On the night of October 11, 2001, at approximately 10:40 p.m., Thomas Crane Wales was killed in his home in Seattle, Washington. Wales worked for the Western District of Washington as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for over 18 years, prosecuting white collar crime cases on behalf of the United States of America. The shooter stood in the backyard of AUSA Wales' home and shot him several times through a basement window as he sat at his desk typing on his computer. It has been reported that a lone male suspect was seen fleeing the scene. Wales died at a hospital the next day.
The United States Department of Justice is offering a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of AUSA Thomas Crane Wales.
The FBI in recent years concluded that the Wales killing was a revenge hit, carried out on behalf of the commercial airline pilot who was once prosecuted by Wales for fraud. Since then, agents have focused on a “small group” of individuals, most living in Snohomish County, who they believe have knowledge of the killing.
Federal attorneys disputed the claims, saying two people had described the pilot as having a “violent and retributive nature.” His suit, pending when Wales was killed, later was dismissed.
The FBI has put immense resources into the case over the past 20 years: The investigation has been given “special case” status — with a full-time dedicated task force, special funding and a name (SEAPROM, which stands for Seattle Prosecutor Murder).
Jeffrey Shauers said he met the man who stole his truck and drug money while serving time at the now-closed McNeil Island prison in the late 1990s and, after each was released, they became friends who “used and sold drugs.”
He and a woman friend had gone to 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Cinerama Theatre, only 10 minutes from the Hayes Street basement where Tom Wales sat working. After the show, according to the woman’s FBI statement, the two went home separately at about 9:30 p.m., just an hour before the shooting.
He’s a U.S. attorney who worked with Wales. “This is the number one criminal case in Seattle.”. That may be because Wales’ murder has a distinction with national and historical implications: If Wales was killed because of his job, he’d be the first federal prosecutor in U.S. history to be slain in the line of duty.
For neighbors like Aylward, who lived next to the Wales family for nearly 20 years, Wales’ death “felt like losing a son.”. After Aylward’s husband died, Wales helped out and called or visited every day. “He’d call me up and say, ‘I’m on my way over...’ and he’d bring dinner and a pitcher of martinis,” said Aylward.
The street out front, and the driveway adjacent to her house where Tom Wales’ red Range Rover was parked, was a police-taped chaos of flashing lights, loud sirens, cops, medical aid vehicles and clots of neighbors standing around looking stunned. In the basement, medics were desperately trying to save Wales’ life.
It was warm and windy on October 11, on that evening just a month after the watershed chaos of the terrorist attacks of 2001, when at least four shots rang out at 10:40 p.m. in a quiet Queen Anne neighborhood.
The writer of "The Gidget Letter" claims to be Wales' killer. FBI agents have their doubts. Image courtesy Seattle FBI. The nature of the Wales’ death immediately had Seattle Police, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives swarming the case. Wales was given Bureau Major Case status by the FBI.
The gunman had slipped through the dark and narrow cement walk between the Wales house and the house next door—the only way in and out—where Wales’ longtime neighbor, Mary Aylward, lay sleeping. “The sirens woke me up; we don’t get much of that in this neighborhood,” Aylward told Seattle magazine.
He was a father, a federal prosecutor and a vocal gun-control activist. On an October evening in 2001, when Wales was alone in his Queen Anne home, a gunman took his life. See a timeline of the case since the 2001 slaying.
The plea agreement alleges Reid “willfully” attempted to obstruct the court order that she testify truthfully to the grand jury in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
He was a father, a federal prosecutor and a vocal gun-control activist. On an October evening in 2001, when Wales was alone in his Queen Anne home, a gunman took his life. See a timeline of the case since the 2001 slaying.
This COLD CASE involving the murder of Thomas C. Wales is thawing out after 5 years. Overshadowed by 9-11, new info in the case has stirred the FBI into zoning in on the murderer.
Here is an article from October 11th, 2006 that shows a photo of the sketch. The killer was seen in the neighborhood wandering around for a few days before the murder, and was also seen running away from the shooting:
On the night of October 11, 2001, at approximately 10:40 p.m., Thomas Crane Wales was killed in his home in Seattle, Washington. Wales worked for the Western District of Washington as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for over 18 years, prosecuting white collar crime cases on behalf of the United States of America.
Hi I heard about this case a while ago! I'm glad someone has posted his info/case on this website as he seemed like a good man, who did not deserve to pass this way!
He was shot in the side of the neck on a thursday night, was supposed to be going out with his girlfriend but cancelled, staying home to work and was emailing people/reading his emails when he was shot, he was 49 years old, A neighbor, Emily Holt, said she heard the shots on Thursday night and saw a man walking away.
We believe the shooter stood in Wales’ backyard at about 10:40 p.m. on October 11, 2001, and fired several shots through the basement window at Wales. He died early the next morning. He was shot with a 9x18mm Makarov pistol with a replacement barrel distributed by the Federal Arms Corporation of America.
Investigators believe that the letter may have been typed at a Kinko’s, or somewhere similar. No traces of DNA were found on the letter or on the envelope.
Good read on the case (I think this is Lucy's source). The pilot mentioned is interesting.
10/11 will be the 16th anniversary of this case. May this be the year of justice.
Snipped: "The FBI has found evidence strongly suggesting that the fatal shooting of Seattle federal prosecutor Thomas Wales in 2001 involved a conspiracy and a hired gunman, according to an FBI official familiar with the investigation.
starviego, J. J. in Phila, imstilla.grandma and 1 other person like this.
That could be a break in the Thomas Wales murder case is leaving more questions than answers as a 34-year-old woman from Everett now awaits a jury trial.
It would be nice if it was a break, but it would be likely that the killer would have known who the target was. "Judge" and "attorney general" are very vague, at best. The might have said "prosecutor," or "US Attorney," or even "government attorney."
I remember when this happened. I lived in the Seattle area and I knew the Wales family when they first moved to Seattle. We were neighbors on Queen Anne Hill. My belief all along was this was a professional hit. After all these years, there is no way they will figure out who contracted to have him killed.
Attorney Thomas Wales back in October 2001. He was shot and killed while in his home in October 2001. JOSHUA TRUJILLO Show More Show Less.
An advertisement circulated by investigators hoping to find leads in the October 2001 slaying of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales. The Queen Anne home of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales, pictured the morning after he was shot to death.
According to authorities, the pistol used in Wales’ assassination was modified with a stainless steel barrel. The grooved end of the barrel, which could be silver in color or blued, protrudes from the body of the gun in order to accept a silencer.
While investigators have test-fired a number of the weapons to see if they match the gun used to kill Wales, they have not located the murder weapon. Investigators are also searching for the author of an anonymous letter sent to the FBI in Seattle from Las Vegas by someone claiming to be a hit man paid to kill Wales.
Wales, a federal prosecutor of 18 years assigned to the white collar crime unit, was seated at a desk in the basement of his home on Oct. 11, 2001, when a gunman fired on him through a window. He died the following day. “We will never give up our search for the truth,” Holder said. “This is an active case.
1 of 18 Amy Wales reads a letter to her late father Thomas Wales as her brother, Tom Wales, background, listens in the Thomas C. Wales Conference Room at the U.S. Federal Courthouse on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 in Seattle. The Federal Government and family of Thomas Wales are launching a new campaign to find the killer ...
A $1 million reward has, as yet, not delivered the killer to the FBI or Seattle police. Investigators hope the new initiative will bring witnesses forward. Speaking Wednesday, Amy Wales pledged to assist anyone who would come forward to assist in the investigation.