What We Know About the Mysterious Events Surrounding John Wheeler’s Death
Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries returns with its second volume, opening the season with the case of John “Jack” Parsons Wheeler III, a Vietnam veteran and White House and Pentagon insider, whose body was discovered in a landfill in Delaware on January 2, 2011.
The case was investigated by various agencies—state and local. Still, investigators, have not been able to determine why Wheeler was killed or what exactly transpired in the days leading up to his death.
Netflix motions toward three separate events, which may or may not be connected to the killing: The discovery of Wheeler’s body at the landfill in Wilmington, an apparent break in at Wheeler’s nearby home in New Castle days earlier, where he allegedly had personal items stolen, including a cell phone, and a smoke bomb just before then, which was set off at a neighboring construction site—the site where Wheeler’s cell phone was later discovered.
The docuseries doesn’t provide many details about these latter two events, entertaining, instead, various theories about Wheeler’s bouts with bipolar disease and his disputes with local construction projects. Bottom line is there’s really not enough information, as presented by the Netflix docuseries, to reconstruct all the events or reasons behind Wheeler’s death.
What happened to Jack Wheeler?
Here’s what we do know. Wheeler left New York on December 28, via an Amtrak train to Washington D.C. He then cabbed to Wilmington, Delaware that night, though no one knows where he spent the night. (This was the night of the alleged arson.) On December 29, Wheeler took a cab to the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington. He then emailed his work to say there was a break-in and he had lost personal items, including his cellphone and briefcase. That night, Wheeler was seen at a pharmacy in New Castle, near his home, asking other customers for a ride to Wilmington. Forty minutes later, he appeared on security footage at a parking garage in Wilmington. He was limping and carrying one of his shoes.
Investigative journalist Steve Volk explained the significance to Netflix: “That 40-minute time frame between when Jack was seen at the pharmacy and when he appears in so much distress at the parking garage is one of the fundamental foundational mysterious surrounding his homicide.”
On December 30, the next afternoon, Wheeler arrived at a nearby office building. He was seen by surveillance footage exiting the building that night. He also appeared on camera that night at the Hotel du Pont. The footage was the last time Wheeler’s location was recorded before his body was found the next morning, December 31.
How did Wheeler die?
What investigators seem to agree is that Wheeler’s death was a homicide.
After his body was found, investigators discovered that the trash by the body originated in Newark. Investigators then found Wheeler’s DNA on a dumpster in Newark, where a trash truck likely picked up his body.
The autopsy, of which Netflix shows images, recounts Wheeler’s injuries, including a punctured lung, broken ribs, and bleeding in the head. Wheeler’s cause of death was “blunt force trauma.” As he still had money, a Rolex, and a class ring on his person, those interviewed for the Netflix series believed a robbery wasn't likely.
Who might have killed Wheeler?
There is simply not enough evidence to entertain theories here.
As this case remains unsolved case, if you have any information contact 1-800-TIP-3333 or go to delawarecrimestoppers.com
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