Sep 01, 2006  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

D.C. police gave conflicting statements this week about whether they were about to make an arrest in the Aug. 2 murder of attorney Robert Wone inside the Dupont Circle home of a gay male couple.

Police on Aug. 25 released the townhouse at 1509 Swann St., NW, to owners Joseph Price, an attorney and gay rights activist, and his domestic partner Victor Zaborsky, more than three weeks after seizing the house as a crime scene and joining forces with the FBI to search for evidence surrounding Wone’s death.

Lawyers representing Price, Zaborsky, and their housemate, Dylan Ward, released a statement last week to WRC News 4 TV saying their clients were “devastated” over the killing of Wone, whom they called a “dear friend,” and were cooperating fully in the police investigation.

“They have cooperated in this investigation by voluntarily giving extensive statements to police, telling them, unequivocally, that none of them were involved in the incident,” the statement said.

Police said Wone had been spending the night at the Swann Street house after working late at his job as general counsel for Radio Free Asia in downtown D.C. Wone lived with his wife of three years in Oakton, Va.

He and Price had been friends from the time the two attended the College of William & Mary in Virginia, friends and police said.

Police have insisted since the time of the slaying that Price, Zaborsky and Ward were listed as witnesses rather than suspects in the case.

Homicide commander C.V. Morris told the Washington Examiner on Aug. 28 that police were waiting for the FBI to complete tests on forensic evidence taken from the house, and that an arrest might take place this week.

But Sgt. Brett Parson, commander of the police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, which is assisting in the investigation, said the lead detective in the case told him analysis of the evidence was continuing and “no major movement” in the case was expected anytime soon.

Police said Wone was found suffering from three stab wounds to the chest in a second floor bedroom. The murder weapon, a butcher knife taken from the kitchen of the house, was found on a table next to the victim, police said in a court affidavit.

Price, Zaborsky and Ward have said through their attorneys that an unidentified intruder committed the crime after entering through a back door while the three were sleeping. But the police affidavit says investigators found no evidence of a forced entry into the house, and there were no signs of anything missing or any part of the house being ransacked or disturbed.

The affidavit, which was reported widely in the media, created a stir through its assertion that someone had “tampered with” the crime scene by cleaning up spattered blood on the nearby walls, floor, and door frame.

“Our clients are devastated by the murder of their dear friend Robert Wone,” the lawyers said in their statement to Channel 4 News. “They fully support police efforts to thoroughly investigate this heinous crime,” it said.

“All three are pleased the FBI has joined the investigation, and are hopeful authorities will identify and apprehend the intruder responsible for this senseless murder of their friend,” the statement concludes.

‘Tragic development’

Some gay activists who know Price from his role as general counsel for Equality Virginia, a statewide gay group, have declined to comment about the case on the record, saying they are hoping that Price and the other two men who live in the house had nothing to do with the crime.

Channing Philips, a spokesperson for the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, said a prosecutor from his office was working on the case with police and the FBI, but he could not comment on any details surrounding the case.

In commenting on the law pertaining to evidence tampering, Philips said tampering or concealing evidence in any serious crime violates D.C.’s obstruction of justice statute and could result in a felony prosecution.

Some of those who know the three men say it’s inconceivable to them that the men could be involved in a murder. Some speculated the intruder climbed over a tall wooden fence that encloses the backyard of the house, and could have entered the house through an unlocked door.

“This is a real tragic development,” said political consultant and gay Democratic Party activist Jeff Trammell, who said he knows Price through his ties to the College of William & Mary and Equality Virginia.

 “I don’t believe Joe is involved in this,” said Trammel. “But if it turns out he is, it will hurt our cause in Virginia.”