Murdered vet tied to arson attempt?
The Philadelphia Enquirer reports this morning that John P. Wheeler, the former aide to three presidents, Vietnam veteran and driving force behind the Vietnam Memorial, may have been involved in an arson attempt in the days before his body was discovered in a Delaware landfill;
Police in Delaware have discovered evidence that a former Pentagon aide may have been involved in an attempted arson days before his murder, a law enforcement source has told The Inquirer.
Police found evidence linking John Parsons Wheeler 3d to devices planted at the New Castle home of a neighbor with whom he had been feuding, said the source, who is close to the investigation. The feud was over the size of the neighbor’s house, which was under construction in the city’s historic district.
The source emphasized that the evidence does not shed light on the murder itself, but it has helped detectives understand Wheeler’s state of mind before he disappeared.
As someone mentioned in the comments yesterday, this really is turning into the opening chapter of a Tom Clancy novel.
Category: Veterans in politics
I say the attempted arson thing is a bullshit cover. A little misdirection, if you will.
A cup of coffee says it’s true. ;^)
A bourbon chocolate-pecan pie says it isn’t.
You can keep the chocolate-pecan and just give the bourbon 🙂
I don’t know, this just doesn’t pass the smell test. Almost as if they’re back building a cover story.
I agree, OT. That was just too fast of a release on that info. I think the Italian is just in need of a good novel. 😛
And I’ll give you what’s left of the Maker’s after I make the pie, but I get to keep the seal. 🙂
This reminds me of one of Joe Wambaugh’s novels, what detective, or investigator in his right mind, releases case facts one day after the body is found? And “facts” that don’t have anything to do with said murder, but a neighborhood feud? I, too, smell BS.
And, I’d take a sip of the bourbon too.
Next, they’ll determine he committed slow suicide, put himself in the dumpster and then died. After cleverly driving his car away first.
“Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate”
For those that don’t want to look it up, it’s Occam’s Razor, and essentially means: “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” It was described by Isaac Newton as: “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.”
Clearest way to express it is, when you have multiple theories reaching the same conclusion, the simplest one is most often the best.
I think this is getting a bit ridiculous. I will admit that at one point I thought “what are the odds that someone on the left did this to get back at the repubs”
To my original thought that it may have been a robbery/homicide I will now add that the victim appeared to be an easy mark due to either some sort of medical emergency(aneurysm?) or maybe drug abuse.
I can agree with that summation. It wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility that someone followed him (or gave him a ride) home with nefarious intent, seeing as how he is a rather well-dressed man despite his disheveled appearance, and burgled him.
And my lack of attention to detail rears its ugly head.
It appears that the dumpster in which his body was found did not come from the area where he lived or his home, but 10-15 miles away, and the “arson attempt” at the house being constructed was a few smoke bombs.