Another article:
Body found downriver may be missing scientist's
gomemphis.com
Body found downriver may be missing scientist's
By Yolanda Jones and Thomas Jordan
yojones@gomemphis.com
jordan@gomemphis.com
A body carrying the identification of missing Harvard scientist Dr. Don C. Wiley was found in the Mississippi River across from Natchez, Miss., on Thursday.
Wiley's wallet was found on the body. He was last seen here more than a month ago.
"We have not positively identified the body as Dr. Wiley until we get the autopsy from the medical examiner's office,'' said Memphis Police Director Walter Crews during a 5:30 p.m. press conference Thursday.
Workers with the Louisiana Hydroelectric Plant near Concordia Parish in Vidalia, La., discovered the body about 12:30 p.m. snagged on a tree, Crews said.
The plant sits on the river and is about 320 miles south of Memphis.
After the body was discovered, the FBI office in New Orleans was called. Agents in turn contacted the Memphis police.
Police have said that Wiley might have committed suicide, but his family and friends rejected that theory.
His brother, Gary Wiley of Wilmington, Del., said Thursday night, "This doesn't look good."
Don Wiley's wife is in Iceland and couldn't be reached.
A spokesman for Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., Andrea Shen, said the university would have no comment until Wiley's death is confirmed.
Officials said they are awaiting a ruling from the Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office to find out two things: If the body is Wiley's and, if so, how he died.
"The identification found indicates it could be Dr. Wiley and we offer our condolences and hope there is some closure for the family,'' Crews said.
Wiley was last seen around midnight on Nov. 15. His rental car was found on Nov. 16 at 4 a.m. abandoned on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. The key was in the ignition and the car's gas tank was full.
But there was no sign of Wiley, who was in Memphis to attend a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
He went to a banquet for the board at The Peabody on Nov. 15 and was not seen again.
His disappearance gained worldwide attention.
Wiley, 57, had done research on dangerous viruses, including AIDS, influenza and Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever that is very contagious and is often fatal. Ebola could be used a weapon of war or terrorism.
There was speculation in some newspapers that Wiley might have been abducted by bioterrorists.
The Boston Globe was one of the first newspapers to report that the FBI was interested in the case because of his work with Ebola.
The FBI said it wasn't investigating the case, and Wiley's family discounted the suggestion that he had been abducted because of his scientific work.
Scientific organizations, such as St. Jude and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Md., posted rewards for information leading to the "arrest and charge" of anyone responsible for the disappearance of Wiley, a prize-winning biologist.
The rewards totaled $26,000.
''As soon as the body gets in our morgue the medical examiner will begin the autopsy to help answer a lot of questions,'' Crews said.
He said the autopsy will be conducted today.
- Yolanda Jones: 529-2380
- Thomas Jordan: 529-5880
December 21, 2001
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