For Sale, No Sale or Sold?
According to a large real estate display add in the local community paper, The DuPont Current, 1509 Swann Street is still up for sale and it remains listed at $1,599,000. Quite a stocking stuffer.
Yet there is some confusion over whether the house is still on the market or not. Maybe a call into the listing agent will straighten this out but until then, here’s the latest.
There is conflicting information on the various real estate websites, and a long time lurking reader checked in recently to share a story he overheard while riding the train not too long ago. Union Station continues to be a source for news.
Real estate site Redfin shows the house still up for sale and on the market. Trulia, however, says differently, “Off Market.”
And then there was this email from a reader that came in several weeks ago:
“I was on the Acela this morning, headed from Washington to New York, and I overheard the gentleman behind me talking on the phone. He was establishing some sort of trust/ account/adding to the payroll for his <child> and asked that <the> permanent address be listed as 1509 Swann Street even though < the child> didn’t live there full time.
It took me only a brief moment to remember where I heard this address, and thought I’d email you. I’m not sure who it was, but the gentleman definitely mentioned using the 1509 Swann Street address several times, and thought you might be interested.”
A nice gift for a child no doubt, but $1.6 million is still a hefty chuck of change, even for the healthy real estate market that we’re blessed with in the 20009.
It’s a cheesy holiday cliche to say, “It makes a great gift,” but when it comes to this property, maybe it isn’t and maybe it won’t ever be.
Thanks for the heads up and keen ears Lurker Pal. For the best photos of the home, fully prepped for sale, look here.
Looking at the photos of the home…
… I never realized there was a rooftop patio. An accessible rooftop would prove useful in a murder like this.
Michael: It would take a Super Ninja to get into that house by way of the roof deck, with far greater powers that the one who scaled the back fence. Twice.
Craig:
I don’t know about a “Super Ninja,” but I certainly agree that considering the difficulty of access and exit, the means, methods and skills employed, and other qualities demonstrated, including intelligence (playing “hide the ball” with the kitchen knife is kinda smart, isn’t it?), in my opinion, it would take a very savvy professional.
Of course, it is heresy to even gently whisper this, so shhhhhhh. Santa won’t be pleased.
Never Mind! Keep Moving! Nothing to see here…….
Sincerely,
Not me
The rooftop is only accessible from the interior of the house. Unless, of course, Tom Cruise was in the neighborhood….
Bruce,
And let’s not forget that if the intruder came through roofdeck entrance, which CD has pointed out is only accessible from the interior, then Joe would have to explain why he heard the door chime on the first floor back door. Victor did not hear it, but claims that he heard it as they approached the stairway to go down to the second floor after being awoken by the scream or (after the mercedes meeting) the low breathy grunts.
To suppose that the intruder came through the roofdeck entrance would also cause the intruder-came-in-the-backdoor-on-the-first-floor theory to fall on its face. The entire intruder theory as told by Joe and Victor that night is entirely built on this scenario with events such as Joe leaving the back door conviently open, to the chime awaking Joe but not worrying him because he thought it was the downstairs tenant, which is why he didn’t investigate sooner; allowing the intruder enough time to come up to the second floor guest room and commit the murder.
All in all, the rooftop theory starts getting into magic bullet territory as Craig noted above, with the intruder having to go to great, indeed inhuman lengths, to accomplish all that he/she did in such a short amount of time.
David
Hi David:
While I would go short of saying “magic bullet,” or “inhuman lengths,” I agree with everything else you say.
In my mind, while I don’t close it out completely (there will be surprises, I think, in this case), the rooftop deck theory is not one to which I subscribe.
Also, isn’t the access through the master bedroom on the top floor?
But perhaps one could throw a knife, or syringes, or at least drugs as far as they could from up there and maybe get lucky. . .
Intruder theory aside – I was thinking one could easily dump bags of evidence from the roof.
Hi Michael:
Not so sure I agree with the word “easily.” It was not that late and people were up and about. If you hit a house, you are likely to get people to notice. People check their yards and alleys, and I’m sure our intrepid police investigators (Sister Clio’s champions!) checked for things in throwing distance from the house. I would think that even one of the Three Stooges (Curley?) would think of that.
Not saying it didn’t happen or is impossible, just saying that it is not necessarily “easy” to successfully execute or for me, at least, to contemplate as a reasonable means of disposing of precious murder evidence.
Not saying it happened or is possible, but I’m pretty sure someone was on the roof that night.
Didn’t Victor say that he had watered plants up on the rooftop deck that evening, before the murder?
Michael,
It seems to me that dropping bags off of the roof would cause more problems than it would solve. There would be increased risk that one would be seen doing this, which would indict the intruder theory. Two, it would take more than one person to accomplish this task — one to throw them and one to catch them. I don’t think there was enough manpower that night to dedicate two people to this task. It would be quicker, and more covert, to carry the bags discreetly out of the house.
If you believe that they were just thrown off the roof, then the cops, who did do a search of the property and its immediate surroundings would have found those bags, and none where found. Third, they run the risk that once the bags hit the ground, the contents (which were probably very bloody) would have spattered all over the ground, which would have the opposite affect than they intended, which was to get rid of the evidence so it can’t be found. A bloody spattered bag found within the vicinty of a home where a murder just occured would bring unwanted attention. Again, nothing like this was found.
It seems doubtful to me that the roof was used in any fashion during the events on Aug. 2, 2006.
David
Is the deck on the side of the nosy neighbors, or the ones who were away and had their turtle box smashed?
Nosy neighbors?? Which neighbors are the nosey neighbors?? I live directly behind the house, across the alley. Both neigbors are fine as far as I know. An older, nice couple and a young family. Just curious who you’re referring to.
This site is amazing! I am away for a couple of months and find posters continuing with bizarre comments and theories. It reminds me of my dad’s old Mustang with a cassette stuck in the player, continuing to play where the song left off the last time the car was started.
Bill – YOU are amazing! Keep up the great work!
The roof is nearest heaven. Think about it.
Bill:
Was the cassette stuck in the old Mustang playing “Stairway to Heaven?”
Welcome back, Bill! Keep listening (periodically, of course) to our power ballads, until the fat lady (not Miss Morgan) sings and tells us all about what happened that night (a la Styx’s “Lady” from 1974.)
And, Season’s Greetings to all!
Yours in Christ, THE Sophisticated Lady.
Bill, you would know about repetition.
CD, Bea & Michael:
I have never really considered the roof deck as a viable point of entry or exit the night of the murder. As CD points out, it is only accessible from the interior, and I can only imagine the noises that it might conjure. I don’t think that even the Swann 3 have suggested it, probably for those same reasons.
But it is a good thing, in my opinion, to keep an open mind, considering the many things that make little or no sense in this complicated case.
An open mind to the black-ops heliocopters that whisked away from the roof deck (where Dyl posed in green for his infamous June 2006 clothed centerfold) the Super Ninja employed by the Burmese junta to kill the incoming legal counsel for RFA?
Minds are a terrible thing to waste … with that kind of fantastical crap.
I think Atty T. Connolly should have tested that theory, when he did the fence hopping. Maybe he will do it now pro bono?
The fate of 1509 Swann remains as unclear as the fate of three of its former residents. Yet, its possible deeding to a child does not sound like a pathway to stability for the 1886 “sardine can,” which, despite mucho makeovers, will never outlive its notoriety for August 2, 2006. In seventy years, will it be either a morbid museum or a half-way house for GLBT youth?
I’ve said all along that they never really disposed of the house. The initial buyer was perfect to hold that property until it was no longer a possible asset to be taken by a civil suit.
So, Carolina, this “Sophisticated Lady,” as described by the listing, with her two parking spaces, is still controlled by the ultimate control queen herself? How so?
It was “sold” to someone whose occupation is based on obscuring the true ownership of property.
What are you guys talking about?? The guy who bought it has nothing to do with any of those three.
Do we know who even currently lives there? Could it be 2/3 of the trouple?
I think that if they lose the civil suit, they’re going to have a very difficult time protecting their assets. Granted, they’ve had years to try to wall things off and squirrel money away, and I’m sure they’ll be able to use the old OJ trick of holding onto a nice primary residence in Florida.
But Joe’s future earning potential has pretty much been obliterated, and I’m guessing that Victor’s has taken a hit, too. Their criminal defense wasn’t cheap, and I can’t imagine they have many assets left over. Dylan will do fine, but I think that a large civil judgement will leave Joe and Victor with a house in Florida that they can’t afford, followed by an OJ-like breakdown in a few years.
This is the first time I’ve viewed the inside of 1509 Swann Street. May I assume that the “second floor family room” is where Robert’s mutilated body was found? To describe my feeling at this moment, “queasy” might fit; perhaps I’m not cut out for this kind of emotional roller coaster. And to think that there are three individuals living intimately with that reality…………(can’t finish the thought).
“mutilated”? perhaps you’re not cut out for factual details…
dieter, you are incorrect. The word “mutilated” was used correctly by the poster. I recommend Websters or Oxford English Dictionary if you need a word source. Both are pretty good.
why don’t you quote the entries — and in full — to me. snarky don’t make you right
Color me confused. It was used correctly in the context of the sentence and in accordance of the definition. What are you trying to say?
Boofoc,
Actually Robert was found in Bedroom # 3. The second floor family room immediately precedes Bedroom # 3.
David
The family room is where we were told by the defendants that Ward sat waiting for the EMTs to arrive while Price was allegedly adminstering first aid to Robert. All three spoke about that in their MPD interviews on the night of the murder and Clio may have come close in describing Ward as “Sitting paralyzed on the couch …”
But why would Ward be “paralyzed?”
If he was in on it, or he, himself, did the murder (as Clio and most here would likely subscribe, I think), rather than being paralyzed, why wouldn’t he just sit back comfortably and get a little shut eye before the cops came?
I would associate being “paralyzed” as facing or witnessing an insane, terror filled or non-sensical event. I would associate a “shut down” paralysis as being a reaction to a freaky stimulus, to which no physical or mental reaction will aide the situation.
Just me.
You just murdered, or at the very least saw a dead man with whom you’d recent shared a glass of water, and you would catch a few winks? Okay…
Don’t forget: Dylan Ward described his emotional state at the time himself. He didn’t say that he sat there “paralyzed” or “numb” or “terrified” or “horrified” or anything of the sort.
Apparently he left the others and went and sat in that room alone, not with the door bolted, not with a phone call to someone to keep him company, not with a makeshift weapon in hand as protection or bolted in a room near a window where he could possibly yell out to the streets for help.
He said that he, like Victor Z., was “worried” that R. Wone’s murderer, the person who mutilated RW’s body and kindly cleaned up the resultant mess, was still in the house. He was worried.
Just a thought: Maybe he was worried. But maybe it wasn’t about an “intruder” in the house. Maybe he was worried about something else.
From maniacal murderer to a big sissy worrier in a matter of moments?
L’il Dyl IS a very talented and resourceful person, indeed.
Always worried about something, the little ninny!
Apparently, with his/her new “hobby” of massage as muse, the unemployed writer of children’s books has transformed from being that cypher on the couch into a loving and caring person, at least for a Benjamin Franklin per session.
A new project for Mr. Ward may be then: Dyl Has Two Daddies! One has far fewer worries with two daddies — one biological and one cultural — looking out for one’s best interests.
L’il Dyl sat on a cypher on the couch?
Oaaaaahhh.
Dats godda hoyt!!!
By the by, didga know that one of the definitions of “cypher” (actually that word is British or a varient of the more used “cipher”) is: a defect in an organ resulting in the continuous sounding of a pipe, the key of which has not been depressed.
Me neither! That would be spooky, like imagine you are in a church alone at night and suddenly there is a cipher!!!!!
That would make me “paralyzed” for sure, or at least really really really “worried”!!!!
Bruce, the definition of cypher is zero, or, perhaps for a different time and generation, Mr. Easton’s Less Than Zero. That is worrisome, but probably only to Needham in terms of his hopes for his first born son.
Frightened to death of a spider, especially those viewed through a door.
Well, don’t blame me for the “paralyzed” description.
Didn’t come from me, I was just responding to it from others’ posts. I was not adopting it in any way.
Whether “paralyzed” or a “worry wart,” L’il Dyl’s behavior on the couch is certainly odd, but no odder than 100 other things in this case, in my opinion.
Hi Bruce,
Not to worry.
I was responding only to the various descriptions posted (not any one poster at all) and what I remembered from LD’s testimony.
Re murderer v. worrier, etc. All have diff. opinions. I don’t have definitive views re LD’s role that night but I do believe his behavior all around was odd considering the circumstances. And that is my opinion only.
Does anyone know the answer to this: There is a door at the end of the hall on the second floor landing. It looks like an exterior door. Where does it lead?
Cat – I think that door is actually on the 3rd floor, master bedroom level, and it leads out to the the roof (not a deck) over the back bedroom on the 2nd floor, Ward’s room.
And Bill, it may seem like months that you’ve been gone, but by our count, it’s been 32 days since your last comment. You just can’t seem to quit us…
Property records in DC are online:
https://gov.propertyinfo.com/DC-Washington/#
It appears that Price/Zaborsky transferred some property in 2008.
To Mr. Herman, who then promptly transferred it to a couple of females. . . I haven’t followed the trail from there.
You will see the rooftop playing a very important role in the civil trial.
Is there more information you’re privy to share? Do tell!
Sorry Bea, I don’t want to taint the jury pool just yet. But there are many tactical advantages in having an accessible rooftop…
Michael,
Are you the new Ben Franklin?
David
Bea, Michael did even know there WAS a rooftop desk. He knows nothing.
Got it. Thanks.
oops…didn’t.
Hi Michael:
This is certainly stronger wording than what you said yesterday:
“Not saying it happened or is possible, but I’m pretty sure someone was on the roof that night.”
OK, you have our attention.
Other than the possibility that Victor may have watered plants on the roof deck that evening, can you share with us, please, what very important role we will see the rooftop playing in the civil trial?
Plants may or not have been watered, but a houseguest was undeniably slaughtered.
I with Bruce here, I can’t imagine any use being made of the roof by any potential actor in this crime. Throwing stuff off involves just too much risk I think.
But I do wonder…why would Victor say he was up there watering plants? Just a quotidian detail that would lend credibility to the tale of the night’s events, or a cover story in case some evidence was found up there?
I’m not sure why, but I believe him. I think that watering the plants was Victor’s only significant role in that household.
Ditto.
I agree. VZ’s story (up until the 911 call) sounds the most credible to me. Also, unlike the other two, he gives a full detailed timeline of his evening, and actually seems shaken up. And apparently, if we are to believe JP’s email, VZ was shaken up and in need of some therapy thereafter.
Mr. Zaborsky needed therapy: how much did that cost Joe in terms of the household power balance? Did that therapy include massage and/or facials? Did it involve old-fashioned Freudian psychoanalysis, or was it merely a venting of long-suppressed emotions? Did V. get to read feminist polemics, or was he forbidden to liberate himself?
Maybe they all went for trouples therapy? Or played word association games (low grunts is to screams as… OR worried is to terrified as….)
Did V ever actually go for therapy? I know it was discussed. I reckon he did not read those feminist polemics if his behavior since RW’s murder is any indication.
I don’t know, Victor is so turned around he should probably be rolfed or something.
It is always possible that LD will add that body manipulation skill to his repertoire, AnnaZed.
Like your new Avatar.
Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings, All.
This is my Christmas Alien invasion avatar.
As a long-time Victor apologist, it strikes me that he’s likely convinced himself that whatever happened to Robert that night was not his beloved Joe’s “fault” even if Joe did stab him to death. Be it Joe’s traumatic childhood or Dylan’s sexual power over Joe that led him to act (in whatever he did that night), Victor’s head is so far up his ass he can’t see straight.
It might also be the milk, Bea. Apparently Monsanto and the FDA colluded some years ago to allow bovine growth hormone in milk. Maybe all that proximity to the product has played havoc with VZ’s reasoning abilities.
Still, it is interesting how that night V gives so many details of his evening and we know of his canceled trip, gym hunt, etc., yet for the most part the evening begins for the others when RW arrives.
For the sake of his son/s, I hope he will find the integrity to share all he knows with the police. We know he didn’t share with JP said in the Mercedes convo. We know S. Hixson did. And so on. There’s always time to redeem himself if he chooses. Maybe at that point he’ll be a “man” in the best sense of the word, instead of a “ma’am” in the worst sense.
BTW, I think now that I see that reference to man and ma’am I’d remove both and just say he can redeem himself as a human being if he cooperated more. He must’ve known from JP back then that JP passed off V’s phone as his. He should have let police know that too.
And to VZ’s family and friends: You may think your son/friend is innocent of murder. Maybe he is. But you can’t know all the facts in this case and think he has cooperated with the authorities to help in the cause of justice for the murder that took place in the home he co-owned. He just didn’t.
Yes, the absolute priorities that I would have done (after cutting short a business trip to Denver, perhaps to catch my husband exercising with his live-in mistress and/or next-door neighbor and/or another “third” at home) would have been to burn his dinner, to bitch about the cable, and to water the plants.
Per the transcript of Victor’s police interview, he said that he watered the plants in the front of the house and back patio, not on the roof deck.
I think that there was no roof garden/deck then. There isn’t one in the meticulous WaPo diagram:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/06/01/GR2009060101137.html?sid=ST2009053102566
Thanks, AZ. But, if there was no roof deck in the summer of 2006, then where was the “Green” picture of Mr. Ward and the garden hose from June 2006 taken?
In the picture:
https://whomurderedrobertwone.com/2010/10/20/return-to-sender/
It even looks like the sane chair that can be seen in the gallery photos of the real estate viewing of Swan St (second to last):
https://whomurderedrobertwone.com/multimedia/gallery-1509-swann-street/
So, I am a tad confused because I recall (somewhere!) reading that that roof garden was added later, after the murder.
Thanks for clearing that up!
I do recall that the roof deck was added after the trouple moved out.
I wonder if it crosses Victor’s mind what might have been if he hadn’t taken the earlier flight. Was he even to arrive that night or was it the next day?
Susan’s post above about the little ‘proofs’ we have is very well done. How Victor rationalizes all this, and how his loved ones allow him to wallow AND continue to ruin his life, is something I’ll never understand.
You know Clio, if by some trick of mind and psychological manipulation I ever found myself in Victor’s position it is entirely likely that that is pretty much what would do with some emphasis on the dinner burning (I am famously solicitous of plants); it’s the felonious lying, criminal colluding and obstruction that happened later where I would draw the line.
Interesting that Victor was the one whose early story seemed the most fact-filled and truthful, but he doesn’t mention that he’s pissed at Joe. Joe is the one who mentions that Victor is pissed, just as he “mentions” that Dylan is on antidepressants and sleep medication, that his brother is violent and an addict. Hmmm.
Poor Joe! Things like this just don’t happen to people like the once-upwardly-mobile Zaborsky-Prices. (Can one see Victor desperately church-shopping in the late 1990s to find his husband … only to marry the apparent Devil himself? Sigh!)
Fine cars, objets d’art, and Florida real estate can help to dull the inconvenient pain of public scrutiny, but one has only so much money. Therapy through chemistry also just goes so far. Even a steady flow of tricks cannot make the bills go away. Pity!
So true, dear Clio! Joe had the sore tooth that he just couldn’t stop playing with – and now this! Certainly along the way of drug use and concubine acquisition, Joe must’ve known (and enjoyed) he was playing with fire. ‘How much did Victor know and when’ can be said of SO many things that went on at Swann.
The big questions remain: Is he still playing with fire? Who was that tonsil-hockey tart at Union Station? Does Victor know about any subsequent (since August 2, 2006) extra-marital activity?
“Miami Vice,” I am certain, will be the catchy title of a future post, but will it focus on Dyl or Joe or both again?
Sorry, Susan & Carolina, it took me four days to get back to thank you for rebutting my detractor. Interesting why someone would seek to belittle Robert’s death.
-There’s a lot of unkindness in the world, Boofoc. I don’t know why. But along with that there’s a lot of illiteracy. Hopefully that poster has acquainted herself/himself with a dictionary by now.
Clio: I’m not sure the Union Station incident was initially described as involving a “tonsil-hockey tart,” but – speaking of the anatomy – your comment produced my first belly laugh of the day. Luv your imaginative/vividly-descriptive prose; can almost feel the actual experience. More will do.
Thanks, boo.
I do continue to wonder, though, whether the Wone murder was a bizarre aberration for our trio of “best little boys in the world,” or whether it was the advent of similar and extreme things to come, or whether it was the culmination of secret, bad behavior on the part of at least two of the three, plus “mild-to-wild” Uncle Michael. Thus, was it part of a pattern of irrational risk-taking (the workplace glamour shots, the proposed “dirty book store,” the alt dot bomb notice, the massage and Manhunt ads, etc.) that had either crested or began with that night?
It is a vastly different case with different characters, but who knew that perpetual person of interest Joran van der Sloot would repeat his behavior nearly five years after to the day!
Hey Clio,
I wonder if JP didn’t have grand plans for the store on 18th St. Maybe this would have been the place where all their ventures converged. A family enterprise, with LD providing savormassages in a back room, a photo booth or maybe custom-made photos with missing cameras, etc. The alt.com people might be brought in for custom-made videos. All possible.
Maybe, Susan. If those plans did exist, then such a play space would obviate any need to go “North by Northeast.” And, of course, given that scenario, the play space would probably be “pnp or 420 friendly,” as ladies in that life liked to say, circa 2007 and 2008, right before the stock market crash.
A Swann Street neighbor checked in with us to clarify a few points: “The house is for sale, however, the owner is not actually “trying” to sell the house. Meaning, if someone pays the asking amount they can have it, if not it will just remain on the market and he will remain in the house. He likes the place but will sell if someone meets the price.”
We appreciate the heads up from this longtime resident who had been visited/questioned by detectives and plenty of attorneys, from both sides.