Ten Years On: Too Long, Too Little

Robert Wone image from web

As we write this, ten years ago August 2nd at this very moment, right around 10am, Robert Wone was beginning his workday at Radio Free Asia. He was still getting used to his new-ish position as General Counsel at Radio Free Asia, and his days and evenings were long and full with activity. This day, after a complete day’s work, Robert would attend an evening legal seminar and then, as previously arranged, spend the warm summer’s night at the house of his old college friend, Joe Price.

Having saved himself the long commute back to Falls Church and again to DC the next morning, he could again arrive fresh at RFA, ready to get on with his work and life on August 3.

Robert would not make it to work at RFA; the next day or ever. The night of August 2nd, 2006, he was murdered at the home Joe Price shared with his domestic partner Victor Zaborsky, and his live-in sex partner Dylan Ward.

In hundreds of posts and thousands of comment threads here and elsewhere, people have tried to piece together what exactly happened that night, who the guilty party or parties are, and why it all happened.

Ten years later, it still makes absolutely no sense. We still cannot begin to imagine the grief that Robert’s family, friends and close associates felt then, or now. We continue to stand in awe of Kathy Wone and the iron courage and steadfastness she possesses, and we all still want answers.

Ten years ago today, we lost a good man who was just beginning to come into his full self. Nothing we can do can change that. Ten years has been too long for his murder to remain unsolved, with too little done to hunt down the killers.Robert Wone Posters

If Robert’s murder has touched you, however, there’s something you can do. You can make a donation to the Robert Wone Memorial Trust45 North Hill Drive, Suite 100  Warrenton, VA  20186.

And, perhaps, there’s one more thing. You can talk with people about this mystery. You can ask them what they remember, what names they recall, what friends may have relayed sotto voce in the days and weeks following his murder.You can ask why this murder has gone unsolved, and demand something be done.

The answer is truly out there. And if it’s out there, it can still be found.

The Editors

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A friend
A friend
7 years ago

O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
How long shall the wicked exult?
Ps 35:4

Michelle Brownstein
7 years ago

how far would we have to go to actually find Joe, Victor and Dylan…?

nelly
nelly
7 years ago

Dylan Ward: last known to be working in a gym in the Seattle or Tacoma area? He’s not there anymore though.
Joseph Anderson: under a new name, Joe is legal counsel to some small marketing business in the Miami area. Wonder if his colleagues know of his blood stained, criminal past?
Viktor Zaborsky: as far as I know, he’s still peddling milk in the Washington DC area, despite more mainstream news about the deleterious health effects of milk consumption.
Someday there must be a day of reckoning for these cretins’ sins.

susan
susan
7 years ago
Reply to  nelly

as of March of last year he is a “SAC” practitioner of pilates and massage. See my other post here. Not a poet and he must know it.

susan
susan
7 years ago
Reply to  susan

-b ut I don’t see his name anymore on that list. However, if you type the poet’s name and the seattle athletic club you will see a picture that’s 10 years old and it’s not the Welsh poet.

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CD in DC
CD in DC
7 years ago

I attended the seminar he attended that night and asked questions he probably heard, I think it’s telling there were three knife wounds and three people in the residence so it strikes me they all did it so that it wouldn’t be perceived any one of them did it. RIP.

Will
Will
7 years ago
Reply to  CD in DC

To be honest I just heard about this case today thanks to the Generation Why podcast… And that was the first thing that I thought of when I heard that there were three stab wounds and three people in the house. It seems that the ringleader of that idea would have to be Price given his knowledge of the law and conduct after the fact. Very much an “If one of us is going down for this, we all are” scenario indeed.

I know this is probably been stated on this website many times before, but as it’s my first time here I’ll just say that I’m certain whatever these three were doing, they didn’t intend for Robert to die from it. I have a feeling they slipped GHB into his drink when he first arrived in order to incapacitate him. The unfortunate thing about GHB is that it’s very much a “bathtub” drug in that you never know the strength of the drug you’re actually going to get. What you take last week for a great high can kill you this week.

The most likely scenario here is that the three of them spiked his drink…or even two of them with the third being bullied in after the fact… And he ends up dying because he’s not a drug user and the strength of the drug is high. Instead of just calling an ambulance and having to explain what actually happened, Price comes up with the idea to make it look like in intruder did it.

The amazing thing is that he may not even have been dead at the time. He may have been suffering from acute GHB intoxication which would slow down his breathing and heart rate right before dying. If he were truly dead when he was stabbed, the autopsy would’ve shown that… But because the stab wounds were pre-mortem, it would appear they actually finished the job with the stab wounds. Also stabbing a person so close to death would account for the lack of massive blood loss outside of the wounds.

Just my two cents on it, though I’m certain this exact theory has been postulated here countlessly over the past 10 years.

mt45
mt45
7 years ago
Reply to  Will

Your theory is just as likely as any. But I’ve never been able to wrap my head around why 2-3 professionals educated guys thought that would be a good idea. Someone knows they’ve been sexually assaulted after they’ve woken up from a drugging like that. So best case scenario, Wone wakes up and knows that they’ve sexual things to him. He would also almost definitely put 2+2 together and realize he’d be drugged. What then? They hope he doesn’t report it?

I don’t have a better theory though.

nelly
nelly
7 years ago
Reply to  mt45

Not necessarily. Someone else who knows more about those date rape drugs, feel free to chime in. What is more likely is that dylan “Thomas ” ward and Joseph “Anderson ” price used a drug that would interfere with Robert Wone’s memory, allowing them to get away with their antics.

CDinDC
CDinDC
7 years ago
Reply to  CD in DC

Hey! You’re using my handle! LOL

susan
susan
7 years ago

R.i. peace, Robert Wone. Justice must be served. It may be delayed but it must be served. It would be nice at this 10 year mark of Robert Wone’s murder to revisit where the principal suspects and their friends are today. We have the reporter at PBS who is very visible. The local friends, etc. Maybe someone can give a call into Cathy Lanier’s weekly show. Would be nice to see an article in the Post commemorating this 10-year mark, with interviews of the prosecutors, the police, etc.

susan
susan
7 years ago

Dylan “Thomas” is at the Seattle Athletic’s Club and has joined the “SAC” team. I’m guessing he thought taking the poet’s name would bring anonymity. Or something. Is that photo 10-year’s old?

nelly
nelly
7 years ago
Reply to  susan

Dylan is now working under his new last name of Thomas at Pilates Miami. He is doing massages and giving “chair exercise” classes. Scary that so many people may be in close contact with him without knowing his past.

Hoya Loya
Hoya Loya
7 years ago

Ten years is indeed ten years too long.
Kathy, a truly remarkable person, has found her peace.
Let’s hope that at least one of the three will finally heed the advice Kathy offered at settlement, tell what they know, and find their own peace.

nelly
nelly
7 years ago

Joseph “Anderson” also was the director of litigation for Americans for Immigrant Justice beginning in 2013. Thankfully, the good people of that advocacy organization must have found about about his true past and booted him out of their organization, because he’s not on their website any more. You always gotta wonder when a former law partner from a reputable firm in D.C. flees to a new state, Florida, and becomes a desperate solo practitioner. Of course, he learned most of his litigation skills directly when he was a criminal defendant in the murder of Robert Wone case.

Craig
Craig
7 years ago

Thanks to all for the continued interest and help supporting the effort over the years. 10 years is too many. PS: Nelly – Check your RW email.

Ruth Ratzlaff
Ruth Ratzlaff
7 years ago

I came to the site after seeing that Cathy Lanier is leaving as DC Chief of Police. I wonder if new leadership will cause them to devote more resources to this case.

StillAround
StillAround
7 years ago

Looks like Gapingvoid has scrubbed Joe from their page.

susan
susan
7 years ago
T
T
7 years ago

Apologies if this was discussed before, but did Victor and Joe stay together or have they separated? I learned about this crime recently and wanted to know if the men ever got back to “normal” after the trial. It seems so wrong to me that they suffered very little consequences for their actions.