So Whatever Happened To…

Frustrated With Strategy? Victor Has The Answers!

Here’s something to think about while counting grey hairs: it was twenty years ago that California Milk Processor Board, hoping to goose up dairy sales launched the “got milk?” advertising campaign.

First launched on TV on October 24th, 1993, “got milk?” went on to become among the most famous and successful ad campaigns in modern times. For this humble writer, it only took about :20 seconds before I could recall this ad – directed by Michael Bay! –  featuring a Reginald von Nerdlington-type character whose mouth is gummed up with peanut butter at an inauspicious moment.

I’m not sure which makes me feel older: that I remember it, or that I even remember the days when TV commercials ran for one entire minute.

Anyway, some years later in 1995, the campaign was acquired by the national MilkPEP board and expanded to include the “milk mustache” where it would eventually land in the lap of one Victor Zaborsky.

Which brings us to this note, caught by sharp-eyed WMRW reader Susan.

Want to learn how “engaging audiences inspires advocates and creates movements”? Need a “single focus at the heart of a strong marketing content strategy”?

Well Ragan training has got the man for you! Victor Zaborsky!

Seems in the almost exactly three years since he, partner Joe Price and housemate Dylan Ward were acquitted of conspiracy, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice, at least Victor has managed to keep a decent paycheck.

Recently, Ragan Training hosted Zaborsky and Melanie Strah, V.P. at Weber Shandwick in a workshop at the Newseum here in D.C. in a “best practices” summit. We’re guessing he didn’t need directions, as the back of the Newseum faces the back of Moultrie courthouse…and was the preferred escape route from the WMRW shakeycam.

Teases Zaborsky in the sales pitch, “It’s so important to think of ourselves as a content curator.”

Funny, sometimes we think the same thing.

Got online engagement?

Now we don’t have the $1195 Ragan wants us to shell out for unlimited access to this and other videos, and we certainly don’t intend to launch a Kickstarter to make it so. Perhaps his head shot that accompanies his listed bio says all we need to know.

That said, we wonder: just what are the other two former Swann Street housemates up to these days?

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Bill Orange
Bill Orange
10 years ago

Wasn’t the rumor always that Victor’s boss at work told him that he had his back? Or am I just imagining that? He appears to have a LinkedIn account, too. Beyond shaming, I guess. Joe Price and Dylan Ward seem to be off the grid.

You have to wonder about the whole dynamic of the household. Power bottom Joe is no longer the main breadwinner. I wonder if Victor will use his newfound leverage to tell Dylan to see shelter elsewhere.

susan
susan
10 years ago

Thanks, Doug/Eds. That was so funny! The photo of V (that expression!) and the original Got Milk! commercial.
Maybe it was gummed up gums and a lack of milk that resulted in all those “No comments” in response to questions* about the night Robert Wone was murdered in their house.

DW’s business either went underground, is no more or just doesn’t keep up with social media. Wonder if JP is out here. Wonder if they reside in Silver S. when out here or still keep the downtown address of the new law biz. Also wonder when the book (that hopefully someone is writing as I type) comes out.

*in prep for potential civil trial.

Clio
Clio
10 years ago

“Content curator” — I love that turn of phrase. It does shed additional light on Ma’am’s 911 performance, but why would Victor stick with Joe and Dyl — now that he’s still “on top,” at least professionally, and the other two have been eclipsed? It must have something to do with that late unpleasantness and its untold secrets. Hmmm …

andy
andy
10 years ago

I still don’t understand why DNA could not be used to implicate Price, Zaborsky or Ward. Surely traces of their DNA would be on some article of clothing, or some object, which could be used to prove something. I realize that the knife that was used was never found.

Bill Orange
Bill Orange
10 years ago

@Clio My guess is the civil suit agreement is holding them together. They’re stuck with the house in Florida as their primary residence (which can’t be seized–this is the same trick OJ pulled).

Bea
Bea
10 years ago

Well done. As for our boy Joe, it does appear that perhaps he’s changed his surname and is now licensed to practice law in Florida, not that I found that he’s working anywhere (except for himself, in DC, in his virtual law office). I may be incorrect, but this new Joe lists his Miami Shores home as his permanent address.

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

Hey Bea, Good find, but in searching for your find, it looks like I found a ref. to a certain masseur with a diff. last name. Poetic, really. Wonder if you saw that?

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

Wasn’t looking for a masseur but now very curious – SAME last name???

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

I wonder.

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

So who is My Massage Therapist? I don’t have one. I could use one I’m sure. Most people could.

But scroll down and you may see a pic on your right hand side. Elsewhere you may see a name. Enlarge pic if trouble seeing:

http://www.mycitybeauty.com/web/area.asp?area=47&sortby=coupons

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

There wasn’t a pic by the time I looked!

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

It’s still there Bea. Towards the bottom. Right hand-side. Guy holding a big folded table or suitcase. Don’t look for a name. Look for the pic. But in a separate search altogether, think of that great Welsh poet.

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

I saw the obvious name (duh, hubris in selecting the name of a famed poet?) and link but no photo. Maybe it’s my silly browser. Will try again! While it’s as bland a surname as Joe’s new one, they aren’t the same.

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

Found the pix under My Massage Therapist – odd that he has two listings with two names and two phone numbers!

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

See below.

susan
susan
10 years ago

-Meaning, I only know I saw the one connected to the one perm. place.

susan
susan
10 years ago

Hey Bea,

It is odd. I really like DT, and actually have some of his recordings. The Welsh one.

But you can look up the Image with the profession and location and see the image there and blow it up and voila.

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

But do you get why he would have two listings (the “MY” and the DT) with two phone numbers? And I’m guessing that the real DT is rolling over in his grave – is it possible our literary boy didn’t know of him or is it just a narcissistic name selection? Seems silly. I suppose he could’ve just used “Bob” as his surname 🙂

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

It really is strange. But I’m betting it’s no coincidence. Esp. for someone with so much schoolin’. One might be a bus. with others-mobile, etc. T’is interesting, though. Wonder what the other’s going by–no one literary, I suppose?

Clio
Clio
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day;” Dylan Thomas

Perhaps, a certain defiance of possible guilt and/or advancing age is being reflected here.

concerned citizen
concerned citizen
10 years ago

Hello again WMRW.

In the interest of keeping the case alive, I went up to my attic and hauled down some dusty old yearbooks. As I posted previously, I was a gay man at W&M at roughly the same time as Robert. I did not know or know of Robert Wone or Joe Price, in any sense of the word. I was only out to a few very trusted people: it was a very difficult campus to be completely out back then. The college republicans one year elected one of the few apparently gay people on campus as the “scariest man on campus”. It was definitely rather reactionary, and a friend of mine who was gay left for a university in the northeast after his freshman year because he considered it so backward. I have no doubt there was a vibrant cruising scene but I never participated in it…there had been a moving profile of a student-editor who died of AIDS in the literary magazine, and it spooked me. This was before HIV was considered “treatable”, remember.

As someone else from 90s W&M posted here, the Student Association was largely ignored by students who were not involved with it. The main 3 crowds there were the serious/hardcore academic wannabes (25%), the alterna-kids (15%), and the frat/sorority people(60%). These 3 entities were all more focused on those things than SA.

Anyhow, the pics…not sure if they will html-ize or not, sorry if you have to cut & paste.

#1…color section pages of the 1992 yearbook, right near the front. Joe Price representing the Junior Homecoming Court, whatever the heck that is:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7492/w5es.jpg

#2…Joe & Robert in the 1993 Yearbook section on the student association:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8448/t8i2.jpg

#3…too funny not to post. Joe giving thumbs up with Jesse Jackson.
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/3951/ejmy.jpg

I have no doubt, of course, that Robert was murdered by one of the members of the household, and that they succeeded in one of the luckiest cover-ups in the history of crime. I think someone other than the threesome MUST have some nugget of useful information, and we can only hope that person will one day decide to come forward.

Bea
Bea
10 years ago

Thanks for the pix and the information about W&M back in the day. Thinking back on my college days, I was in student government and even I knew the presidency was important to less than 5% of the student population. It was not unlike being a Wrestling Queen Candidate. Our Joe was very much like Joe (and his name has been long forgotten) – someone to stand in for photo ops and who led meetings only those in Student Government cared about or attended.

Clio
Clio
10 years ago

Joe and Jesse: priceless!

Joe appears thinner and more delicate at W&M than he would present himself in the new century — fascinating!

Now if we could only get high school yearbook photos of the Brothers Price from Massachusetts …

David
David
10 years ago

Concerned Citizen,

Yes, thanks for the photos. I think the one photo of Robert and Joe together is the first I have seen of the two of them together. And, one of the women whose face you obscured looks to be Lisa Goddard Desjardins, who Joe called to pick Victor, Dylan and himself up after being questioned about Robert’s murder on August 3, 2006.

David

concerned citizen
concerned citizen
10 years ago

Ding ding we have a winner! You are correct David. She’s in that oh-so-early 90s black and white ensemble.

I was the one who posted fairly late in the game, on another thread, with my impressions of W&M of that era. It seemed germane that I knew of quite a few closeted seeming guys, including a couple Asians. I think it’s important we don’t discount such a possibility simply because we accept people’s outward lifestyles and public orientations at face value. They’re “outward” and “public” for a reason, and these things imply a mutability: there was a tough acting, butch frat boy I knew at W&M who I could have erstwhile imagined being a participant in a gay bashing: today he is an openly gay activist in NYC. But I’ve had time today to read some entire threads and meditate on the nature of the criminology of this case – I’ve been kept from my normal work by some domiciliary trivialities. The more I think about the histories of the 4 men involved – or should I say 3 men and 1 gentleman – the more I think a hidden sexuality narrative is unlikely. Of course this is just another set of theses; I’m not saying anything is impossible.

If RW were to have needed to express a gay sexuality, it totally plausible he would have needed to stay in the closet to do it. But it seems for a variety of reasons that maintaining a DL LTR w/Joe would have been unlikely. In cases I’ve known about, most of these people would tend to careen from anonymous encounter to encounter. For example the case of the gay asian law associate I mentioned, he was caught foisting his cell # on a gorgeous male bit ‘o wait staff fluff at a catered office party. My female friend investigated the rumor mills: turn out he was known to do this all the time. I think Joe’s extreme outness would have been thought of as a threat. He could have decided that Robert’s closetedness was just too politically incorrect, and threatened to out him. Let’s give Robert some credit here, if he had been a closet case, he should have been cunning enough to realize that. There is that cliche bandied about along the lines of “no straight man would sleep over with 3 gay men” but that seems dated, even in 2006, especially for someone politically progressive like Robert. Also I think some Asians…especially a 4th generation one from NYC…would have a less than typical wariness about this situation. For one thing, I now strongly recall that the student association president in 1996 was openly gay, but I’m not going to cite his name here because I don’t want to go on the record for that w/o confirmation. I remember it being a bit of a stink at the time w/some of W&M more hayseed students. My point is Robert probably knew many gays other than Joe even back in his W&M days. Et puis, la femme. Eventually the wife usually knows in these situations, and since everyone was already thinking it (or at least a lot of people), one wonders if the cost of honor would really been such a disincentive to foregrounding it. I can only hope the murder of a loved one would help wash people of such unncessary pretense. Is her educational and professional background generally known? That would help shed some light on this. (and – btw – help with other questions. There are certain types of women a closet case tends to marry. Sorry, it’s true.) It seems to me that by resolving the consensual/non-consensual issue, prosecution could have more traction with the “encounter gone wrong” take on events, which would have at least resulted in a conviction for _something_. (manslaughter at least?) Though it might sadly have lowered public support for RObert.

Finally, there’s another more subtle issue, and this is where my lack of formal training in criminal psychology really shows. I’m just guessing. People have speculated that Joe had various personality disorders; that may well be, but do I think he was a 110% percent thoroughly evil sociopath? Who had perhaps killed before and could kill again? Or was he just someone with an out of control drug habit and the attendant paranoia? But let’s model both scenarios: the “a fully consensual encounter, probably similar to a prior one(s), went wrong” versus the “a sinister non-consensual episode went wrong”. It sort of seems to me that in the latter scenario, his mindset would have been more primed for criminal wrongdoing, including heroic covering-up when things went south. If he had really accidentally killed a lover, even if you throw in the possible Dylan jealousy angle (gosh, this seems like plotting a soap opera at times) it seems to increase the odds he just has some kind of breakdown at some points and slips up in maintaining his conspiracy. If he was already cold blooded when the evening began, seems he would have had an easier time staying that way.

As to why they would want to rape their friend, I’m not at all into BDSM/non-consensual/whatever, so I completely find the notion of subjecting someone to unwanted or pseudo-unwanted sexual intercourse to be baffling. I do remember a gay friend I had, older than me though I usually wasn’t into older guys. He had a good career as a DC lawyer. When he got into the S&M scene, his personality really changed, he became more aggressive in terms of wanting to be something other than friends which is all we had always been, and I had to move on. I find the “drug-addled Joe misinterprets request to stay over as sexual advance from long dormant obsession” staging to be one of the most realistic. Every gay man has crushed on a straight guy…those who say they haven’t are lying. It’s perfectly understandable. Fortunately, most of us don’t take it this far…or anywhere for that matter. I only once let it get the better of me, and that was just manifest by over eagerly chatting w/him on AIM, in the corporate world of the early 2000s. 😉

Clio
Clio
10 years ago

Should we then be worried that history might repeat itself? That someone else may die before “the real killers” are stopped?

concerned citizen
concerned citizen
10 years ago
Reply to  Clio

Clio, not sure what you mean. Just because he was good at a crime once doesn’t neccessarily mean he wants to keep murdering people. As a lawyer, he was probably aware of threshold of evidence that would allow him to escape prosecution. As a habitual drug user, he was probably good at quickly sobering up to decide his next move. Combine these factors, and the ineptness of the DC police, with some kind of emotionally charged encounter w/Robert that went wrong and you get the recipe for a crime with no criminal prosecution.

David
Admin
10 years ago

Concerned,

I agree that Joe understood the legal threshold, but that the trouple’s incredible luck wasn’t just due to ineptness on the part of DC police (though I believe they get blamed for more than they deserve), but also they had a high-powered legal defense and investigators didn’t know exactly what they were looking for. For example, they didn’t run blood tests on a wider range of potential paralytics.

I also agree that an emotionally charged encounter could certainly have taken place, but usually the evidence would match that hypothesis i.e. the stab wounds would have indicated some rage, yet they were precise and methodical. It is why this case remains such a mystery.

David, co-ed.

riskynostalgia
riskynostalgia
9 years ago

I’ve always thought along the lines of your post – that it was a consensual thing that went wildly awry. The staying over seemed odd to me, but I’ve never been a nine-to-fiver. It’s possible it was non-consensual, but I feel like if they had any hint that it was unwanted they would have been smarter about it, realizing it could go VERY badly for everyone.

Meto
Meto
10 years ago

All:

It has been a long time since I posted. I recently caught up with some of our Editors and then saw recent postings.

Bea — I am most interested in your discussion upthread regarding the lawyer in the group and whether he is now a Member of the Florida Bar. Also what num-de-plume he may be using. I have changed addresses and don’t have yours any more. You can contact me through the Editors or look me up at different law firm if you still have my name.

Best to all the regular posters and keep the faith — someday, somehow the truth will out.

Meto

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  Meto

Hi Meto, yes, I found a pretty clear indication of a Florida attorney named Joe living at the Miami address, whose last name is not Price, although he’s not changed the record on the DC site – if a legal name change has occurred, one would think the DC record would require changing as well. Will try to find you online and if not then will contact David and the Dudes.

Good to see your name again!

Bill 2
Bill 2
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

There’s a slight possibility that there may be another attorney named Joe who moved in. Maybe the trouple is now a quadple. We already know that Price has a roving eye and needs others to provide the satisfaction he can’t get from the other two. Scott Hixson doesn’t live close enough to run across the street to jump into bed.

susan
susan
10 years ago

Hey Bea, following up on Meto’s post, if someone is an attorney and uses a different name to practice must that attorney legally change his or her name? I would think an attorney can’t just use a nom de plume in a court of law unless it stands legally for the record. Also, that makes me wonder–if one uses another name to practice in Fla. can that person also maintain a practice in DC under the original legal name? Thanks.

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  susan

Hey Susan, my gut says that there would have to either be a legal change of name or POSSIBLY a fictitious business name filing for him to use a different name in Florida (I did not find one in my search of online Florida records for the DBA, but finding a change of name online proved unsuccessful). Frankly, the Florida bar would likely have uncovered it in the applicant review process (I’m sure he knew this and attended to it) as it’s pretty thorough if it’s like most state bar processes. I have to assume that the DC bar is just an oversight, that he’ll advise them eventually – I doubt anyone would be so bold as to practice in two states under different names, and it wouldn’t make any sense to try.

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  Bea

Thanks, Bea. Just seeing this now. I wonder if the first name was changed or the last or…both….

CDinDC
CDinDC
10 years ago

Looks like someone isn’t paying their taxes….there is a 39K lien against Mr. Z registered in the Miami/Dade court records. Tsk tsk.

(Perhaps the 60K judgment awarded in favor of Mr. P and Mr. Z after suing Father and Sons Moving Company will help Vickie out of that nasty bind.)

CDinDC
CDinDC
10 years ago
Reply to  CDinDC

The lien was posted June 27th, 2013.

Bea
Bea
10 years ago
Reply to  CDinDC

Mr. Z now has the stink of irresponsibility? He had to get fleas sooner or later.

susan
susan
10 years ago
Reply to  CDinDC

Wow, DC, nice to see your posts and good sleuthing! I wonder what could have been the infraction for which they were awarded 60k. Could they just not stay away from the legal system for too long?

Meto
Meto
10 years ago
Reply to  CDinDC

Would like to know more about this.

Meto

Bill 2
Bill 2
10 years ago
Reply to  CDinDC

Wow! Some of you people are amazing with the things you discover. This guy must be making a decent salary from the milk people so why can’t he keep up with taxes? It’s fun to imagine that he’s putting it all into a secret savings account so that he can dump the other two and take off for parts unknown to start his life over.

Bill 2
Bill 2
8 years ago
Reply to  Bill 2

Two years ago, I wondered if Zaborsky would dump the other two. He did, though he didn’t head for parts unknown. Now, we see that Ward dumped Price/Anderson and fled to Seattle — or was he kicked out.

Clio
Clio
8 years ago
Reply to  Bill 2

Fading looks and memories may have led to the scattering of the former trouple. And, the glamour of A-list events and parties has been long gone, and nobody has missed any of them.

Bill 2
Bill 2
8 years ago
Reply to  Clio

You have to wonder if Price/Anderson has latched onto another partner. He doesn’t seem like the type who could manage on his own.

Bill Orange
Bill Orange
10 years ago
Reply to  CDinDC

Father and Sons Moving Company must have had horrible representation.

Any idea why the lien is only against Victor?

SheKnowsSomething
SheKnowsSomething
8 years ago

Well … has anyone noticed Victor’s new profile on Manhunt? Seems he’s back in the area and Rdy2Plz in Arlington!

Bill 2
Bill 2
8 years ago

Whoa! Did the other two really let him get away? Aren’t they afraid that he may want to TOTALLY distance himself from what happened to Robert Wone?

Clio
Clio
8 years ago
Reply to  Bill 2

Vic on Manhunt, Dyl in Seattle, and Joe as Mr. Anderson in Miami? Amazing!

susan
susan
8 years ago

If he is actually on Manhunt, what does his profile say? Any proof of that? Any screen shots, SheKnows?

susan
susan
8 years ago

So whatever happened to….

I just turned on PBS NewsHour and who was on the screen giving a report but that reporter friend of the guys from U-VA. Can’t recall her name but think she was with C-Span before.

David
Admin
8 years ago
Reply to  susan

Her name is Lisa Desjardins. She left CNN and, as you correctly noted, is now working for PBS News Hour. Here is the link to her job announcement:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/pressrelease/pbs-newshour-namehttps://whomurderedrobertwone.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-forms-lisa-desjardins-political-director-total-five-promotions/

susan
susan
8 years ago
Reply to  David

Thanks, David.

susan
susan
8 years ago
Reply to  susan

She has stolen the stealing concept from another person who made a similar video before her. That said, I didn’t realize her hair was red, or that she was canned from CNN: http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/reporter-departs-cnn-with-pencils-pads-first-aid-kit-and-one-regret-there-are-far-too-few-redheads-on-cnn/238333

Bill 2
Bill 2
8 years ago
Reply to  susan

It would be interesting to know if she still has the same opinion of her friends since they lost in the civil case, moved to Florida, and two of them changed their name.

Renee
Renee
8 years ago

I’d change my last name too, innocent or guilty.