On August 2, 2006, thirty-two-year-old attorney Robert Wone arrived at a brick rowhouse on Swann Street Northwest in Washington, D.C., expecting a safe place to sleep after working late. Just seventy-nine minutes after walking through the front door, he was dead, stabbed through the heart in a sterile, staged-looking room. The three men living inside—Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky, and Dylan Ward—claimed an unknown intruder broke in and committed the crime. Investigators immediately found that story impossible to believe, setting off one of the most baffling and disturbing legal mysteries in modern American history.
This case features an airtight timeline, a complete absence of forced entry, bizarre forensic evidence, and a wall of silence from the surviving residents. While no one was ever convicted of his murder, the unanswered questions surrounding the tragic night continue to haunt true crime researchers.
The Evening of August 2, 2006
Robert Wone was a prominent Washington attorney and former executive director of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Because he attended a late Continuing Legal Education seminar and planned to meet early morning office staff the next day, he decided not to commute back to his suburban home in Oakton, Virginia. He emailed his college friend, Joseph Price, asking if he could crash on the couch. Price agreed.
Wone arrived at the Swann Street townhouse around 10:30 p.m. Inside were Price, his domestic partner Victor Zaborsky, and their housemate Dylan Ward. What happened over the next hour and twenty minutes remains shrouded in secrecy.
According to statements given to the Metropolitan Police Department, Wone chatted briefly in the kitchen with Price and Ward while drinking water. Zaborsky claimed he was upstairs watching television. The residents stated that Wone was then led to a second-floor guest room where a pull-out couch had been prepared.
At 11:49 p.m., Zaborsky dialed 911 to report that an intruder had stabbed their guest. When paramedics arrived less than six minutes later, they encountered an eerie scene that contradicted every standard emergency response.
Red Flags at the Crime Scene
First responders and homicide detectives immediately realized something was fundamentally wrong with the environment inside the Swann Street house. The indicators of foul play extended far beyond a standard burglary or violent home invasion.
- No Signs of Forced Entry: Every door and window was securely locked, and exterior dust and cobwebs remained undisturbed.
- Zero Valuables Taken: Expensive electronics, computers, and visible cash on the first floor were left untouched.
- The State of the Body: Wone was found lying neatly on his back on the bed with his arms folded. He was dressed in a clean T-shirt and shorts, but his body appeared to have been washed or wiped down.
- Lack of Blood: Despite three deep, precise knife wounds to the chest—one of which pierced his heart—there was minimal blood on the bed linens or the victim.
- Calm Residents: The three men were found freshly showered, wearing bathrobes, and displaying an unnatural, emotionless calm compared to typical witnesses of violent crime.
Forensic Mysteries and Revelations
As the investigation deepened, forensic pathologists and federal laboratories uncovered details that painted a far more complex and sinister picture than a random break-in. Autopsy results revealed that Wone had been paralyzed or incapacitated, showing needle marks on his body. Toxicological screens were complex, and analysts noted physical evidence suggesting he had been sexually assaulted before death.
Furthermore, the knife used in the attack—matching a kitchen cutlery set from the home—had been wiped clean. Investigators theorized that Wone was restrained, rendered unconscious with drugs, assaulted, and then intentionally killed to cover up the initial acts.
The residents maintained their intruder narrative, refusing to cooperate with detectives beyond providing scripted statements through their defense attorneys. Because physical forensic trails inside the house had been meticulously altered, prosecutors faced an uphill battle in proving who specifically held the blade.
The Legal Aftermath and Verdicts
Because direct physical evidence tying the murder to a specific individual was compromised by the clean-up of the scene, the district attorney's office could not secure a murder indictment against Price, Zaborsky, or Ward. Instead, in 2008, authorities charged the three men with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and tampering with evidence.
The trial took place in the summer of 2010 before a judge rather than a jury. Judge Lynn Leibovitz delivered a scathing verdict. She stated that the evidence overwhelmingly proved the men knew far more than they shared, that their intruder theory was completely fictitious, and that the crime scene had been deliberately sanitized. However, under the strict legal threshold required to prove individual criminal liability for the specific acts of evidence tampering, she ultimately ruled them not guilty on all counts.
Concurrently, Robert's widow, Katherine Wone, filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Price, Zaborsky, and Ward. In August 2011, that civil suit ended in a financial settlement for an undisclosed sum, bringing a legal close to a chapter that left the public searching for accountability.
You can review a comprehensive overview of the legal proceedings via Wikipedia's Case Summary. Additional context regarding investigative journalism into the case is archived by The Washingtonian.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was anyone ever convicted of murdering Robert Wone?
No. No individual was ever charged with or convicted of the actual murder. The three housemates were tried solely for evidence tampering and obstruction of justice in 2010 and were acquitted by a judge.
Why did the residents wait nearly an hour to call 911?
The timeline shows a gap of approximately fifty minutes between the estimated time of the attack and the placement of the emergency call. Prosecutors argued this window was used to wash the victim's body, sanitize the room, dispose of bloody clothing or towels, and align their stories.
Did the police find any signs of forced entry?
No. Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that all entry points to the Swann Street townhouse were secure, and nothing inside the residence was disturbed or stolen.
What happened to the Swann Street townhouse?
The property at 1509 Swann Street NW has since changed ownership. Despite subsequent renovations and new residents occupying the address, the location remains permanently linked in urban lore to the unsolved tragedy of 2006.
