DC: Real-life crime documentaries are always captivating and provide amazing information that may assist the authorities in reconsidering a case that was closed due to insufficient proof. In 2006, Chinese-American Robert Eric Wone was brutally murdered in Washington, DC, shocking the nation. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) investigated immediately after the crime was reported. The Peacock documentary “Who Killed Robert Wone?” will revisit the disturbing case of Robert Wone 16 years later.
“The case of Robert Wone’s is a story that most crime aficionados may have never heard of, but once they do, they won’t stop talking about it,” the documentary says. Who Killed Robert Wone? will provide Peacock viewers insight into one of the most perplexing murder cases of the 2000s and the odd circumstances of that tragic night by interviewing individuals closest to the case and Robert’s pals.
Robert Eric Wone
Robert Wone, a fourth-generation Chinese-American from Brooklyn, was born in Manhattan on June 1, 1974. Xaverian High School graduated him. Wone attended William & Mary after graduating valedictorian. He instantly befriended Joseph Price there. Wone graduated from college in 1996 and earned a Juris Doctor with honors from Penn.
Wone began his career as a law clerk to a judge at the Eastern District of Virginia Federal District Court. After six years, he switched to commercial real estate law.
He joined Radio Free Asia as general counsel in June 2006. Wone married his partner Katherine Ellen Yu in 2003 and lived happily in Fairfax County, Virginia. Unfortunately, the Wone family lost everything.
Robert Wone—what happened?
After work, Wone visited his college friend Joseph Price. Wone was also stabbed numerous times within two hours of arriving at a rowhouse on Swann Street in Logan Circle, Washington, D.C. Price and his partner Victor Zaborsky lived with Dylan Ward in a rowhouse they owned. The polyamorous family lived together.
A nearby family heard the rowhouse scream during the 11 p.m. newscast. Paramedics arrived five minutes after Zaborsky called 9-1-1 at 11:49 p.m., according to police records. The Metropolitan Police Department arrived shortly after to investigate the crime scene. Wone died at 12:24 a.m. after his wife was called to the George Washington University Hospital.
Wone was “sexually assaulted” before his murder, according to police affidavits. The paramedics deemed Price, Zaborsky, and Ward’s quiet demeanor “strange” because they weren’t yelling or aiding. The three men denied having a sexual relationship with Wone and denied involvement in his killing during the interview. Wone’s family disputed any gay and bisexual claims, saying he was “straight and happily married.” After two years, Price, Zaborsky, and Ward were charged with conspiracy to tamper with the crime scene and obstruction of justice in late 2008. The three guys were acquitted in less than two years, and sadly, no one has been charged with murdering Wone.
Wone’s murder is one of the nation’s most baffling and Washington’s most mystifying. Can the Peacock documentary help investigators locate fresh evidence and charge the killers of Robert Wone? Hopefully.