Witnesses: Wheeler Appeared Disoriented

WILMINGTON, Del. - Police in Delaware are slowly piecing together the details surrounding the death of former presidential advisor John P. "Jack" Wheeler III.

It now seems Wheeler spent at least two days wandering the streets of Wilmington disoriented.

Police say Wheeler traveled from Washington, D.C., where he worked, to Wilmington Tuesday on an AMTRAK train. He was last seen alive at 3:30 p.m. Thursday near the Hotel duPont parking garage at 10th and Orange streets.

Wheeler's body was found Friday morning at a Wilmington landfill – dumped there by a trash truck from Newark that picked up its load at 4:40 a.m.

Fox 29's Claudia Gomez spoke with witnesses in Wilmington who may have been among the last people to see him alive, a parking lot attendant and a security guard.

Iman Goldsborough, the parking lot attendant, encountered a man she believes was Wheeler on Wednesday night near the intersection where he was last officially seen Thursday.

Goldsborough says the man came up to her looking for help finding his car, but he appeared disheveled and disoriented. He was without a coat and unable to find his car.

(According to police, Wheeler's car was parked in his monthly space at the DoubleTree Hotel's garage, closer to the train station.)

The man was wearing a suit and tie but was also only wearing one shoe and carrying the other. He said he wanted to get warm before paying for his ticket. Goldsborough said she thought the man seemed like he was suffering from dementia.

Kathleen Boyer, a security guard at the New Castle County Courthouse, said a man she now believes was Wheeler told her he was dropped off by his brother two days prior so he could visit his mother, in Wilmington. The man did not have any apparent injuries but did mention he was robbed of his briefcase. He was looking for a hotel and wanted to know where Front Street was.

Boyer, and two other employees, offered to help him and even offered him some money, which he declined. ( Watch Interview With Guard )

So, many questions remain in this case, including how did Wheeler get from Wilmington to
Newark?

Police are also trying to determine why Wheeler was so disoriented.

Newark police said Monday that they did determine a cause of death in the case and were not going to release it. Delaware officials said Tuesday, however, they don't have a cause of death yet. They're waiting for toxicology reports, but they are calling the death a homicide.