By Bill Ordine
sun reporter
When Olympic gold-medal wrestler David Schultz was murdered 10 years ago today, the homicide was no CSI whodunit.
That much was clear from the outset.
Instead, the killing of Schultz, perhaps the most beloved figure in his sport, became a tragic and fascinating case of why?
The man who pulled the trigger – three times – on the unsuspecting athlete had counted Schultz among his best friends. And he seemingly had nothing to gain, and certainly much to lose, from such a depraved act.
The killer, John E. du Pont, was a fabulously wealthy man whose fortune was estimated to be well over $100 million. And the crime he committed was totally without stealth and in front of two eyewitnesses, including Schultz’s horrified wife, Nancy.
Immediately after the shooting on a Friday afternoon, du Pont retreated to his mansion at Foxcatcher Farm, a sprawling estate of about 450 acres in Newtown Square, a western suburb of Philadelphia. A marksman with an array of weapons at his disposal, he kept a small army of police at bay for two days before was he was tricked into leaving the house and captured without a shot fired.
The highly publicized trial laid open the mind of an obviously mentally ill and delusional du Pont, who at one point claimed to be the Dalai Lama in America and believed that the trees on his estate could move.
After deliberating a week, the jury found him guilty of third-degree murder and mentally ill, resulting in a 13- to 30-year sentence that du Pont, now 67, continues to serve in a minimum-security correctional facility north of Pittsburgh.
The why of it all still confounds even some who defended du Pont.
“He invites this guy to go with him and does what he does. It just doesn’t make any sense, “defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom said recently, still marveling over his former client’s inexplicable audacity.
When du Pont drove to Schultz’s home, where the shooting occurred, the millionaire had an unsuspecting security expert sitting beside him. The man, a former Marine, would be a prosecution witness.
However, one of the prosecutors in the case, Joe McGettigan, remains firm in his belief about why du Pont turned on his friend, who had won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics and was even revered in Cold War Eastern Europe as a wrestling hero.
“Du Pont was motivated by the same things that motivate many people who kill people they know, “McGettigan said. “In his case, it was a bizarre combination of admiration that extended to almost hero worship of Dave and envy of Dave’s eminence in a field that du Pont had inserted himself – wrestling.”
Indeed, du Pont – who had lofty aspirations as a swimmer and pentathlete when he was younger – had become a patron of amateur wrestling in America.
Many wrestlers, including Schultz and his family, lived in houses on the Foxcatcher Farm estate. And there were training facilities there where the athletes could work out and practice. The estate was also a vast playground, where some wrestlers hunted and fished.
McGettigan also theorized that du Pont resented that Schultz was planning to leave Foxcatcher Farm for a coaching job at Stanford after the Atlanta Olympics in the summer of 1996. Schultz, then 36, was training for one final competitive comeback.
And, finally, du Pont had just learned that Schultz had contradicted a police report given by du Pont that another wrestler, with whom the millionaire was feuding, had assaulted him. The injuries du Pont suffered, Schultz told police, had happened in a drunken stupor.
McGettigan argued that du Pont’s psychological demons were exacerbated by alcohol and, at trial, the prosecution implied that he also used drugs. Schultz had tried to intervene and help du Pont and was even successful at times, McGettigan said.
Bergstrom attempted to convince the jury that du Pont should be found not guilty by reason of insanity and the trial was filled with witness accounts of life at Foxcatcher, where the unpredictable master of the manor often carried a sidearm.
Some of tales that surfaced in and out of the courtroom included:
Du Pont having razor wire installed in the walls of his house and attic to keep people from crawling throughout his home.
Du Pont’s insistence that the tooth marks left by horses in a barn were messages from Mars.
Another contention that du Pont had been given the power of the Third Reich by Albert Speer, a leading Nazi.
Du Pont driving a car into a pond – twice.
The stories seemed endless, and all pointed to the inescapable conclusion that du Pont was deranged.
“There was a full moon at Foxcatcher every night of the week, “defense lawyer Bergstrom said in his closing argument.
But none of that, prosecutors McGettigan and Dennis McAndrews argued, meant du Pont didn’t understand fully that killing Schultz was wrong.
In the end, the jury seemed to deliver a compromise verdict, holding du Pont responsible for the homicide, but stopping short of convicting him of first-degree murder, taking into account his mental disorders.
Today, Nancy Schultz, who watched her husband being shot as he lay on the snowy ground and cradled him as he took his last breath, lives in Los Gatos, Calif., southwest of San Jose. She sued du Pont for wrongful death and reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be worth about $35 million in 1999.
For most of the last 10 years, she has raised her and David’s two children, Alexander and Danielle (now 19 and 16), and has run the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club, which has raised money for and supported amateur wrestlers.
Nancy Schultz has often been asked about her involvement in an endeavor that is a constant reminder of her husband’s death.
“The majority of the time being associated with wrestling has made me happy, not sad, “she said recently. “He was a great ambassador for wrestling in other countries and we lost that, so I was glad to keep that going.”
Du Pont is in his fourth correctional facility, his longtime lawyer and friend, Taras Wochok, said. He is eligible for parole in three years and could go to a halfway house in two.
Wochok, who has visited du Pont weekly for the past 10 years, said the millionaire’s mental state has improved a great deal. Always interested in ornithology, du Pont continues studying birds. He has worked as a clerk in a prison chapel. And he has taught civics to other prisoners.
Of course, life in prison has been vastly different than on Foxcatcher, where he ruled imperially.
“The entire prison experience, aside from just the loss of freedom, is a constant battle on a day-to-day basis in dealing with the system – the administration of the facilities where he has been and, at times, the other inmates, “Wochok said. “He has had to face obstacles that he never knew existed.”
Foxcatcher Farm is under an agreement of sale to a developer who plans either single, detached homes or a retirement community. Whenever he’s released, du Pont is likely to settle somewhere other than in the Philadelphia area, where his name is infamous.
Wochok said the specific reason du Pont killed Schultz may never be fully known.
“It’s just so sad for everyone, “the lawyer said.
McGettigan, the prosecutor, sees culpability not only in du Pont, but also in those who were close to the millionaire and watched a delusional man become increasingly dangerous.
“The tragedy is that here was someone who had all the resources to get the help he needed, “the prosecutor said. “But other than David and a few others, few made those efforts.”
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