Officials in the US state of Delaware said Tuesday that they are investigating the death of a prominent former US Army colonel whose body turned up on New Year's Eve at a landfill as a homicide.
Carl Kanefsky, a spokesman with the state government, said that law enforcement officials with the Newark Delaware police department have enough evidence to suspect foul play in the death of John Parsons Wheeler, a former federal official who held top jobs in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations.
Wheeler, 66, reportedly had returned from a consulting job in at the Mitre Corporation in Washington on December 28, arriving via Amtrak in Wilmington, Delaware, police said.
His body was discovered three days later at a trash dump a few miles from his home in New Castle, Delaware.
"The main cause of death is still pending," Kanefsky told AFP, adding that it could take medical examiners several more days to complete forensic and toxicology tests.
A graduate of the prestigious West Point military academy, Harvard Business School and Yale Law School, Wheeler created a Vietnam veterans job program for Reagan, and the Earth Conservation Corps for at-risk youth for under the first president Bush.
He is best known in Washington circles for his role at the helm of the organization that built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, one of the most popular attractions in the US capital.
Among his numerous prominent posts, Wheeler served as the first chief executive officer of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving group.
He also had been a senior Securities Exchange Commission lawyer involved in insider trading investigations.
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