There’s no sure thing like a slam dunk in a criminal case? But the Peacock documentary Who Killed Robert Wone? will leave you scratching your head. What really happened on Aug. 2, 2006 at a Washington, D.C. Swann Street residence where Wone was spending the night?
Wone had been living in the suburb of Oakton, Va., where he worked as a general counsel for Radio Free Asia. The residence where he was killed was about a mile from the office and belonged to a college friend, Joe Price, whose husband, Victor Zaborsky, called 911 to report an intruder was in the house that stabbed Wone. Dylan Ward, a roomate of Price and Zaborsky, was also at the house but neither were injured.
When first responders arrived, they observed all three were in their bathrobes as if they just got finished showering and weren’t speaking much. The case was later determined a homicide but police didn’t know who was responsible. Was there any intruder? Some people support this theory with evidence they claim the police overlooked. Allegations was the D.C. people became transfixed on Price, Zaborsky and Ward for their relationship as they were really a throuple. It was later revealed Wone was sexually assaulted before he was murdered.
Even though it’s been legal for people to get married in all of America since 2015, in 2006, it was still considered taboo. I remember in 2008, there was a case in nearby Okay, Okla. where the police chief had gotten into a domestic dispute with his boyfriend. I tried to explain this to some people in conservative Oklahoma and they were like, “So, who was the woman cheating on?” Imagine their surprise when I told them there wasn’t no woman. The police chief was gay and sheriff deputies were called as they were involved in a fight outside the police station.
Wone was married and part of the reason he was staying at house was he didn’t want to awake his wife as he was returning home late. But authorities found Wone’s semen on his body with some speculation that he had been living a double life as involved in gay male BDSM. Autopsy reports also indicate he had been suffocated and there wasn’t much blood for Wone to have been stabbed alive.
To make the case stranger, no one was charged with murder or homicide in connection with Wone’s death. Price, Zabordsky and Ward were all charged with obstruction of justice for which they were all acquitted. And as almost 17 years have passed since Wone’s death, it doesn’t look likely anyone will ever be held accountable. Police indicated that they had intended to make an arrest in the case but a burglary of the house three months by Price’s brother, Michael, and an accomplice, Phelps Collins, complicated that.
It’s a strange case and the filmmakers frame a very objective documentary. Yet, because we don’t know in the end who the killer is, it’s still left a mystery. There’s even a wonder if any new evidence comes up will it result in an arrest. Who enters a house just to kill someone? As the police speculate, if someone hopped the fence, how come they didn’t disturb cobwebs police found along its top. Yet, a neighbor nextdoor reported that the top to the turtle sandbox was dented in as if someone had stood on it.
The cockiness of the police and the defesne attorneys makes for some great talking head points as both sides point fingers at each other. It’s never as obvious as it seems. Was it consensual BDSM that got out of hand? Was Wone sexually violated? Oakton is about 20 miles frm D.C. Was Wone to tired to travel that much? Or was he using it as an excuse to have sex with someone at the house?
We never know what secrets some people keep, not saying that Wone was having an affair with one or more of the people at the house. It’s more than likely that Wone was sexually assaulted and it turned deadly. But unless someone confesses, we’ll never know.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 