The public relations office at the University of Miami Medical School said only that Benito Que was a cell biologist, involved in oncology research in the hematology department. This research relies heavily on DNA sequencing studies. The circumstances of his death raise more questions than they answer.
Que had left his job at a research laboratory at the University of Miami Medical School, apparently heading for his Ford Explorer parked on NW 10th Avenue. The Miami Herald, referring to the death as an "incident," reported he had no wallet on him, and quoted Miami police as saying his death may have been the result of a mugging. Police made this statement while at the same time saying there was a lack of visible trauma to Que's body. There is firm belief among Que's friends and family that the PhD was attacked by four men, at least one of whom had a baseball bat. Que's death has now been officially ruled "natural," caused by cardiac arrest. Both the Dade County medical examiner and the Miami Police would not comment on the case, saying only that it is closed.
A MEMPHIS MYSTERY
Don C. Wiley of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University, was one of the most prominent microbiologists in the world. He had won many of the field's most prestigious awards, including the 1995 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for work that could make anti-viral vaccines a reality. He was heavily involved in research on DNA sequencing. Wiley was last seen around midnight on Nov. 15, leaving the St. Jude's Children's Research Advisory dinner held at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn. Associates attending the dinner said he showed no signs of intoxication, and no one has admitted to drinking with him.
His rented Mitsubishi Galant was found about four hours later, abandoned on a bridge across the Mississippi River, headed towards Arkansas. Keys were in the ignition, the gas tank full, and the hazard flashers had not been turned on. Wiley's body was found on Dec. 20, snagged on a tree along the Mississippi River in Vidalia, La., 300 miles south of Memphis. Until his body was found, Dr. Wiley's death was handled as a missing person case, and police did no forensic examinations.
Early reports about Wiley's disappearance made no mention of paint marks on his car or a missing hubcap, which turned up in subsequent reports. The type of accident needed to knock off the hubcaps (actually a complete wheel cover) used on recent model Galants would have caused noticeable damage to the sheet metal on either side of the wheel, and probably the wheel itself. No damage to the car s body or wheel has been reported.
Wiley's car was found about a five-minute drive from the hotel where he was last seen. There is a four-hour period in his evening that cannot be accounted for. There is also no explanation as to why he would have been headed into Arkansas late at night. Wiley was staying at his father's home in Memphis.
The Hernando de Soto Bridge carries Interstate 40 out of Memphis, across the Mississippi River into Arkansas. The traffic on the bridge was reduced to a single lane in each direction. This would have caused westbound traffic out of Memphis to slow down and travel in one lane. Anything in the other two closed lanes would have been plainly obvious to every passing person. There are no known witnesses to Wiley stopping his car on the bridge.
On Jan. 14, almost two months after his disappearance, Shelby County Medical Examiner O.C. Smith announced that his department had ruled Wiley s death to be "accidental;" the result of massive injuries suffered in a fall from the Hernando de Soto Bridge. Smith said there were paint marks on Wiley's rental car similar to the paint used on construction signs on the bridge, and that the car's right front hubcap was missing. There has been no report as to which construction signs Wiley hit. There is also no explanation as to why this evidence did not move the Memphis police to consider possibilities other than a "missing person."
Smith theorizes that Wiley pulled over to the outermost lane of the bridge (that lane being closed at the time) to inspect the damage to his car. Smith's subsequent explanation for the fall requires several other things to have occurred simultaneously:
- Wiley had to have had one of the two or three seizures he has per year due to a rare disorder known only to family and close friends, that seizure being brought on by use of alcohol earlier that evening;
- A passing truck creating a huge blast of wind and/or roadway bounce due to heavy traffic; and,
- Wiley had to be standing on the curb next to the guardrail which, because of Wiley's 6-foot-3-inch height, would have come only to his mid-thigh.
These conditions would have put Wiley's center of gravity above the rail, and the seizure would have caused him to lose his balance as the truck created the bounce and blast of wind, thus causing him to fall off the bridge.
SCIENCE IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD?
Robert M. Schwartz was a founding member of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and the Executive Director of Research and Development at Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology. He was extremely well respected in biophysics, and regarded as an authority on DNA sequencing.
Co-workers became concerned when he didn't show up at his office on Dec. 10. He was later found dead at his home. Loudoun County Sheriff's officials said Schwartz was stabbed on Dec. 8 with a sword, and had an "X" cut into the back of his neck.
Schwartz's daughter Clara, 19, and three others have been charged in the case. The four are said to have a fascination with fantasy worlds, witchcraft, and the occult. Kyle Hulbert, 18, who allegedly committed the murder, has a history of mental illness, and is reported by the Washington Post to have killed Schwartz to prevent the murder of Clara. At the request of Clara Schwartz's attorneys, on Feb. 13 Judge Pamela Grizzle ordered all new evidence introduced about her role in the case to be sealed. She also issued a temporary gag order covering the entire case on police, prosecutors and defense attorneys.
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