DE DE - John 'Jack' Wheeler, 66, Wilmington, 30 Dec 2010

[Missizzy]

I've just done a good bit of research concerning strokes and I see nothing about red or bloodshot eyes being a marker or a symptom. Difficulty with vision and even sudden blindness is but the eye's appearance doesn't seem to change. I looked at all the serious sudden onset illnesses and disorders I could think of and red eye is just not connected. Glaucoma is certainly a possibility but wouldn't include disorientation. The person could be in great pain but would seek help for it.

A concussion can surely cause serious disorientation and even further injuries--repeated falls--and cause bleeding from the eyes or ears but not really blood shot eyes. If he'd had actual blood dripping from his eyes or ears, someone at a coffee house would have called 911, I'm sure. I'm very very puzzled. Seizures (or a fugue state) could explain the wandering and behavior but not the physical appearance nor the ability to order coffee and to verbally interact with a number of people in even a confused and scattered manner.

I'm still thinking that the poor man was drugged.

 

[wfgodot]

I'm still thinking that the poor man was drugged.

Yep. Me too.

 

[hockeymom]

OK, I'm going completley in the opposite direction here. I don't believe this but,just going out of the box. What if Wheeler really lost his mind about the people building the house across the street from him and wanted to destroy the house or do something to them. He obviously had knowledge to create some kind of device. Maybe he was working with some kind of chemical or explosive and it effected his eyes and mental state? Then someone just took advantage of him and killed him and dumped him in a dumpster?
Makes no sense though. By all accounts the guy is a do gooder and wouldn't intentionally harm anyone and if he wasn't robbed,why kill him?

 

[colette]

Maybe his eyes were red from setting off that smoke bomb at the neighbor's home.

 

[mommy23]

I am going with a government kill.... or something. Why would someone steal his briefcase (important papers etc?) and not his rolex and wallet....

 

[Missizzy]

hockeymom--I think if the man had been plotting something like that, it would be indicative of some sort of brain trauma or disorder already building. By all accounts this was a measured and reasonable man. Regardless of politics, he was highly intelligent, well respected and seemed to comport himself in a genuinely decent manner. If he was tinkering with some sort of device and plotting to blow up the neighbor's house, I'd have to say that he was off his rocker already. And that doesn't really jive with what those who know him report, concerning his last few days.

To me, it's almost as if he was fading in and out of reality. Carrying his shoe is very interesting as most in a demented or drugged state would just drop it. Notice that he was determined to make contact with people and to ask about his car, a ride, his briefcase, and to order coffee but he never once had the mental objectivity to say "I need medical help". If he'd been sprayed with pepper spray, he wouldn't have been able to keep his hands off his eyes. He would have been begging for water or ice. Does anyone remember if it's been reported if he was holding his head or was vomiting? I know that he was said to be dishevelled but was he described as dirty?

It's got to be a drug of some sort, IMO. But, I'm honestly not finding a single drug which has a side effect of extremely bloodshot eyes. An autopsy won't be able to determine if he was injected with a drug, will it?

 

[Missizzy]

Has it ever been reported whether Mr. Wheeler had Type 1 diabetes? Our son has intentionally overdosed twice (once in police custody) on fast acting insulin. He shot up an entire bottle. He too wondered and was extremely confused. Luckily, he was found and whisked to the ICU both times. But I truly thought we'd find him dead under a bush. Insulin can be very dangerous for those without diabetes too. I'm not seeing anything about red eyes, though. And I don't recall that with our close calls. Staggering, vomiting, slurred speech, belligerence, wetting and soiling himself, sobbing but no red eyes.

 

[hockeymom]

He has been described as "dirty and disheveled", but no reports of vomit,no cuts or bruises. The diabetes thing has possabilites. He presents himself more with something like that than someone with a stroke.
If he was killed by some government agent or something, why wouldn't they just kill him and get it over with. Why let the guy wonder,unless it was a botched job,or somehow he got away in the middle of something. Maybe he was drugged and was being interrogated?
(I watch way too many spy shows)

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

I also believe he was drugged. However, I think that his red, blood-shot eyes could be a combination of things, one being the drug(s), and two, perhaps lack of sleep. I find this story to be somewhat alarming, and not just a simple dementia onset.

 

[point_blanked]

It was reported by a security guard in the New Castle County Courthouse (where the video was taken) that his pants were dirty on the night of the 29th.

Just to clear up something I mis-stated in an earlier post. The entrance across the street from the Nemours building is not the Hotel Dupont entrance, it's the entrance to the Dupont Building which also houses the Hotel Dupont. It's a U shaped building and the two overlook the same courtyard. The hotel's main entrance is around the corner on 11th street. I've only lived in Wilmington a short time and paid closer attention to it on my ride by this evening.

ETA - The distance between where he was last seen and the general area of the 10 dumpsters is about 13 miles. I-95 south and rte 2 being the most direct routes from Wilmington to Newark

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

This is interesting........

They also dusted the kitchen floor for shoeprints which reveal someone was inside with what appears to be work boots with a knobby tread.

Wheeler was wearing loafers and holding one of them in his hand when he appeared on surveillance video at a Wilmington parking garage last Wednesday night.

Last night, police took Athel Scott, a cab driver, in for questioning.

They found his phone number on Wheeler's cell phone.

Scott says he doesn't know how his number got on Wheeler's phone, but he says he does remember seeing him.

"I seen him one day by the Hotel du Pont and one day I seen him at the train station going inside that little store, that's all I know," Scott said.

Police have been questioning all of the cabbies near the train station.

They're trying to find out how Wheeler got around after returning to Wilmington on December 28th

He somehow made it to New Castle and back again to Wilmington, while his car sat parked in the garage across the street from the train station.

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

 

[colette]

Now that his phone was found in the neighbors, that seems more like a set up. I'm beginning to slide towards the drugged victim theory. Drug the guy, place the smoke bomb (it's not going to burn the place down but it will look bad, and leave his phone there.) Everyone will think the guy lost his mind. They found hobbed boot prints on Wheeler's kitchen floor. Then after the guy is killed, most thugs are not going to leave a nice Rolex watch on his arm and throw the victim in a dumpster.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

By SARAH BRUMFIELD
Associated Press http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13787541

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) (snip) "We believe it was a homicide because it was ruled a homicide by the state medical examiners," said Newark Police Lt. Mark A. Farrall.

The cause of death was pending toxicology and further forensic studies, said Carl Kanefsky of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, which includes the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He said complete autopsy results could take weeks.

​

If it was ruled a homicide but the cause of death is still pending -
wonder how they knew it was a homicide?

That is standard procedure. The final autopsy results are never released until the tox tests come back. They are wanting to make sure he wasnt drugged before he was killed or whether the drugs were strong enough to cause death. If he suffered any injuries that could be a secondary cause of death or the main cause.

I believe this man became a target. I think LE does know what probably killed him. The ME will not give a definitive COD at first but he/she does tell LE what they most likely think caused his death.

By the ME saying that Mr Wheeler's death is a homicide they have something to base that MOD on.

I just hope LE can figure out what happened to this man and who was involved.

IMO

 

[hockeymom]

By all accounts I just can't picture this guy being so nuts about a house being built across the street,that he would risk his reputation by vandalizing it. And would he be so stupid as to leave his cell phone in it?
On the other hand,would a smoke bomb cause ones eyes to go bloodshot? Would it do anything to you to cause confusion?
I think this guy was set up because he had some information he was going to spill wheter it was about the birds and fish,I don't know.
This will make a great movie someday.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

This is interesting........

They also dusted the kitchen floor for shoeprints which reveal someone was inside with what appears to be work boots with a knobby tread.

Wheeler was wearing loafers and holding one of them in his hand when he appeared on surveillance video at a Wilmington parking garage last Wednesday night.

Last night, police took Athel Scott, a cab driver, in for questioning.

They found his phone number on Wheeler's cell phone.

Scott says he doesn't know how his number got on Wheeler's phone, but he says he does remember seeing him.

"I seen him one day by the Hotel du Pont and one day I seen him at the train station going inside that little store, that's all I know," Scott said.

Police have been questioning all of the cabbies near the train station.

They're trying to find out how Wheeler got around after returning to Wilmington on December 28th

He somehow made it to New Castle and back again to Wilmington, while his car sat parked in the garage across the street from the train station.

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

Imo, the police are convinced that someone murdered this man.

IMO

 

[hockeymom]

I thought this was a pretty good timeline for the days leading up to finding Wheeler in the dumpster. I didn't know he was supposedly going to NY to give his wife a gift on Dec. 25th(why weren't they together?). The timeline doesn't say what happened between Dec. 25th and Dec.28th. I'm assuming he was in Washington?

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/06/p...omicide/?icid=maing|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3|35052

 

[hockeymom]

I googled blood shot eyes and something interesting came up. Strangulation causes blood red eyes.People who survive also can be disoriented and confused,with memory loss. Is it possable someone strangled Wheeler and thought he was dead and left him,either for good,or temporarily,discovered he survived and found him again,and really killed him, and disposed of him for good? It would kind of fit,don't you think? It still doesn't answer who or why,but would explain some of the other stuff.

 

[CHICANA]

Now that his phone was found in the neighbors, that seems more like a set up. I'm beginning to slide towards the drugged victim theory. Drug the guy, place the smoke bomb (it's not going to burn the place down but it will look bad, and leave his phone there.) Everyone will think the guy lost his mind. They found hobbed boot prints on Wheeler's kitchen floor. Then after the guy is killed, most thugs are not going to leave a nice Rolex watch on his arm and throw the victim in a dumpster.

What are hobbed boot prints ?

 

[colette]

What are hobbed boot prints ?

I was thinking of the description of "work boots with a knobby tread" and came up with that. Work boots that I doubt the victim wore.

 

[colette]

A longtime friend of John P. Wheeler III said Thursday he believes the former government official, whose body was found in a landfill on New Year's Eve, was coherent and in control of his faculties as of at least 5 p.m. on Dec. 28, based on an e-mail he sent at that time.
Virginia attorney Art Schulcz, a West Point classmate of Wheeler's, said the only thing that struck him as odd was that Wheeler failed to respond to a subsequent e-mail on Dec. 29, which Schulcz said was "unusual."



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-07-wheeler07_ST_N.htm