, who was staying at their Manhattan condominium, and then go to Washington, the neighbor claimed.
(After discovery of his body, a neighbor reports that for four days over Christmas, the television in Wheeler's Third Street home in Old New Castle was blaring blaring around the clock.)
Dec 27: Wheeler's attorney, Bayard Marin, last spoke to Wheeler.
Dec. 28:
After working at his consulting job at Mitre Corp., in McLean, Va., Wheeler made a reservation on an Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington. Authorities think Wheeler was on the train but have yet to confirm it.5 p.m. -- Wheeler's last response to an ongoing e-mail conversation concerning West Point and college football.
11:30 p.m. -- Firefighters discover a smoke bomb in a house under construction across the street from Wheeler's. He and that home's owners had been involved in a legal dispute. Officials have not linked Wheeler's death to the smoke bomb incident. State fire officials report finding several devices commonly used to smoke out small animals. There are no suspects, but investigators had hoped to speak to Wheeler.
Dec. 29:
6 p.m. -- Wheeler enters the Happy Harry's on Del. 9 near New Castle, and asks the pharmacist, Murali Gouro, for a ride to Wilmington. Unable to give Wheeler a ride, the pharmacist offers to call a cab. Wheeler declines and leaves.6:40 p.m. -- Wheeler enters the parking lot adjacent to the county courthouse in Wilmington holding his right shoe in his left hand. Wheeler told a parking attendant, Iman Goldsborough, that his briefcase containing his parking ticket had been stolen, and he could not find his car. Wheeler is seen on surveillance video shuffling back and forth, apparently confused and disoriented, before he leaves about 25 minutes later.
His car was not in that garage, but was still at the train station where he had parked it 16 days earlier.
Dec. 30:
3:30 p.m. -- Wheeler is spotted in the area of 10th and Orange streets in Wilmington.During the afternoon of Dec 30, Wheeler visited the 10th-floor offices of the Connolly Bove Lodge and Hutch law firm in the Nemours Building looking to speak with the managing partner. He wanted to borrow train fare to travel north. When a receptionist went to find someone to speak with Wheeler, he left.
8:30 p.m. -- Surveillance video captures Wheeler wandering through the Nemours Building at 10th and Orange streets. Several people approach him, because he appears disoriented or confused. Wheeler declines their help. He is dressed differently from the day before.
8:42 p.m. -- Wheeler is seen on surveillance video leaving the Nemours Building through doors on the 11th Street side. He then continues southeast on 11th Street, walking through the Hotel du Pont valet parking area, crossing over Market Street, and is last seen on camera walking on the west sidewalk of 11th Street, toward the city's east side.
Dec. 31:
4:20 a.m. -- A Waste Management truck starts its route through Newark, emptying trash bins, including one containing Wheeler's body.10 a.m. -- The garbage truck that picked up Wheeler’s body arrives at the landfill after making 10 stops at various businesses, including a public library, a seniors’ complex, and a car dealership. Many of the dumpsters on this route were either locked or had surveillance cameras posted nearby. Shortly after 10 a.m., Wilmington police are called to investigate a body found at Cherry Island Landfill. Police determine the truck's route was through Newark, Del., miles away from where Wheeler was last seen. The Medical Examiner's Office rules his death a homicide.
Police say they believe Wheeler’s body was collected at the beginning of the route based on its location in the garbage truck.
The 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.
From the bank, the truck headed to the library where the bin is tucked in an alley between the rear of the building and a fence that partitions the alley from nearby homes. A locked chain-link gate prevents through traffic in the alley, and a surveillance camera guards the area.
Security cameras and lights overlook bins on the truck's route behind a Toyota dealership.
Those at a McDonald's are in plain sight of a 24-hour drive-through lane.
Just down the street, a small bin is behind another restaurant, across the street from a 24-hour emergency care center. The center's bins can be seen by residents of a seven-story apartment building.
Behind a Goodwill thrift store, several containers are in a lighted area that, according to a sign, is under 24-hour surveillance.
...prominent defense expert... John "Jack" P. Wheeler 3d, 66, of New Castle...
I wouldn't do either. :)
With so few facts released by authorities, your opinion about this case is as good as anyone else's.
There are only a small number of possible reasons for why Wheeler seemed so disoriented.
Head injury of some kind (no injury is obvious on surveillance videos).Medical reason such as a stroke.
Wheeler stopped taking medication, which is alleged in the Newsweek article.
Wheeler was drunk or under the influence of one or more drugs.
I posted the timeline of his known movements in the days prior to his death, and also some information about the route of the trash truck that picked up his body. The police must have more information by this point, but aren't releasing it. According to the Delaware Online article, that's unusual for authorities in that state.
The trash truck only picked up from commercial locations that morning, most of which either were locked, or had video surveillance, or both. Others were in plain sight of apartments and other commercial establishments, and of busy roads.
You’re welcome. :)
I believe he was beaten and robbed of his wallet and briefcase resulting in his confusion - may have a resulting head injury or even been drugged.
Also, if you look closely at his jacket you can see the left sleeve is dirty as are his pants like he was thrown to the ground.
The fact that he was robbed on one day and killed the next is more than coincidence.
But such a psychiatric background would seem inconsistent with his biography. He simply wouldn't qualify for the supersensitive jobs he has held.
There is a possibility that the existence of a severe psychiatric problem was thrown out as an intentional "red herring" in the case. It brings to mind the bogus "depression" theory embraced by the official government investigations that purportedly accounted for Vince Foster's "suicide." A complete review of the credible evidence in the Foster case indicates that it was surely a homicide by gunshot.
This was a hit. No one has yet to uncover the word Whitehouse or Snowcap. How obvious does it have to be?
Mom didn’t teach you everything.
Seriously doubt that theory has any validity to it, especially when, as in this case, it is propagated by a leftist source.
Please see my post # 14.
Yeah I don’t believe any of that, he would not have been able to function in the capacity that he did.
Hi WCG. Belated happy new year. So much about this case is peculiar, not the least of which is the tight lid the authorities have placed on releasing information. According to Delaware media, this is highly unusual. I’m wondering what caused the ME to say this was a homicide. Must have been some reason, hopefully more than just finding his body in the trash. But the fact that they haven’t told the public a cause of death makes me think there was no wound or sign of physical trauma. They are waiting for the tox results to see if the cause of death is there, I think. I also agree that if he had the kind of mental health issues described in the Newsweek article, he probably couldn’t get some of the jobs he held.
Wheeler indeed had an impressive biography and I pray that veterans will speak up in his defense. An intentional “red herring” being used to discredit a man who served his country so admirably can’t be allowed to stick.
What’s to understand, enemy spies grabbed him, truth serumed him, and ultimately killed him. He had top clearance to our air force cyber defense plans. He knows how we were going to defend against an enemy that sought to knock out space based assets. It’s not too terribly difficult to imagine what happened to him.
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