Robert Eric Wone, general counsel for Radio Free Asia, President-Elect of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association-DC, and general counsel to the Organization of Chinese Americans, died of stab wounds on August 3, 2006. He was 32 years old, and, the month prior, had just left the law firm of Covington & Burling to work for Radio Free Asia. A strange mystery continues to surround his brutal and senseless murder. Who would want to kill someone as generous, well-liked, and compassionate as Robert Wone?

The last morning of his life, on Wednesday, August 2, 2006, Wone left his townhome in Oakton, Virginia with his wife of three years, Katherine Wone. They went to work out at a gym and took the Metro together into DC. He walked Katherine to her workplace and went to his office at Radio Free Asia on M Street, N.W. He had already told his wife about his plans to spend the night at Joseph Price’s home. Price was an old friend from college; he had been a few years ahead of Wone at the College of William and Mary. After work, Wone met up his colleague John Lindburg for a quick dinner at Subway on H Street-18th Street N.W., and the two attended a class on grant law sponsored by the D.C. Bar. After the seminar ended, Wone told Lindburg that he was going to head back to his office, and the two said their goodbyes around 9:15 p.m. at the Farragut North Metro station. As he walked to his office, Wone called his wife around 9:30 p.m. to check in, ending the call saying, “I love you.” He stayed at his office for a little while.

It is unclear how Wone got to the townhome at 1509 Swann Street, N.W., owned by Joseph “Joe” R. Price and his partner Victor Zaborsky. Price, then 35, was a law partner at Arent Fox, and Zaborsky, then 40, was a marketing manager at the International Dairy Foods Association and a creator of the “Got Milk?” campaign. The two have been described as a “prominent gay couple,” having garnered publicity by donating sperm to a lesbian couple. Price also served on the board of Equality Virginia. Price and Zaborsky had hosted Wone’s 30th birthday party in 2004.

The distance from Radio Free Asia’s office to 1509 Swann Street is 1.2 miles, and the closest Metro Station to Swann Street is on the green line, which would have required transferring from the red line. Therefore, it is likely that Wone either took a 4-minute taxi drive there or simply decided to walk. The area north of Dupont Circle and is full of eateries and shops, but the smaller streets are dark, residential, and a little scary. (Attorney Joyce Chiang disappeared from the area north of Dupont Circle one night in 2000 and was later found murdered.) So, part of Wone’s trip to Price’s home was not the safest, brightest part of the area, but as a native New Yorker from Brooklyn, Wone was not daunted. A former roommate later stated that Wone would sleep with a bat under his bed and carried two wallets in case of a mugging.

The story that has emerged in news articles is that Wone arrived at Price and Zaborsky’s home around 10:30 p.m. and chatted with Price in the kitchen. A third resident, Dylan Ward, age 36, was also present. Ward was a former spokesman for Equality Virginia and worked for a software company. They all went to sleep around 11 p.m. Wone showered and retired to a second floor guestroom facing Swann Street. Ward purportedly took a sleeping pill and slept in his room, which was also on the second floor but near the top of the stairs and overlooking the back yard. Price and Zaborsky were in their bedroom on the third floor. Another tenant, Sarah Morgan, lived in the basement but was not there that night. It is unknown whether Morgan had a key to the house. Either way, she did not go home that night, and the basement living quarters has a separate entrance in the corner of the back of the house.

Price said he heard an entry alarm go off (presumably just a few beeps as opposed to an ongoing sound) but assumed it was Sarah Morgan coming home. Approximately 10 minutes later, he heard low guttural moaning and rushed downstairs to the second floor, with Zaborsky following. They saw Wone lying on the sofabed in the guestroom with a butcher knife in his chest. He had been stabbed in the chest and abdomen three times, with one of the blows puncturing his heart. Zaborsky started screaming, awakening Ward. Price pulled out the knife and tried to stop the bleeding. At 11:49 p.m., Zaborsky called 911, and afterwards, Price called Wone’s wife Katherine to tell her Wone had been stabbed and that she should get to the hospital. It took the D.C. Police 12-13 minutes to arrive. When they arrived to the home, they saw Wone unconscious, fully-clothed, and bleeding on the sofabed, with the butcher knife on a table next to the bed.

Meanwhile, Katherine Wone, Wone’s parents (who had moved from Brooklyn to Fairfax County), and his younger brother Andrew rushed from Virginia to George Washington University Hospital, but by the time they arrived, Wone had already been pronounced dead at 12:24 a.m.

The closest hospital, Howard University Hospital, was located 0.83 miles east of the Swann Street home, a three-minute drive or less. It is unknown why Price, Zaborsky, and Ward did not attempt to drive Wone there, but one news article said that Wone was already “showing no signs of life” when they found him. Detectives said his wounds were about an hour-old by the time police arrived– which would contradict Price’s story that he was awakened by “low, guttural sounds” that led him to find Wone murdered.

The next day, Captain Morris of the D.C. police stated that he “just didn’t believe” what the occupants had claimed happened the night of Wone’s murder. On August 4, 2006, police executed a search warrant at the Connecticut Avenue, N.W. offices of Arent Fox and seized Price’s computer.

Wone’s memorial service took place at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Virginia on Monday, August 7. Hundreds of Wone’s friends and family from near and far crowded the church to remember his life. Price, Zaborsky, and Ward were present at Wone’s funeral on August 8, 2006. Price was one of the pallbearers, as were Jason Torchinsky and Jonas Geissler, other friends of Wone’s from college. "Today is about remembering the life of a great person; someone we're all going to miss," Torchinsky, Wone’s former roommate, told a reporter.

One man whose wife was good friends with Wone wrote later on a blog, “While I only met him once, the outpouring of support from Robert’s friends, both local and global, was astounding. It was clear what kind of a man he was simply by the stories each person was able to share. Here was an amazing man who was able to accomplish so much in the short time he was here. He was a gift to this earth, and he made time for each and every person he met. He was attentive, wise, hard-working and reliable in every sense of the word. He continues to be an inspiration to his local community, and each person whom he touched truly feels blessed to have known him. Robert was a giant among men whose worst was better than most people’s best.”

Wone was laid to rest at National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia. Less than a week later, D.C. Police were taking samples and evidence from 1509 Swann Street, N.W. They made public statements that the area where Wone was found had been cleaned and his body had been moved before police arrived, and that they had doubts an intruder had committed the crime. A police officer stated to the media that the three male residents’ stories “weren’t adding up” and that there was no sign of forced entry, although one of the residents had said an intruder had come in through the back door. The butcher knife that was used to stab Wone came from a matching set of knives in the home’s kitchen.

An affidavit signed by Detective William Xanten III stated that the “crime scene had been tampered with, including that the area where the victim’s body was located had been cleaned. The use of chemicals and an artificial light source showed trace blood evidence located around where the victim’s body was found. This trace blood evidence was located on the walls, floors, sofa bed and door frame of the bedroom where the decedent was killed.”

News reports differ as to whether only one of the three men present at the time of the crime, or none of them, cooperated with the police. Price, Zaborksy, Ward, and Morgan all retained counsel and had to find other housing. Price and Zaborsky retained Kathleen Voelker, a former Arent Fox partner, and moved to Virginia. Ward retained David Schertler, former chief of the homicide section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sarah Morgan retained Jonathan Rosen, a partner at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. Former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. of Covington Burling began representing the Wone family.

Lawyers for Price, Zaborsky, and Ward told reporters that their clients gave extensive statements to police the night of the murder. Attorney Voelker said, “They remain hopeful that the police will identify the intruder who committed this senseless crime.”

Schertler said, “My client has not done anything wrong, and I don’t believe he will be charged.”

The $1.2 million Swann Street home sat empty for more than three weeks, as police and FBI agents finished up their crime scene investigations. They removed flooring, pieces of walls, a chunk of staircase, the washing machine, and sink traps to search for blood and evidence. They also employed chemicals to search for traces of DNA, staining the home’s walls, floors and bathrooms. Police examined phone records and confiscated two laptops, a desktop computer, diskettes and USB drives from the home.

On August 23, Katherine Wone testified for more than an hour in front of a grand jury about her interactions with Price, Zaborsky, and Ward, but no substantive details were released to the media. A week later, Price, Zaborsky, and Ward voluntarily submitted fingerprints and DNA samples. There were reports that the three would be charged with conspiracy, but they were not. News about Wone’s murder investigation dwindled until three months later, when Phelps Collins was arrested for burglarizing the home on October 30. Collins, then 36, was a friend of Price’s younger brother Michael, who lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Collins, who was unemployed and lived on Calvert Street in D.C. with a well-known gay activist, said that Michael Price was with him during the break-in, used his key to get in, and turned off the house alarm when they got inside. $7,700 worth of electronics were taken. Many of those items were found in nearby pawnshops. Joseph Price told police that Michael was a drug addict who hung out with other addicts, and that Michael was not given permission to go back there to take anything. Collins, who is unemployed, has a criminal history that includes four drug convictions between 1998 and 2004 in the District and Montgomery

Michael Price was arrested in Silver Spring, Maryland hours after the October 30th break-in. He was accused of stealing his domestic partner’s 1998 Mercury Sable. At the time of arrest, Montgomery County police found in Michael Price’s sweat pants a broken glass pipe, a kind often used to smoke cocaine. Still, no ties were found to link either Phelps or Collins to the murder of Robert Wone.

Who could have killed Robert Wone in such a savage and brutal manner, and for what reason? Rumors circulated on the internet that Price, Zaborsky, and Ward were all lovers, Zaborsky suffered from depression, Ward was a known "rice queen," and Wone stayed over at their home often. Why didn’t Wone just go home to be with his wife instead, people asked. It seemed reasonable for Wone to stay at his friends’ house, a leisurely walk of less than 30 minutes from his office, instead of going all the way home to Oakton, only to simply turn around and commute back to work early the next morning. Because he did not drive to work that day, going back home meant waiting about half an hour for a Metro train to show up at night, possibly transferring and waiting some more for an orange train to arrive, riding the orange train 45 minutes to Vienna, and having his wife drive five to ten minutes from Oakton pick him up.

Katherine Wone later told a Washington Post reporter, “Robert was trying to kill three birds with one stone. Attend a class, get to know more of the Radio Free Asia staff and spend time with a friend. I thought it was a great idea. Our marriage was such that I completely trusted and supported pretty much anything he wanted to pursue.”

On the other hand, if Wone had been involved in a homosexual affair (which friends say was unlikely) or had been the target of such an advance, that would more easily lead to the motive of the killer or killers. Maybe Wone refused to participate, caused jealousy, or spurned one of the men’s advances. Maybe the killer then went downstairs to fetch a knife, opened the back door to make it look like an intruder had entered, and returned to the second floor for revenge. Regardless of the motive, could drugs have been involved?

A media source stated that the house was small so that “it was like a sardine can inside.” If that is true, why did none of the residents hear of any struggle or yelling when the stabbing occurred, or was Wone’s mouth covered by the attacker? Maybe the stabbing happened when the other occupants were showering, so that the others would not hear any noise. Was there any medical proof that Dylan Ward took sleeping pills to sleep? One would assume that the murderer would have been covered in blood and left a trail of evidence on his departure, but no details about this have been made public. Were all three men covered in blood when the police arrived? Why would Price, the law partner who surely knew better, allow the crime scene to be cleaned before police arrived? There also has not been any news as to whether there were any signs of struggle and what, if any, fingerprints were found on the butcher knife and the doors to the home. One news article said that police officers found no footprints outside the tall, gated, wooden fence that enclosed the back of the house. Indeed, the rowhouse is flanked by other equally narrow rowhouses, completely surrounded by a large, locked metal gate and wooden fencing measuring approximately nine feet high. An intruder without a key would have had to use a ladder or some other means of assistance to get over the fencing.

Could Phelps Collins or Michael Price have been the murderer, strung out on drugs? Could Michael Price, jealous of his brother’s success and with a key to the house, have deliberately plotted to ruin Joseph Price’s life in this manner? Why would Joe Price, a successful attorney who knew his brother was a drug addict, give his Michael a key to his home? If robbery, perhaps to support a drug habit, was the motive, then why was nothing stolen, and why would the intruder have come in around 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night, when there was a high likelihood of the residents being present? Whoever murdered Robert Wone was clearly intent on killing him, and him only.

With all the questions circling the bizarre circumstances of his death, this much is certain. Robert Wone was an accomplished young man who was admired by many. He was born in New York City in 1974 to William and Aimee Won, the first of two sons. He was fourth-generation Chinese American, with family members living in Chinatown and neighboring areas. He attended a private, all-boys’ Catholic school, Xaverian High, in Brooklyn. During high school, the Organization of Chinese Americans-Long Island chapter printed an essay that he had written about being Asian American. That chapter also supported his participation in the Presidential Classroom program in Washington, D.C.

Wone attended the College of William and Mary as a Monroe Scholar and majored in Public Policy. He became active in student government, through which he met Joseph Price. Wone was also active in reviving the 13 Club, whose members went around campus doing anonymous good deeds, and was elected to the Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board, and Golden Key honor societies. At his graduation in 1996, he received the college's Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, presented to a student excelling in "characteristics of heart, mind and helpfulness to others."

At the University of Pennsylvania law school, he was active in the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and published a law review article about racial harassment in the workplace. He received a NLF scholarship and was also senior editor of the law school’s journal on labor and employment law. After graduating cum laude in 1999, he passed the New York state bar and clerked for a year for Raymond A. Jackson, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virgina.

Wone joined Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. in 2000, as an associate focusing on employment law and commercial real estate. In 2002, he met his wife, an attorney from Illinois, at a conference in Philadelphia. After many weekend flights to Chicago, Wone proposed and the two were married the following year, in June 2003, with Judge Jackson officiating. In 2003, Wone was the lead associate attorney handling a lease at 1601 K Street, NW, named as one of three finalists for "Best Office Lease" by the Washington Business Journal. Wone also advised the Museum of Chinese in the Americas in its lease of new museum space in lower Manhattan.

Wone was active in various community organizations and too many activities to list. He served as a boardmember of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund, chair of the William and Mary Washington Council, member of the Virginia Governor's Commission on Community and National Service and American Bar Association public education committee, and treasurer of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association-D.C (APABA-DC). He was in charge of organizing a judicial clerkship program for APABA, mentored law school students, and helped to draft the OCA’s personnel manual. He and his wife were members of Grace Community Church in Arlington, Virginia. Less than two weeks after his death, he was to have been ushered in as President at the APABA-DC installation dinner.

"Words prove inadequate to capture Robert's essence," said Jayne Park, director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center. "He was a deeply caring individual. He supported the community in so many ways without regard to public recognition."

Ginny Gong, President of the Organization of Chinese Americans, recalls, “I realized in working with Robert that maturity is not measured by age but by actions. Robert will forever be remembered for his wise counsel, his laughter, and his commitment to OCA.”

Donations in memory of Robert Wone may be sent to:

The Robert E. Wone Memorial Trust c/o Holtzman Vogel PLLC 98 Alexandria Pike, Suite 53 Warrenton, VA 20186

The Metropolitan Police Department is still actively investigating this case. A $25,000 reward has been offered to anyone with a tip leading to the murderer’s arrest; the phone number to call is 1-866-411-8477.