Seattle Field Office

FBI | 1110 3rd Avenue | Seattle, WA 98101

For Immediate Release
April 16, 2006

Contact: Robbie Burroughs
(206) 262-2509

FBI SEEKING INFORMATION IN THOMAS WALES HOMICIDE

The FBI is seeking the public’s assistance regarding an anonymous letter which was received by the Seattle FBI office concerning the 2001 murder of Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Thomas C. Wales.

On the night of October 11, 2001, Thomas C. Wales was murdered at his Seattle residence. The killer shot Wales through a window as Wales worked at his computer. Wales was an 18 year veteran of the United States Attorney’s Office in Seattle. The ongoing homicide investigation is being jointly conducted by the FBI and the Seattle Police Department.

The letter, postmarked January 23, 2006, in Las Vegas, NV, purports to have been authored by Wales’ killer. A copy of the letter and envelope is attached.

The letter was analyzed by Profilers of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, located at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The letter contains certain factual inconsistencies as well as claims that are seemingly unrealistic, and has no details not previously released to the general public which would be known only to the killer. Nevertheless, despite doubts regarding the letter’s veracity, FBI Profilers believe, based on similar events in other investigations, that the letter’s author could be someone connected to the murder of AUSA Wales.

The use in the return address of the name “Gidget,” a movie and later TV show from the 1960s era, is unusual and is a term possibly used by the author in other contexts, past and present. The return address on the envelope is a commercial address in Las Vegas, with no apparent connection to the crime.

Anyone who can provide information about this letter or the identity of the author is requested to contact the FBI toll free at (866) 322-7009, or write to: FBI, 1110 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.

Contents of the Letter | Photograph of the Envelope