Killing of Robert Eric Wone

Robert Eric Wone was a 32-year-old attorney who worked as general counsel for Radio Free Asia in Washington, D.C. On the night of August 2, 2006, he stayed overnight at a rowhouse on Swann Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, owned by his college friend Joseph Price, who lived there with his domestic partner Victor Zaborsky and a third resident, Dylan Ward, as a polyamorous family unit. Wone arrived at approximately 10:30 p.m. after working late. Neighbors reported hearing a scream, later identified as Zaborsky's, before 11:35 p.m. Zaborsky called 9-1-1 at 11:49 p.m., and Wone was pronounced dead at George Washington University Hospital at 12:24 a.m. on August 3. His official cause of death was attributed to knife wounds, and police affidavits later stated investigators believed he had been restrained, incapacitated, and sexually assaulted before his death. Price, Zaborsky and Ward maintained that an unknown intruder had committed the killing; the trial judge later found this account unbelievable.

Within days of the killing, the Metropolitan Police Department alleged the crime scene had been tampered with, and investigators spent more than three weeks examining the rowhouse, removing flooring, sections of walls, a staircase piece, the washing machine, and sink traps. The autopsy reportedly showed evidence of possible suffocation and puncture marks on the neck, chest, foot, and hand; no toxins were found in his blood, but a lack of struggle led investigators to suspect Wone may have been injected with a paralytic. No charges were filed for over two years. Three months after Wone's death, Price's brother and an accomplice burglarized the Swann Street home, an event police later said had derailed a planned 2006 arrest in the case; the burglary charges were later dropped.

In October and November 2008, Ward, Price, and Zaborsky were each charged with obstruction of justice, and on December 19, 2008, additional conspiracy charges were filed against all three. The arrest affidavit for Ward stated investigators had concluded there was "overwhelming evidence" the men had obstructed justice by altering the crime scene, planting evidence, delaying reporting of the murder, and lying to police, and asserted that Wone had been "restrained, incapacitated, sexually assaulted, and murdered" inside the home. Defense lawyers called the affidavit speculative and maintained their clients' innocence. The trial's formal defense phase began June 17, 2010, and concluded without any defendant testifying. On June 29, 2010, Judge Lynn Leibovitz found all three men not guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and evidence tampering, stating she personally believed the men knew who killed Wone but was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they had committed the charged offenses.

In November 2008, Wone's widow, Katherine Wone, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Price, Zaborsky and Ward, alleging negligent failure to rescue Wone and conspiracy to destroy evidence. The suit was settled on August 3, 2011, for an undisclosed sum and agreement. No one has been charged with Wone's killing itself, and the case remains among the most closely followed unsolved homicides in Washington, D.C. history. Multiple scholarships, fellowships, and memorials have since been established in Wone's name at institutions including the College of William & Mary and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.