WASHINGTON, D.C. Rod Wheeler, a private investigator and former homicide detective, claims that he has seen evidence that Seth Rich, a young DNC staffer shot dead in the summer of 2016 on a street in Washington, D.C., was in contact with WikiLeaks. “My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks,” Wheeler, whose firm was hired by a third-party to investigate the case, told Fox News. “I do believe that the answers to who murdered Seth Rich sits on his computer on a shelf at the D.C. police or FBI headquarters.”Rich was shot and killed at around 4 a.m. on July 10, 2016, in what police have called an attempted robbery, although Rich was found with his watch, wallet and cell phone still on his body. Twelve days later, on July 22, WikiLeaks released a series of emails from within the DNC that showed top political aides conspiring against primary candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz resigned soon after. Hours after Wheeler’s claims went public on Tuesday, the official WikiLeaks Twitter account retweeted an article published by Fox News about the story titled, “Slain DNC Staffer had contact with WikiLeaks, investigator says.”This is not the first time WikiLeaks has shown a keen interest in the case, short of directly confirming that Rich was a source. One month after his murder, WikiLeaks announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. Around the same time, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a Dutch television program, “whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington.”A spokesman for Rich’s family said Wheeler was not authorized to speak for the family and called assertions Seth Rich sent emails to WikiLeaks “unsubstantiated.”
