Seth Conrad Rich, 27, a staffer and self-described data analyst who worked for the Democratic National Committee on voting issues, was shot and killed in Washington D.C., and his murder remains mysterious. “Police have found little information to explain his death,” said The New York Daily News.
Conspiracy theories are raging about Rich’s death because of his DNC employment and the lack of an obvious motive or suspect in the case. Rich was shot on July 10, 2016 at 4:15 in the morning near a Washington D.C. neighborhood where he lived, said CBS News.
The Washington Post wrote on July 11: “Police said they have no suspects, witnesses or motive, though they are looking at whether Rich could have been slain in an attempted robbery.”
Here’s what you need to know
1. His Father Says Key Items Were Not Taken Even Though it’s Being Called a Possible Robbery
NBC Channel 4 in Washington says that Seth’s mother, Mary Rich, said police “told her family her son may have been the victim of an attempted robbery.”
Rich’s father told The Washington Post that Seth’s watch, wallet and credit cards were not taken, but he thinks Rich was “killed after resisting a robbery in which the assailant got nothing.”
However, Acting Capt. Anthony Haythe of the Metropolitan Police Department’s homicide branch said in a July news conference that all motives were being considered, said CBS. The New York Daily News quoted police as saying, “There is no immediate indication that robbery was a motive in the attack…but it has not been ruled out as a possibility.”
The police said they are looking into whether Rich’s death was tied to other robberies in the area, and his roommate told WUSA9 that Rich “was probably walking home from his girlfriend’s apartment when he was robbed and then shot.” The Washington Post said there were two robberies “in the city in the hour preceding the shooting, both more than one mile away.”
2. There Was a Struggle Before Rich Was Shot Multiple Times, Including At Least Once in the Back
Rich’s mother told NBC Channel 4 in Washington D.C. that her son’s “hands were bruised, his knees are bruised, his face is bruised, and yet he had two shots to his back, and yet they never took anything.”
The Washington Post says at least one of Rich’s multiple gunshot wounds was in the back. The shooting occurred in northwest Washington D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood, said WUSA9. He was taken to the hospital, where he died, said WUSA9.
Rich was discovered by police who were patrolling the area and was conscious and breathing at first, said CNN. He was talking on the phone with his girlfriend when the shooting occurred and told her not to worry about it when she heard a noise, said NBC 4. There is a $25,000 reward being offered in the Rich murder case.
3. Hillary Clinton Mentioned Rich’s Death in a July Speech & Debbie Wasserman Schultz Praised Him
The Washington Post has posted video of that speech. “Surely, we can agree that weapons of war have no place on the streets of America,” Clinton said after mentioning Rich as an example of someone killed who doesn’t make the headlines. She said he had worked on voting rights for the DNC.
According to CBS, former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that Rich was a “dedicated, selfless public servant who worked tirelessly to protect the most sacred right we share as Americans.”
Seth came into work every day to fight for all Americans’ right to vote. We miss him so much https://t.co/PzzFXab0b9 pic.twitter.com/wvhHEjs0Rz
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) July 11, 2016
To People Magazine, friends described Rich as self-deprecating, non apathetic, a bit of a goofball, and someone who “would stand up for anybody.”
4. Rich Worked on the DNC’s Voter Expansion Efforts & Described Himself as a Data Analyst
On his LinkedIn page, Rich described himself as “Experienced and impassioned data analyst. I have an enormous interest in public service and working towards making the world a better place.” The page says that Rich had worked as the DNC’s Voter Expansion Data Director since 2014.
Before that, he was a Research Data Associate for Greenberg Quinlan Rosner; a Boating Education Director and Staff Programming Director at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin; a research intern for Senator Ben Nelson; a member of the campaign staff for the Nebraska Democratic Party, an enumerator for the Census Bureau, a field organizer for Senate campaigns, and other jobs.
People Magazine says he worked on voter expansion efforts for the DNC and The Washington Post says that, as a DNC staffer, he worked on a project to “help voters easily find their polling places.”
Rich graduated from Creighton University with a B.A. in Political Science: Public Policy and History, said his LinkedIn page.
5. Conspiracy Theories Have Sprouted up Online About Rich’s Murder
Various conspiracy theories have sprouted up about Rich’s death, without concrete evidence to back them up, but fueled in part by the WikiLeaks dump of almost 20,000 DNC emails, which led to the resignation of Wasserman Schultz.
Wrote one site, Inquistr, “a number of far-left and even far-right political blogs theorized that Rich — who worked on voter data — may have been a whistleblower threatening to expose election fraud carried out to help Hillary Clinton win the Democratic primary.”
On Reddit, people have theorized – again without any evidence to back it up – that Rich was the person who gave WikiLeaks the DNC emails. However, numerous news sites, such as NBC, have reported that government officials and security firms believe that Russian intelligence was behind that leak; WikiLeaks denies being tied to Russian intelligence, but won’t reveal its sources for the emails, which, among other things, appear to show DNC officials favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the primary.
Reddit threads devote exhaustive discussion to dissecting the Rich murder case. Other conspiracy theories range from accusations that Rich was a DNC whistleblower to those theorizing he was about to testify or was collaborating with the FBI. Again, there is no evidence to back those theories up.
Snopes is one of the sites that has sought to debunk evidence-less claims that Rich was about to collaborate with the FBI or was bumped off by a Clinton “hit” team. Heat Street is another.
Source: Heavy
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