Homicide investigators in Delaware questioned a cab driver in Wilmington as they continued to probe the mysterious death of former presidential adviser and Pentagon official John P. “Jack” Wheeler III, the Delaware News Journal reported Friday.
Athel Scott, a Wilmington cabbie, confirmed that police questioned him Wednesday, inquiring as to why Wheeler had his number listed in his cell phone.
Scott told police he did not know Wheeler, although he had seen him around the Wilmington train station, adding that he often gave his business card out to people he drove, the report said.
On the morning of Dec. 30, Wheeler is believed to have boarded an Amtrak train in Washington, D.C., headed for Wilmington.
Wheeler 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 “appears confused” in the video.
Officers also learned that Wheeler was approached by several individuals who offered assistance to him, which he declined.
His body was found the morning of Dec. 31 at a Wilmington landfill — dumped there by a trash truck from Newark that picked up its load at 4:40am.
Wheeler’s family issued its second statement Friday since the news of death was made public.
“The family of John P. Wheeler III is most grateful for the efforts of the law enforcement authorities in the ongoing investigation into his death,” the statement issued through the Newark Police Department read.
It continued: “The family is sincerely thankful for all the personal expressions of sympathy and condolences received from so many whose lives were touched by Jack in such positive ways. We reiterate our previous requests for privacy as we mourn his loss and ask that our decision to refrain from further comment at this time be respected.”
Wheeler’s strange behavior was noted as early as Wednesday night. Iman Goldsborough, a parking lot attendant, encountered a man she believes was Wheeler on Wednesday evening near the building where he was last officially seen a day later.
Goldsborough said the man approached her looking for help finding his car. She said he appeared disheveled and disoriented and was not wearing a coat.
According to police, Wheeler’s car was actually parked in his monthly space at the DoubleTree Hotel’s garage, closer to the train station.
Goldsborough said the man was wearing a suit and tie but was also only wearing one shoe and carrying the other in his hand. She said he told her he wanted to get warm before paying for his ticket. He seemed to be suffering from dementia, she said.
Investigators have searched Wheeler’s New Castle, Del., home where he lived with his wife, though the couple spent little time there since they worked in Washington and New York.
An incendiary device was allegedly planted at the home of his neighbor who was trying to build a large house in New Castle’s historic district. The Wheelers had taken legal action in an attempt to halt the construction plans, but their lawyer in the case, Bayard Marin, told the paper that tempers in court never became overly hostile.
Newark police said Monday that they did determine a cause of death in the case but were not going to release it. Delaware officials said Tuesday they were waiting for toxicology reports to officially determine the cause of death, though they had already ruled it a homicide.
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.