Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Seth Rich Parents Demand Retraction Of Fox Story On Wikileaks Ties

(JTA) — The family of Seth Rich, a Jewish Democratic National Committee staffer killed near his Washington, D.C., home last summer, has called on Fox News to retract a story that says Rich had contact with Wikileaks before his death.

Rich, 27, a Nebraska native, was shot dead while walking home before dawn on July 10, 2016. Police have speculated that he was the victim of a robbery gone awry. Rich’s body was found about a block from his home with his wallet, watch and cellphone still in his possession.

His death sparked several conspiracy theories, including that he was a source for WikiLeaks.

Several days after Rich’s death WikiLeaks released a collection of DNC emails, which intelligence officials now say was related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Fox’s Washington DC affiliate Fox 5 in a story released on Monday linked Rich’s death and the email dump, citing statements from Rod Wheeler, a private investigator who said he is working with the Rich family and has said, among various conflicting comments, that there is evidence of emails between Rich and WikiLeaks.

Wheeler has since backed off of his claims.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.