Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome, Come on in
Mord… Murha… Murder.
Here are a couple offerings from across the water on this uniquely American holiday. German media blogger Stefan Niggemeier and the Finnish crime blog murha.info both noticed the Washington Post and New York Times stories.
Google translation is far from perfect but here are two overseas blog entries.
“The story of the murder of Robert Wone will certainly be filmed once.
It has everything a great thriller needs: suspects, in an unusual three-way relationship to live together, bizarre sex, sloppy police work, through the crucial tracks become unusable, a instrumentalities which are not the instrumentalities is inexplicable contradictions in the statements of the suspects, the other, but also really far too little time had murdered their victims, and indeed to have covered up.
And at the end, after many fruitless tests, yet only enough blood to the victim for one more investigation to find out what someone has injected the man before he was stabbed and suffocated.
“Strictly speaking, the story has far too much of what a great thriller needs. In case of doubt, the scriptwriter especially busy to omit things
that are easy to be unlikely. The Washington Post has the whole case is now down, in a magnificent, meticulous, seemingly endless and up to the last line of exciting text. He is not in the printed newspaper published only online, in two parts. Paul Duggan, who wrote the article explains:
[…] Some stories, to be told right, need A LOT of space, and there is a finite amount of it available in the printed paper. Fortunately in
this age we have a boundless digital venue that can accommodate narratives like this one.”
And from Finland:
“In my view, the column has not yet been a discussion Robert Wonen fatal mysterious spirit of the offense. Robert Wone was the 32-year-old lawyer, who were killed in this three-yöpyessä spiritual gay family’s place in 2006.
Robert Wone was apparently heterosexual, but raises eyebrows why he yöpyö’s gay, even though my home was only about a half hour’s drive away. Gay family one member had Wonen study early on, and this was Wonen first and the last of this type of overnight stay.
“Gay family one member, Victor Zaborsky played at 23:49 distress call, which told the man to be puukotetuksi and believed someone entered the house, visited puukottamassa Wonen keittiövetsellä and the lost anybody noticing. The police believes that this explanation had not been for several reasons, plausible and, in addition, it appeared that the sites should be cleaned and fictitious evidence set.
The other hand, the time window is surprisingly short all the way and even more places to clean up when Wone received at the venue until about 22:30, and the prosecutor was, according to the criminal, however, you should also occurred well before the 23:49 noon come, the emergency call.
The other hand, the police would not have been able to explain very well the case of strange details, which include, among others. the following:
The victim’s eyes were suffocation about the bleeding, but the victim was not dead tukehtumalla. Victim’s stern hole found in sperm, but it was a victim of your own. Cause of death was a cool spot knife wounds, which caused bleeding victim had died slowly.
However, there was no indication that the victim would have no way of reluctance, but the injection the wounds are clean and there are no signs of reluctance had. Although the victim has died of bleeding, are external blood traces of a very few.
Uhrissa was the hands, feet and face signs of Needle-stick, but the general materials comprising sieve which has slotted perforations not found any traces of narcotic substances. The victim was purentakisko mouth, which he used to sleep to use the teeth to prevent narkuttelun. The arrival of the victim to death after a relatively short time, but the prosecutor of the conjecture in that period, the victim’s Blackberry mobile phone sent messages would be someone else posted, and the victim was already dead. The victim’s trust to find a knife appears from a set piece, but the victim’s wounds more suitable for a kitchen knife is missing.
Police speculation, the victim should lamaannutettu any ingredient that has not been autopsy failed to detect, and then the victim should elktrostimulaatiolla been achieved ejakulaatio and this should be used for sexual exploitation and, in addition puukotettu death. And then gay family members would soon Siivonen location of the incidents, pesseet and pukeneet victim.
I have come to mind, that ought to be easier to intoxicate the victim in a drink than pistelemällä several times a needle into the legs, hands and poskeen. Perhaps such neulanjäljet were from the ways in acupuncture, the victim owe the Chinese-backed.
And even though I think it does anything strange is not that the heterosexual man to sleep in the gay, raises the eyebrows to stay overnight, because the man’s own home would have been so close. And although the police in the story sounds hard to be credible, so it is not gay family’s explanation for not very plausible-sounding.”
-The Editörs
Thank you, Editors, for bringing to us these deliciously-translated responses from Old Europe. How then have the various media in Taiwan and Thailand — countries in which Dylan may continue to have pockets of supporters — characterized this tragedy?
By the way, one might read Richard Bernstein’s The East, the West, and Sex: A History of Erotic Encounters (New York: Knopf, 2009) in order to place Mr. Ward’s alleged “fetish” for Asian and Asian American men into historical context. At 336 pages, it might be too much to take to Poodle Beach or Ariel Way, but it does discuss the concept of sexual imperialism in a clear and direct manner.
Clio,
Do you have more historical references? I took sexuality and the law in law school but we mostly focused on Focoult (sp?) and theory. I would love to have historical references. As a straight woman my sources are generally confined to the mainstream, which we all know is written by the “victors.” I would love to have alternative historical narratives to read.
None of us can consider ourselves close to educated or “complete” in the historical sense, unless we have a full understanding of history.
Well, Themis, my specialty is definitely not the history of sexuality, but I can venture one or two relevant recommendations for the devout followers of this case (without boring everyone). For Foucault and his “seminal” thoughts on power and sexuality, see Patricia Duncker’s novel from the mid-1990s: Hallucinating Foucault. This work enlivens dry theory and biographical fact with an imaginative plot with BDSM elements: it made the sage’s French jargon finally digestible to me. For strictly non-fiction, start with George Chauncey’s Gay New York (1994) for the sexual continuum of the early twentieth century in which tops, even service tops, would have been considered conventionally masculine and “straight” as long as they never bottomed. Of course, that was before the heyday of compulsory heterosexuality in America (the 1930s-1970s), the gay liberation movement (the 1970s), and the HIV/AIDS epidemic (the 1980s-ongoing)– all of which limited both the secrecy and fluidity of male sexual choices/options, especially for urban, educated professionals such as the “straight” and “gay” men involved in this tragedy. Being identified as “gay” or coming out as “gay” led to the growing “trade” (“trade” being the long-time slang word for straight men enjoying usually fleeting and furtive homosexual encounters) deficit in which far fewer “straight” men were/are willing to cross those sexual lines. Even the recent “queer” theory and/or movement — which seemed to counteract, under the aegis of Foucault, this “essentialist” narrowing — is still largely unknown outside the precious hothouses of elite academe and its attendant bohemias. Having said all of that, there are obviously still men (regardless of class, race, or religion) who have sex with men — without considering themselves gay — and men (regardless of class, race, or religion) who are on “the down low” and who are lying to their wives and themselves, but that does not seem to correspond to the documented behavior of the conventionally (and it seems — from the surviving evidence — exclusively) heterosexual Robert Wone.
Not to be flippant, but the online translations all sound somewhat like a Patti Smith poem/lyric.
In many countries, it seems, people find it strange that a straight man would stay at a gay friend’s house overnight. I’ve had six different straight friends stay overnight at my house in recent memory. I know others think the “reason” is vexing – that it was only a half hour’s drive home – but to me it passes the smell test. Thanks, Eds.
Bea, I agree with you here. In parts of our own country — for example, in rural Tidewater and Southside Virginia, a Virginia far removed from that of Ariel Way — a straight man staying overnight at a gay couple’s home would be considered odd and perhaps suspect. In the freer air of the District (or among urban/suburban elites in general), however, the idea of a straight man staying overnight at a gay couple’s home would not be strange and, thus, would not be the pretext for a clandestine or dangerous liaison.
“The Editörs”
As they say in Finland, too hassu.
I am a fairly new reader to this blog and a new contributor, and I’m grateful that it exists: As someone previously opined, I find it interesting that there seems to be so little “buzz” about this case on the streets, particularly in gay circles.
What compelled me to write today, however, were the comments from Finland above, regarding why RW chose to stay in DC that night. Indeed, his home was a short distance away; it’s not like having to drive to WV.
Moreover, I’m perplexed by his decision to stay and meet the night staff at RFA. It strikes me as unusual that the attorney for an organization would find it necessary to do so; that seems like something perhaps a general manager might do, for instance, but not necessarily the top lawyer for the organization.
I’ll admit I’m not involved with non-profit organizations, and thus not familiar with those protocols, and I’m also not intending to disparage Mr. Wone in any way. However, it is something I find curious. Perhaps another poster can shed some light on this for me.
Welcome aboard DCTim – The question of Robert returning back to Oakton has long been a topic.
Wanting to meet the night staff at RFE after his CLE class fits well into what we know about both his work ethic and his nature. Here’s a short item we were sent not long ago that speaks to how he operated and valued the staff even as a new member of the RFA staff:
“Since Robert started his new job, he knew the air conditioning at the RFA offices were having some trouble. On the weekends, it could get uncomfortably warm which concerned him … he wanted the weekend/late night staffs to be comfortable, especially since it was unbearably hot that summer.
Robert was trying to see if he could work with building maintenance to fix the problem (AC was important for another reason – the room that kept all the big servers, etc. needed good air conditioning). On a Sunday morning, he headed to the local Giant and stocked up on ice cream.
Once he found the RFA freezer, we went to all the floors so he could say hello and tell staff that there was ice cream in there for them.
The day following Robert’s memorial service, RFA held their own service for the entire staff. The floor was opened to those who wanted to share stories/memories of Robert. One staff member stood in front of everyone and after a very long moment of silence, he said he had eaten the last ice cream bar. Everyone started crying.”
I so very often wonder how anyone can question the purpose of Robert’s overnight stay at 1509 Swann.
I didn’t even know the man, but can tell he exuded the highest moral ethics. I believe he just wasn’t the type of man that would stoop to low, behind-the-back behavior.
That story so exemplifies the man we all believe Robert to be.
Damned be those that ended that life.
Amen. May we all emulate his immense generosity and selflessness. He always – always – thought of others and how he could lighten their load. We should challenge ourselves to do the same. What a wonderful world it would be, indeed.
Hmm….I imagine the “night staff” were the on-air news reporters, etc. I would find them an integral part of RFA. Perhps the most important part of RFA. I would imagine anyone new would want to meet the voice of RFA.
I recall Kathy Wone saying that Robert’s reasoning for staying at Joe’s place was to “kill two birds with one stone.” Or three…..he had a meeting he met with the night staff , and then used this as an opportunity to catch up with an old pal.
I have to wonder how insistant Joe was about Robert staying. Maybe Robert felt like he had to to appease Joe. I’d like to see the emails and text messages between Joe and Robert prior to that evening.
I fully expected that my comment questioning Robert’s evening plans would incite some sensitivities (although that truly was not my intent), as it seems to suggest that he perhaps was somehow complicit in the beginning stages of the events that unfolded that evening. I’d prefer to think this wasn’t the case, but isn’t that the whole point of this site – to explore every possible scenario as a means to answering the question of what happened that night and why?
“to explore every possible scenario”
Absolutely….and many people have presented this very scenario multiple times.
I, personally, do not see a man such as Robert Wone stooping to that level. Cheating. Doesn’t fit.
No one would think twice if Joe and Victor had been Joe and Victoria and “old friend” Robert needed to stay late to meet the night shift and wanted to catch up and crash for the night. Even if there was a Dyanne renting a room down the hall – and even if it was known/suspected that Joe was having a relationship with Dyanne. Robert’s “complicity” under the facts as we know them is just not plausible to me.
I don’t disagree Bea, Especially, if after having spent the night with friends “Joe and Victoria”, Robert got up and went to work the next morning, business as usual. I don’t find anything particularly unusual about a straight man spending the night with gay friends, or vice versa.
But if circumstances ended as they have here – with all the accompanying lurid details – then one might consider if there were other motivating factors contributing to the initial visit.
The”crash for the night” thing still has me thinking though; maybe I’m just thick-headed. I’m trying to imagine me going to Oakton for an evening meeting then opting to stay with friends there rather than return home to my wife (a stretch for me to imagine, as I am gay), on a “school night” nonetheless. Perhaps if my meeting didn’t end until midnight or 1 am or so, and I had to be back in Oakton early the next morning. But even then…
Didn’t I read that he hadn’t spent much time away from his wife, other than business travel?
I’m sure I’m all wrong and your thinking is right on target. However, it was a nagging question in my mind. I apologize if I’ve resurrected a topic that had been previously bantered about.
DCTim says: “I’m trying to imagine me going to Oakton ……..on a “school night” nonetheless.”
Try to imagine what ROBERT would do. Not you. Get to know Robert through the posts and testimonials on this blog from the people that knew Robert. You’ll come to see that Robert was an honorable man. Probably incapable of back-sliding. Stepping out on his wife. Being on the down-low. Experimenting with his sexuality.
If I think about that night from MY perspective. I would have gone home. But that’s me. Not Robert.
I totally agree, and as a hetero with many gay friends, I have difficulty understanding why this seems so strange. I also live the same distance away as RW, and have stayed over friends (gay friends) house many times when I have had to work late, etc. etc. etc. This seems to only be a question if you are hetero and either do not have gay friends or if you do, do not crash at their house. It is not necessarily a short distance when you are tired and don’t feel like driving the distance – especially when it’s far more easier to just crash, get more sleep, etc. etc. etc. and especially when you commute every day anyways. A break from it is nice.
Sorry. Meant I totally agree with Bea.
Exactly. Now that I think about it, I’m planning to stay at a straight couple’s house soon (I’m a lesbian), mostly as a matter of convenience for me. Too, it will be nice to catch up. Would ANYONE think I invited some ‘out there’ sexual escapades by an ordinary visit?
Oh, fess up, Bea. You have secret desires to dabble on the other team. That’s the only reason you would stay over at your straight friends’ house. Convenience. Catch up. Please. LOL
Oh CD, you caught me! I swore off men so early that I need one more try! No, wait, the “wife” is so gorgeous that I am willing to put up with Homely Joe Hetero in order to “have” her . . .
You scamp.
And… back to this whole driving issue, Robert Wone did not have a car with him. He did not live within walking dist. of the metro either. It wasn’t going to be that easy taking metro home late at night.
CD, can you direct me to those posts? I was sure this had probably been discussed previously but wasn’t able to locate the thread. As I mentioned, I’m fairly new to the site and haven’t had the opportunity to read every single entry since it’s inception.
Tim, I wish I could…..there is no comments search capability on the site.
One of the things that strikes me about the posts in general is that people assume that a man or woman has to be either straight, bisexual, or homosexual. Why can’t sexuality lie somewhere upon a continuum? A continuum where even predominantly heterosexual people explore their other sexual interests withouth social censure(assuming that there is no deception with their partner).
And, that continuum could feature people who are exclusively gay or exclusively straight. In fact, aren’t there more middle-aged, male adults on the polar ends than in the mushy middle?
In the continuum argument, only straight men can go gay, but gay men cannot go straight once they come out as gay. Can you imagine friends Sarah and Victor ever getting it on? Of course, that’s one “trade” mission (in reverse) that even the “resourceful” Mr. Collins could not act out.
THEMIS/CLIO
I agree with both of you about sexual orientation revealed by Kinsey among others & changes over lifetime documented by Kline and others.
DCTIM
I think that you have a right to ask your questions.
Though I do not question Wone’s sexuality, I have
been puzzled by his decision to stay over anyone’s
house that night. This is not because I believe
that Robert had any intention of “walking on the
wild side,” but rather because major law firm
lawyers and committed public interest attorneys
so often have to work late whatever the case.
Great blog , keeping me from working