Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Homeland Security -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (753)	12/21/2001 12:52:48 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 827

That's really spooky....Just was thinking about him today....and the even odder thing is that from the looks of those articles....no one close to him suspected suicide...but I wonder why his wife and friends haven't been raising a ruckus about where he is....or if they have, why the press hasn't had more articles about him missing...

To: Ilaine who wrote (753)	12/22/2001 9:55:36 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 827

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 Copyright 2001, GoMemphis. All Rights Reserved.

To: Ilaine who wrote (753)	1/16/2002 2:03:31 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 827

Scientist's death is called accidental Wind gust tied to bridge plunge By David Abel, Globe Staff, 1/15/2002 enowned Harvard biochemist Don C. Wiley died accidentally in a fall from a Memphis bridge, medical authorities concluded yesterday in an autopsy report. The 57-year-old award-winning scientist was last seen in Memphis around midnight on Nov. 15. Intense speculation followed his disappearance and the discovery of his body on Dec. 20 in the Mississippi River in Lousiana, about 300 miles downstream. But Shelby County Medical Examiner O.C. Smith said Wiley's end was just a tragic series of accidents that began when he hit some construction signs on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, a mile-long span over the Mississippi that connects Tennessee and Arkansas. After the 6-foot-3-inch, 165-pound professor stopped to inspect the damage to his rental car, investigators believe, he was swept off the 135-foot-high bridge by a gust of wind, possibly from one of the many 18-wheel trucks that cross the bridge that time of day. Making the accident scenario more likely, Smith said, Wiley had had a few glasses of wine that evening and also suffered from a seizure disorder that sometimes caused dizziness when he was tired or under stress. Smith ruled out suicide because the autopsy suggests Wiley hit a support beam of the bridge before he landed in the water. Previous suicides at the bridge suggest that those who jump easily clear the support beams, which are 12 feet below the bridge and project about 3 feet beyond the guardrails. The medical examiner also ruled out murder because there was no physical sign on Wiley's body of a struggle, and no one reported seeing a confrontation on the busy bridge. Yesterday's report appeared to solve a mystery that weighed heavily on Wiley's family, friends, and colleagues, many of whom have insisted the father of four was unlikely to commit suicide. ''I'm glad we've come to a conclusion,'' said Wiley's wife, Katrin Valgeirsdottir. ''It's just over. That's it.'' Wiley, an expert on how the immune system fights infection, had studied the Ebola virus, HIV, herpes, and influenza. The professor was widely regarded as the nation's foremost expert in using special X-ray cameras and mathematical formulas to make high-resolution images of viruses. Two years ago, he won the prestigious Japan Prize. Wiley had traveled to Memphis to attend an annual meeting of the scientific advisory board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He was last seen at a banquet at the Peabody Hotel. Colleagues who spoke to him that night said that the professor did not appear stressed and that he had said he was looking forward to spending the weekend with his family, who planned to visit him in Memphis. Although he drank a few glasses of wine that night, Wiley's colleagues said, he did not appear intoxicated. Initial toxicology reports say that Wiley had alcohol levels ''suggesting impairment.'' Another possible factor in a fall from the bridge is ''an infrequent and poorly understood seizure disorder affecting Dr. Wiley,'' Smith said. Wiley had kept his condition private for many years and had not received treatment for it, the medical examiner said. ''It was prone to occur when he was stressed, fatigued, or had taken alcohol,'' he added. ''It will never be known if this disorder or drowsy driving due to the late hour and long day Dr. Wiley had put in, or the effects of alcohol contributed to the incident on the bridge.'' Wiley's rental car was found around 4 a.m. on Nov. 16 abandoned on the bridge with the keys in the ignition, a full tank of gas, and without the hazard lights flashing. On the driver's side of the white car, investigators found yellow paint and rusty material from a sign on the bridge. On the passenger side, they found a missing right front hubcap and scrapes on the wheel rims from the side of the bridge. Wiley was supposed to return that night to his father's home in a suburb of Memphis in the opposite direction he was headed. Investigators believe be was probably confused by the large amount of construction in the area and that he took a wrong turn on the highway. After the crash, Wiley might have stepped out on the four-lane bridge, which had two lanes blocked off that night. A strong gust combined with the bouncing of the bridge from heavy vehicles could have swept the lanky professor over a guardrail that was less than 4 feet high, Smith said. ''Instability for any reason could precipitate a fall,'' he said. The evidence that Wiley hit the support beams below the bridge came from a missing button on a Giorgio Armani shirt the professor was wearing that night. The professor fractured his chest bone in the same area, and Smith said the impact of the water wouldn't have removed the button. ''This subtle physical finding combined with the absolute lack of suicidal indicators is conclusive,'' Smith said in his report. ''The possibility of Dr. Wiley's death having been a suicide was carefully considered and rejected. The manner of death is therefore accidental.'' This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 1/15/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.