On August 2nd, 2006, Washington attorney Robert E. Wone was murdered at 1509 Swann Street. Over two years passed before any criminal charges were filed - and then only conspiracy, obstruction of justice and crime scene tampering charges were brought against the Swann Street housemates, all present in the home on the night of the murder: Joe Price, Dylan Ward and Victor Zaborsky.
On May 17, 2010, a DC Superior Court trial got underway and all three defendants were all acquitted in that bench trial on those pending charges.
Nearly four years later, very little seems clear about what happened that night and who murdered Robert Wone. A cloud of suspicion remains over the Swann Street defendants who have denied any involvement in the murder of their friend or in the alleged cover up.
Judge Lynn Leibovitz found a moral certainty in their collective guilt, but not evidentiary certainty. Civil proceedings in a wrongful death suit filed by Robert's family is the next chapter in this tragic story.
We continue to work together seeking answers to the mystery of Robert Wone's murder and in finding justice for his memory and legacy.
Seems that a small circle of (white) friends can get away with killing a non-white as easily as you please. Nothing has changed from Reconstruction to now.
Why is that, precisely?
The Kitty Genovese story, redux.
No, Fiest, thankfully, much has changed since Reconstruction. In the late nineteenth century, the crime probably would not have been investigated at all due to racial bias — that is, until the “unnatural” character of the family at 1509 Swann was inevitably exposed. Then, a vengeful burst of vigilante justice would have obviated the need for any trial. Thank G–, we live in a far more just (if far from perfect) society than that of the 1870s. Even the trouple deserves its day in court.
No, too, on the apples and oranges comparison to the Kitty Genovese case of 1964. Kitty, a lesbian, was killed by a male stranger; her plight and screams were heard by over a dozen witnesses. If that were the case in the Wone murder, it would have been solved by now.
Did racial bias (and squeamishness over male rape) diminish media coverage and public interest initially? Perhaps. Nevertheless, the four gay, mainly “white” friends behind this site have gone far and beyond to keep all of our eyes on the prize: prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators of Robert’s murder.