Medical examiner: Homicide victim John Wheeler died of 'blunt force trauma'

[Ian David]

Source: Delaware OnLine

Former presidential adviser John P. Wheeler III, whose body was discovered in at a Wilmington landfill on Dec. 31, died as a result of blunt force trauma after being assaulted, the state Medical Examiner’s Office said today.

Carl Kanefsky, spokesman for the state Medical Examiner’s Office, said the cause of death was released because the toxicology tests were completed -- 28 days after the 66-year-old’s body was found at Wilmington's Cherry Island Landfill. Police said his body was dumped there after it was picked up from a garbage bin in Newark.

“They completed all the tests they needed to do and came up with blunt force trauma,” Kanefsky said. “Any further inquiries regarding the case should be directed to the Newark Police Department and the Delaware Department of Justice.”

<snip>

Wheeler was an adviser to several U.S. presidents, led fundraising efforts in the 1980s to construct the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and most recently worked part time for The MITRE Corp., which provides systems engineering and information technology services to the government.



Read more: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110128/NEWS01/110128028

---

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/BreakingNews/status/31108607856611328

[pacalo]

1. Just as important as the cause of death is the toxicology findings.

I'd like to know what drugs were in his system to cause those who knew him to be alarmed at his change in behavior. "It's like something one would see in a movie", said his neighbor.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Yeah, that, and what he was working on at MITRE Corporation that could have gotten him killed?

John Wheeler was some kind of an inside government investigator, and had been involved in investigations of...

--biological/chemical weapons (he wrote the report that got them banned)

--nuclear weapons safety (the Minot airbase incident--which some believe was Cheney trying to nuke Iran)

--the SEC (insider trading).

He had one of the highest security clearances in the country, was a top advisor to presidents and the Defense Dept and was said to be working on cyber security/cyber weapons technology at MITRE, which is THE biggest government high technology R&D company, which designed our air safety system for the FAA and NORAD, and is thickly involved in both Air Force and commercial aviation (including, recently, drone aircraft and weapons).

In the top ten of his class at West Point, with graduate degrees from Harvard and Yale--an early computer specialist (Vietnam era). One friend described him as a "bulldog" of a military man--straight arrow, at times gruff and persistent, but also had lots of friends and, without doubt, very intelligent. His West Point friends ridicule the notion that he could have set off smoke bombs at his neighbor's house (dispute with his neighbors over their blocking his view; his cell phone was found there). I think the smoke bombs/cell phone are evidence of a set-up. Somebody was threatening him--perhaps threatening to go further in ruining his reputation, if he didn't obey them. i also strongly suspect that he was given an interrogation/control drug and was struggling to pull himself out of the fog, during the two days just before his murder, probably determined to handle the matter himself (out of "bulldogness"? or to keep others out of danger?).

He inexplicably doesn't go home during that period (he wasn't far away and had many offers of help, but refused all help--cab ride, money, phone calls). He told one person his briefcase had been stolen. He seems at times in a fog (from vid and witness reports) and at other times determined to stay in Wilmington to DO something. He persists (doesn't go home to "sleep it off"; home is dangerous?) (one report said that several floorboards in his kitchen had been torn up--but unclear whether police did it, looking for something, or found it that way). He spends the night somewhere (no one knows where) and returns on vid the next day, wearing a hoodie sweatshirt that he didn't have on the day before.

At that point, he entered an office building in Wilmington, and went up to the 10th floor and the offices of Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz (big patent attorneys--biotech, medical, plastics). He asked to talk to the "managing partner." By the time the receptionist returned, he was gone. Seen on vid outside the building, walking east. That's the last we see or hear of him. And the next morning his body is found in the landfill brought in from Newark.

It's my guess that his decision in that law office, not to talk to the "managing partner" or anyone else, may have been his death warrant. I am not close to the investigation in any way. I've just picked up all this from news reports. So I don't know if I've interpreted these bits and pieces correctly, or if I'm even close. But this man's creds make all my alarm bells go off. He had one of the top security clearances in the nation--and he's found bludgeoned to death in a landfill, after two days of deliberately (it seems) remaining out of contact with friends and family, and refusing all help?

He was happily chatting with his West Point buddies about sports, by email (he was a frequent communicator), around 5 pm on Dec 28, then all communication stops, he's seen on surveillance vids twice over a two day period, acting confused, then he goes to the law office and ends up in landfill. The man behind the Vietnam Memorial--thrown out with the trash.

Something's here. I don't know what it is. Maybe the cyberwar thing. (The AF recently was caught lying about its cyber war ops to a senate committee.) But SOMETHING is not right. And it also makes me uneasy that the FBI seems hands off about it. You'd think the government would be tearing up Wilmington, New Castle, Newark and Washington DC (where his office was) to find this man's murderer or murderers. Maybe they are and they're just being quiet about it. Or maybe there's something they don't want us to know.

[The abyss]

4. Excellent recap on your earlier posts regarding the Wheeler murder

You write very well!

I agree that there is something major to be exposed here.

Best of luck.

[lunasun]

7. I think the smoke bombs/cell phone are evidence of a set-up.......

yes and very lame at that ....but puts the time line on when confronted/ he started on the run ,,,,,from what we most likely will never know

[pacalo]

8. The offices of the biotech lawyers where he was last seen could possibly have had

access to the surveillance cameras & tipped off his murderers or the murderers knew all along from following him where he was & decided that his visit to the lawyers' office was the last straw; they had to kill him before further damage was done.

And, like you said, with Wheeler's high credentials, high-security clearance, & his impressive work with the VietNam memorial wall, why aren't investigators tearing up Wilmington, New Castle, Newark, & D.C.?.

[pinboy3niner]

10. We don't know what investigators are doing

That's not unusual. What is unusual is that so little information is being released to the public. That only fuels wild speculation and suspicion of a coverup.

My own view is that they should be releasing more information to dispel the suspicions and some of the wild speculation that is going on.

I knew Jack a long time ago. It was a brief acquaintance, but one that convinced me that he was a good, ethical man. That may be consistent with some theories that he was a whistleblower murdered by our own government for what he might reveal, but I don't buy it. I believe that Jack's classified knowledge was far more limited, and hardly a basis for killing him.

It's hard to fathom why the authorities are not releasing more information on this case. The more they withhold, the more it appears that they're hiding and covering up--and the more it fuels speculation and all kinds of wild ideas. Seems like a HUGH mistake on their part, to me.

[Peace Patriot]

11. "one of the top security clearances in the country." That is a quote from a military officer.

Expertise in bio/chem weapons, nuke weapons, air security systems, cyber security/cyber war and the SEC.

And he hides out for two days, after getting robbed of his briefcase, and sometimes seems to be in a fog, and other times purposefully walks into a pharmacy to get a ride from the pharmacist whom he knows, but refuses a cab, then vanishes, and walks into a law office asking for the "managing partner" then vanishes and turns up in the landfill.

"I believe that Jack's classified knowledge was far more limited, and hardly a basis for killing him."

That was not the implication of the officer that I'm quoting (whose name I can't recall). And both his jobs for presidents, the Air Force and the Defense Dept and the types of issues he was involved in say otherwise. They say that he was highly, highly trusted. We're talking about the man who investigated biological and chemical weapons and wrote the report that got them banned, and who was working in THE most sensitive area of national security and military R&D--cyber warfare--at the time of his murder.

But even if what you say is true--that his "classified knowledge was far more limited"--he was in a position to see, hear and document things of highest sensitivity and further was in a position to be given such things by others and seems to have been the sort of man whom a patriotic whistleblower would trust.

I think the facts, in so far as we can tell from news reports and web searches, point the other way--that he was in the middle of something, or was involved in it by someone who asked for his help--of very high sensitivity, and, whatever it was, that is why he was murdered. It would not necessarily be a "government hit" (some official decision to kill one of our own). It could have been private corporate/MIC interests, which involve multi-billion dollar contracts, purely PRIVATE interests within that scene (someone's career), or group interests (for instance, whoever in the AF was hiding AF cyberwar ops from the senate). The latter is an area of interest because Wheeler was working for MITRE, according to them, on cyber security and warfare. (Is it a coincidence that the AF got caught hiding this and a man with a military career of insider investigations, who was working on this very issue, turns up dead?) And then there are foreign interests. The MIC is now intricately involved with foreign militaries, air forces and air security systems all over the world, and MITRE just so happens to be the R&D company for "interoperaiblity."

There are so many possible motives of this kind for his murder that it's difficult to narrow it down. Could be something in his past (somebody--powerful person? corporation? dirty or subversive military cabal? whom he crossed). Could be something current (more than likely something involving billions of dollars in military contracts).

That is what it looks like to me--and I think that that is what we should presume until solidly proven otherwise.

It has some resemblance to a mafia hit (bludgeoning, dumped in landfill, the petty smoke bomb fakery), except for two things: who John Wheeler was, and that whatever happened to him occurred over two days. A private criminal gang would likely just put a bullet in his head and dump him. They wouldn't let him hang around for two days. So would someone who was blackmailing him or whom he was blackmailing (very unlikely). It's more like he was being stalked, being watched, told to do something. Why doesn't he go home to sleep it off? Why doesn't he accept any help? Why doesn't he go to the police in his lucid moments? He had numerous opportunities for a ride home and for calls to friends, family, the police, the FBI, his West Point buddies, his employer and other contacts throughout Washington DC. He positively avoids every contact in his life--and everyone who could help him--and stays in Wilmington for two days. Why? This saga is quite inexplicable as an ordinary crime.

Street crime is out because it would have had to be TWO streets crimes, on TWO days--a mugging when his briefcase was stolen the first day, then he gets bludgeoned to death and his body dumped in Newark late the second day. The probability of this is almost nil, and the second crime would be motiveless (especially taking his body all the way to Newark). A private murder (family dispute? neighbor dispute? money dispute? private vengeance of some kind?) is also out because of the two-day period.

What does that leave as a potential motive?

There was another death in Washington several days later--Ashley Turnot, wife of Obama's liaison to the House and lobbyist for Pioneer Energy, burned to death in her standing BMW in her own garage, on the day that Pioneer signed a $13 billion deal with Duke Energy (which has a new aviation facility at Charlotte International). (That and the AZ shootings occurred within one week--Dec 31-Jan 8.) I don't believe that Turnot's death has been designated a murder by the police. But if it was, I think that that, too, ought to be investigated for connections to Wheeler's murder. Two very well-connected people in DC, both in sensitive positions, both at the nexus of billion dollar contracts, murdered in one week?

Follow the money.

[woodsprite]

16. In one of the articles recently I was surprised to see that

the Newark Police acknowledged the FBI has remain active and have been helpful in the investigation. I engaged some local New Castle-ites in conversation the other day and they all believe it was something bigger than anyone is talking about or acknowledging. Sounds like they're thinking the same kind of things we are, but I couldn't find out if the townies had heard any additional ideas from investigators or press hanging around.

[goforit]

2. What did he know? What was he going to divulge?

Another bushbodycount?

[pinboy3niner]

5. The ME's statement only raises more questions

Why are they being so tight-lipped about this? They have tox results, but they make no statement even generally characterizing what was found/not found. They have autopsy results, but they release no information to address the question of whether or not there is evidence of stroke or other physical condition that might explain Wheeler's suddenly odd, disoriented behavior.

This is a high profile case that has been the subject of a lot of rumor and speculation. The inordinate degree of secrecy being maintained will only fuel more suspicion about what's being hidden, and why.

[skoalyman]

6. hmm I found a good link to more info from his neighbors

John Wheeler was alleged to have been in Washington and not due to board Amtrak until Dec. 28, but Roark says that someone had obviously been in the Wheeler home four days surrounding Christmas, as an unusually loud television could be heard on constantly, although the residence occupants did not appear to be there. www.examiner.com/criminal-profiles-in-national/vietnam-veteran-s-memorial-champion-john-wheeler-homicide-new-details

[pacalo]

9. Loud tv noises coming from inside the Wheelers' house while they were out of town.

For four days. To mask the sounds of something illegal being set up inside? Floorboards removed, as mentioned by Peace Patriot up above.

[Peace Patriot]

12. There is documented evidence that he was in New York with his wife in their

Manhattan apartment during Christmas. That's where he told his friends he was going, who took him to the DC Amtrak. The documentation is a cell phone email with an attached photo of the snowstorm in NY, from his apt balcony, that he sent to a friend. (I think the date was Dec 26.) He said he was trapped there by the snowstorm. The report of loud TV in his house in New Castle was that it was very loud, day and night for four days, over Christmas.

His wife apparently then went off on a business trip, and he apparently took the train to Wilmington on Dec 28. (I can't recall if it is known that he stopped at his DC office first.) He must have gotten a ride from Wilmington to nearby New Castle (where his home is located) (because he shows up at the New Castle pharmacy the next day). This is what he generally did--got a ride or cab to New Castle, leaving his car at the Amtrak parking lot in Wilmington (he had a monthly permit). But nobody knows how he got to New Castle (who gave him a ride). That night (11:00-ish) the smoke bombs go off across the street at the neighbor's half-built house (the one he had a dispute with). It's unknown whether he was in his own house at the time. (If you heard/saw fire trucks arriving across the street, wouldn't you go outside to check it out?) (It's unknown when the fire department found his cell phone at the smoke bombed house but at some point fire dept officials wanted to talk to him because of it, and weren't able to. Don't know if they knocked on his door or what.)

The next day, in the late afternoon, he goes into the local pharmacy, where he knows the pharmacist and asks him for a ride to Wilmington. The pharmacist can't do it (and in one report is described as "startled" by the request). He offers to call Wheeler a cab. Wheeler refuses that offer and leaves. How he gets to Wilmington is unknown. (My suspicion: a car was lurking outside, following him, and forced him into the car.) Next we see him in Wilmington at the WRONG parking garage (the one near the courthouse, not the Amtrak one) telling the parking attendant that he had been robbed of his briefcase, that his parking ticket was in his briefcase and he can't find his car. He hangs around for about a half hour, looking disheveled and confused. (His car is later found at his normal Amtrak parking lot, about 5 blocks away.) Then he vanishes for the night--where he spent the night is unknown--and shows up the next afternoon on vid near a hotel and the law offices, wearing a hoodie sweatshirt. That evening, circa 8:00 pm, he goes into the law offices, asks for the "managing partner," leaves without speaking to anyone, vanishes into the night and turns up murdered (body in a truck coming from Newark).

What occurs to me in rehearsing this summary is that Wheeler DID set off the smoke bombs, and that he was trying to draw attention to his house!

His West Point buddies laughed off the notion that Wheeler would set off harmless smoke bombs if he wanted a house gone. They said he was well-trained in this regard, the house would have been cinders and "no one would know who did it." But smoke bombs ARE attention-getters. And so is leaving your cell phone behind.

Would he leave his main connection to help--his cell phone--behind? Yes, if he thought it was being used to track him. And if his calls were being monitored as well, his cell phone would be a useless object. And what better way to point to him and his house, than to leave his cell phone amidst the smoke bombs across the street?

In the cell phone was the telephone number of a local cabbie. Reports are that the cabbie said he didn't give Wheeler a ride, didn't know who he was, didn't call him and wasn't called by him. Another mystery. But it certainly occurs to me that he was supposed to call that particular cabbie to be taken somewhere to meet someone or do something. Possibly the cabbie doesn't know a thing about it. A specific cab might have been chosen so that it could be followed.

If this line of thinking is close to the truth, Wheeler sets off the smoke bombs, drops his phone as a clue, and then hoofs it to the pharmacy and tries to get into a PRIVATE car--the pharmacist's--and refuses the offer of a cab call for fear that THAT cabbie will show up. Then his persecutors find him, as he comes out of the pharmacy, drug him, rough him up and dump him in Wilmington close to town (the courthouse parking garage, 5 blocks closer to town than the Amtrak; total 10 block area) with instructions to DO something. Interrogation/control drugs cause memory loss. Wheeler can't remember where he left his car. He obviously wants to get away--is very frustrated that he can't find his car. Why on earth doesn't he have the parking lot attendant call the police? And why does he refuse numerous offers of help from that point on?

His behavior points to someone who is being tracked--stalked, followed--is under instructions, has been threatened, and is afraid or is protecting others--and is handicapped by being in an interrogation/control drug fog--inflicted between the pharmacy in New Castle and the courthouse parking garage in Wilmington. He's tough--a "bulldog." He's fighting it off. He tries to get away (find his car) but the fog descends. He hides out somewhere that night trying to clear his head. Perhaps his persecutors find him again and remind him what the consequences will be, if he disobeys them. He is indecisive about something, hangs around the law office area--having refused more offers of help--finally goes up there and then changes his mind again--and gets killed after he leaves.

I think it's notable that he goes in to see a pharmacist whom he knows and mentions no medical symptoms. He was 66, in good health. And a stroke or any medical problem simply does not account for him getting mugged and robbed one day, a whole day goes by, then he gets bludgeoned to death at the end of the second day and his body dumped in Newark. One street crime, against a vulnerable person, yeah. But TWO streets crimes on TWO days, the last one being murder and body removal? No. This was neither a medical problem nor a street crime. Neither "cause" can adequately account for the end of John Wheeler's nightmarish two days. Then there's the smoke bombs, then there's the cell phone, then there's the torn up floorboards, then there's the loud TV for four days over Christmas, etc., etc.

Then there's who he was.

[woodsprite]

17. I'm thinking during the time he was unaccounted for, he spent

the night either with the homeless population that live down near the train station or actually sought shelter in one of the several homeless shelters downtown. That could account for a change of clothes. Maybe he swapped with someone.

Don't know. Probably never will know the whole story ...... :tinfoilhat:

[Peace Patriot]

18. But WHY did he do this, rather than go home? That is the question.

People offered him phone calls, money, cab rides, whatever help he needed. His home was not far away--a short drive. He knew who he was. He knew he had a car. He knew his briefcase had been stolen. He told one person offering help that he had money. He refused all help! And he didn't go home. That says fear to me. He was afraid to go home--and that was very likely connected to the four days of loud TV over Christmas (something going on in his home), the torn up floorboards in the kitchen (whether the police did that, looking for something, or Wheeler did it himself, or his assailants did it), the smoke-bombs and his cell phone across the street, and other indications that he was hiding out, out of fear. And his visit to the law office points to something he was supposed to do in Wilmington.

The other rather obvious thing about his behavior is that he was in and out of a fog. He had moments of confusion and moments of decisiveness--purposefulness, planning. He organizes himself, gets shelter for the night, sheds his suit coat, gets a hoodie sweatshirt (it was cold), hesitates all the next day then goes up to the law office. He changes his mind again, abruptly, leaves the building and then is murdered and his body dumped in Newark.

The "fog" is characteristic of interrogation/control drugs. It wipes parts of memory but they can come back, with time. It induces obedience to commands, but this, too, wears off. He was a strong character, with military training, a "bulldog" personality and certainly knowledge of interrogation/control techniques--and very intelligent. His behavior is very like someone with those characteristics fighting off the "fog" of such a drug--trying desperately to clear his head. We can almost see that struggle going on, inside of him, as he paces the corridor near the parking attendant's window in the wrong parking garage. What is real? What isn't real? Where is his goddamn car? Why isn't it here? If only he had his briefcase with the parking ticket in it. Oh, yeah, they took it. But, but, but....

This is NOT someone suffering from a stroke or other medical condition. It is possibly someone who got hit on the head in a mugging, but there is no wound, and what happens next? Does he have the attendant call the police or emergency services? Does he have anyone who offers help call the police or emergency services--or his doctor, or his friends or his employer or his West Point buddies? Does he take money offered, get a cab and go home to sleep it off and deal with things in the morning? No. He organizes himself for the night to DO something the next day in Wilmington. And it looks very like his decision about that "something" is what got him killed.

We may not ever know the "whole story" but we can certainly piece together what we know and apply our reasoning powers to it.

For instance, the bits and pieces we know from news reports about the law office incident point to a decision by Wheeler that prompted him to leave without speaking to anybody. I have no idea whatsoever if anybody in that law office (which has many lawyers) knew what Wheeler's mission was, or was a contact person of some kind. He asked for the "managing partner" but you'd think that he would ask for such a person by name, if he knew him or her. Then he abruptly leaves and is soon killed.

That was the first account that came out. Then later there was a statement by one of the lawyers (not the "managing partner") that Wheeler had come to the law office to borrow train fare. How did this lawyer know this, if the first account is correct, that Wheeler didn't speak to anyone (except the receptionist)? (The first account said nothing about train fare.) If that is really why Wheeler (who had told others that he had money) visited the law office, why didn't he ask for someone by name? You don't just walk into a law office and expect to be given money.

And, in any case, where would Wheeler have been going by train? His brief case had been stolen. He had no cell phone. Something bad had happened to him. He was out of communication with everybody in his life. He was disheveled, without a change of clothes. He had no coat--it was very cold. The logical place for him to go was home--he needed a ride there, not a train ticket--but home seemed to be off limits. IF the "train fare" explanation is true--and I don't think it is--it could be that he'd run out of money, was afraid and just wanted to escape this nightmare. But the fact that he refused all other help indicates that he was not likely asking for help at the law office. He was there for another reason. And, whatever it was, he changed his mind about it, walked out without talking to anyone and ended up in a landfill.

Lawyers might lie for a lot of reasons that don't mean criminal complicity. So I'm not saying anyone there knew why Wheeler came in. But the lie doesn't wash. It doesn't make sense that Wheeler would refuse all other help and then go into the law office and ask the "managing partner" for train fare. It was something else that he was there for, and it was very likely the something that got him killed. The law office lawyers may have had nothing at all to do with it--just like the cabbie whose telephone number was found in Wheeler's cell phone may have had no knowledge of how his cab was to be used. Just as that specific cab may have been chosen--and the number given to Wheeler--so that the cab could be followed, the "managing partner" or some other lawyer might have been chosen because he represented the perps in some other matter and would have been unaware of what some message from Wheeler to the perps meant.

What we can know with a good degree of confidence, from the known facts about Wheeler, is that his two day stay in Wilmington--refusing all help to get anywhere else--and that ended with his murder--was purposeful, contained organized behavior on his part to stay in Wilmington and was likely aimed at this law office visit. It was a hard decision for Wheeler, whatever it was. He'd had time to think about it. He'd had time to clear his head. He goes in, then changes his mind abruptly and walks out, and ends up dead.

That is what makes sense from all the known facts, at this point. What we may never know--if it was some top secret government or corporate matter--is why.

[global1]

13. Didn't The 5000 Birds Found Dead In Arkansas Die Of "Blunt Force Trauma" Too.......

hmmmmmm........

[truth2power]

15. I was thinking the same thing. And not from impact with the ground. n/t

[anotherwatcher]

19. The birds in Sweden

died of blunt force trauma as well.  Coincidence?  
Another interesting angle is the 'internet kill switch' bill
being pushed by the Sen. from Maine to 'protect' us from Cyber
attacks.  I wonder what Wheeler thought of that idea?  

[Overseas]

14. K&R ! //nt

[anotherwatcher]

20. Family of murdered former Pentagon official offers reward

Last Updated: 2:16 PM, January 31, 2011

Posted: 2:12 PM, January 31, 2011


The family of former presidential aide and Pentagon official, John P. Wheeler III, is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of his killer, Wilmington's News Journal reported Monday.

Wheeler, whose body was discovered in a Delaware landfill on New Year’s Eve, died from blunt force trauma, according to a statement released last week by the Chief Medical Examiner in Wilmington.

The announcement about the reward came through a former US Attorney for Delaware, Colm F. Connolly, who is representing the family. He said Wheeler’s family is desperate for information because authorities are not sharing information with them, they said. Connolly said the family learned from the media that the Medical Examiner had determined a cause of death.

“We have suffered a heartbreaking loss, and not knowing how Jack died amplifies the devastation we feel. Our hope in offering this reward is to encourage anyone who may have helpful information to come forward so that justice can be served,” a statement from the family read.

Police believe Wheeler, 66, traveled from Washington, D.C., where he worked, to Wilmington, Del., on the morning of Dec. 30.

He was last seen alive on surveillance video inside the Nemours Building located at 10th and Orange Streets in Wilmington as late as 8:30pm on Dec. 30.

The Newark Police Department said Wheeler "appeared confused" in the video.

Wheeler held many high-profile government positions after graduating from West Point in 1966. He helped lead the efforts to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and most recently served as an assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force under George W. Bush.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/family_of_murdered_former_pentagon_VQ2aItxyUs882YpMCe5yDI#ixzz1CxFPpZNK