The Bottom of the Cliff

Summary

Criminal Podcast Episode Summary: "The Bottom of the Cliff"

Podcast Information

• Title: Criminal
• Host: Phoebe Judge
• Network: Vox Media Podcast Network
• Episode: The Bottom of the Cliff
• Release Date: March 28, 2025
• Description: Criminal delves into the intricate stories of people involved in crimes, whether as perpetrators, victims, or those caught in between. Hosted by Phoebe Judge, the podcast is recognized as one of the Best Podcasts of 2023 by the New York Times.

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1. Introduction: The Legacy of Agent Orange and Its Impact

The episode opens by providing historical context about Operation Ranch Hand, where the U.S. military sprayed over 19 million gallons of herbicides, including Agent Orange, in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos between 1962 and 1971 (02:00). The widespread use of these chemicals aimed to eliminate vegetation cover and crops, crippling the Viet Cong's ability to hide and depriving them of food sources. However, the aftermath was devastating:

• 400,000 Vietnamese deaths due to exposure.
• 3 million people harmed, with hundreds of thousands of birth defects reported by the Vietnamese Red Cross.
• 2.6 million U.S. soldiers exposed to Agent Orange, leading to health issues recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

This historical backdrop sets the stage for the personal story of Kelly Wriston, a VA beneficiary afflicted with spina bifida, who required extensive home health care.

2. Uncovering Healthcare Fraud: The Role of Tom Dominski

Tom Dominski (04:15), the resident agent in charge at the VA Office of Inspector General in Pittsburgh, became suspicious of irregularities in the billing practices of Julie Wheeler, a home health care worker for Kelly Wriston. Key discoveries included:

• Exaggerated Billing: Julie Wheeler billed the VA for 56 hours a week (04:37), claiming to provide full-time care. However, witnesses and the beneficiary's husband revealed that Julie likely provided only 8 hours annually.
• Substantial Payments: Julie received approximately $470,000 from the VA, despite minimal actual services rendered.
• Employment Conflicts: Investigation revealed Julie's simultaneous employment with Lincare in Beckley, West Virginia, working Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM (05:18), conflicting with her fraudulent VA billing claims.

Dominski's meticulous review of Julie's employment records and financial transactions led to the realization that Julie had ceased her legitimate job at Lincare after receiving substantial VA payments, thereby continuing her fraud scheme unabated.

3. The Mysterious Fall: Julie Wheeler's Attempt to Evade Justice

As the investigation unfolded, Julie Wheeler orchestrated a dramatic attempt to avoid sentencing for her healthcare fraud:

• Event Date: May 31, 2020 (10:47)
• Location: Grandview Overlook in the New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia
• Family Involvement: Julie's husband, Rodney Wheeler, and their 17-year-old son were present during the incident.

Initial Incident: Rodney and his son reported that Julie had fallen off the cliff at Grandview Overlook. According to their account, Julie was seated precariously at the edge when she slipped after bending to retrieve an earring, leading to her fall (14:37).

Search Efforts:

• A massive search operation ensued, involving hundreds of volunteers, National Guard helicopters with thermal imaging, and specialized teams from various agencies (14:24; 17:40).
• Findings: Only a cell phone and a single shoe were recovered at the site, with no signs of Julie's body or disturbance, raising suspicions about the credibility of the incident (19:25; 21:30).

4. Unraveling the Hoax: Discovery of Julie Wheeler's Deception

The inconsistencies in the search efforts and the suspicious circumstances surrounding Julie's reported fall led investigators to suspect foul play:

• Investigative Doubts: Stanley Wilson, a deputy chief ranger with the National Park Service, expressed skepticism due to the absence of any physical evidence despite exhaustive search operations (21:18).
• Reenactment and Surveillance: Investigators, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Goes, conducted a reenactment of the events to identify discrepancies (22:16).
• Surveillance Insights: It was revealed that Julie was awaiting sentencing, indicating a motive to fake her death to escape legal consequences (26:06).

The breakthrough came when federal probation officers, alongside state police, executed a search warrant at Rodney Wheeler's home. During a meticulous search, they discovered human legs in a closet, leading to Julie Wheeler's arrest (28:37).

5. Legal Proceedings and Sentencing

Confession and Charges:

• Julie Wheeler: Confessed to the fraud scheme and her attempt to fake her death, stating, "I didn't want to go to prison, and I thought this was my way out" (29:08).
• Rodney Wheeler: Sentenced to two months in prison, followed by six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release.
• 17-Year-Old Son: Not charged due to his minor status, though his involvement was noted as being under significant pressure from Julie (33:03).

Sentencing Details:

• Julie Wheeler: Received a 54-month sentence comprising:
  • 42 months for healthcare fraud.
  • One additional year for conspiring to obstruct justice.
  • Restitution: Ordered to pay $289,055 for the healthcare fraud impacting Kelly Wriston, emphasizing the gravity of her actions and their impact on a vulnerable individual (32:42).

Notable Quotes:

• Eric Goes: "The theft from the spina bifida aspect of this case should not be overshadowed by her ruse in faking her own death. Her conduct was egregious and atrocious in stealing money that was needed by a spina bifida victim by not providing that person services." (32:23)
• Tom Dominski: "I suspected immediately that this is something that she was potentially doing to avoid sentencing." (27:30)
• Eric Goes: "I've never seen anyone go through some sort of elaborate hoax to fake their own death to get out of sentencing. I've never seen anything quite like it." (33:41)

6. Reflections and Conclusion

The episode concludes by highlighting the complex motivations and ethical breaches involved in Julie Wheeler's actions. Her attempt to evade justice not only disrupted her family's life but also directly impacted the services and benefits meant for individuals like Kelly Wriston. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Goes reflects on the unprecedented nature of Julie's scheme, underscoring the lengths to which she went to avoid accountability.

Final Thoughts:

• Impact on VA Services: Julie's fraudulent activities deprived a spina bifida victim of essential care, highlighting systemic vulnerabilities.
• Law Enforcement Insights: The case serves as a cautionary tale for fraud prevention and the importance of diligent investigative work.
• Human Element: The involvement of Julie's family, especially her son, brings to light the personal toll and ethical dilemmas faced by those close to perpetrators.

7. Production Credits

• Creators: Lauren Spoor and Phoebe Judge
• Senior Producer: Nadia Wilson
• Supervising Producer: Katie Bishop
• Producers: Susanna Roberson, Jackie Sagiko, Lily Clark, Lena Sillison, Megan Kinane
• Mixing and Engineering: Veronica Simonetti; Michael Rayfield
• Original Illustrations: Julian Alexander
• Credits: Additional support from the Vox Media Podcast Network

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Note: This summary encapsulates the key elements of the "The Bottom of the Cliff" episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those unfamiliar with the podcast. For a deeper understanding and nuanced details, listening to the full episode is recommended.

Transcript

[Phoebe Judge]

Support for criminal comes from ADT. ADT's trusted neighbor sets a higher standard for home security systems. In the ADT plus app, you can give immediate or scheduled access to your home to neighbors and friends. You can also let people know when a package has arrived or an alarm is going off. And you can set limited access windows for planned guests, like a dog walker, all without interrupting your day. Visit ADT.com when every second counts. Count on ADT requires ADT Complete pro monitoring plan and compatible devices. Copyright 2025 ADT, LLC. All rights reserved. Paramount celebrates Women's History Month with the Women who Move Mountains Collection.

[Lauren Spohr]

You ready for the women who break.

[Phoebe Judge]

Boundaries like Zoe Saldana and Lioness? Let's go. Who are unapologetically themselves like Kathy Bates in Matloc, Nobody' sees us coming. And who forge ahead like Christina Richie in Yellowjackets.

[Tom Dominski]

I thought you'd be more excited to.

[Phoebe Judge]

See me explore the Women who Move Mountains collection on Paramount Stream now. Hi, it's Phoebe. I wanted to let you know that on Tuesday, April 8th, I'm hosting a trivia night on Zoom along with Lauren Spohr. Our whole team is putting together questions and of course there'll be prizes. If you'd like to be there, join Criminal Plus. You can learn more about it at thisiscriminal.com/ here's the show between 1962 and 1971, the United States government sprayed more than 19 million gallons of herbicides in Vietnam. Parts of Cambodia and Laos were also sprayed. The military wanted to strip the leaves from trees, making it hard for the Viet Cong to hide from US Military airplanes and to kill all the crops, eliminating sources of food. It was called Operation Ranch Hand, and its informal motto was only you can prevent a forest. The most common herbicide was Agent Orange, produced for the US Government by several companies, including the Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. Agent Orange got its name because its barrels were marked with an orange line, and it makes people very sick. By some estimates, 400,000 Vietnamese people died from exposure. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that 3 million people were harmed, including hundreds of thousands of babies born with birth defects. In 1988, an Air Force researcher wrote a letter to Senator Tom Daschle. We were aware of the potential for damage, however, because the material was to be used on the enemy, none of us were overly concerned. We never considered a scenario in which our own personnel would become contaminated with the herbicide. But a lot of US soldiers were exposed, an estimated 2.6 million. In 1991, Congress began to offer funding and treatment to American soldiers who served in Vietnam and had certain diseases. And they later introduced a special program to help children whose parents were deployed to Vietnam and whose exposure may have caused the child to be born with spina bifida, a condition where the backbone and spinal cord don't properly develop. Those children can get benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. One of them was Kelly Wriston.

[Tom Dominski]

She was a VA beneficiary.

[Phoebe Judge]

She had spina bifida she received in home health care.

[Tom Dominski]

Her home health care services were not skilled services. They were basic meeting needs of the beneficiary, such as helping her shower, brushing her hair, preparing meals for her, cleaning her home, things of that nature.

[Phoebe Judge]

Tom Dominski first heard about Kelly Wriston in 2017. He's the resident agent in charge at the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General in Pittsburgh. He was brought in because something didn't seem right with the way the health care worker Julie Wheeler was billing the government.

[Tom Dominski]

She was billing the VA for eight hours a day, seven days a week, which would be 56 hours of care per week.

[Phoebe Judge]

Kelly Wriston and Julie Wheeler already knew each other.

[Tom Dominski]

It was actually her sister. So Julie Wheeler was claiming to VA that she provided home healthcare services for her sister. However, some witnesses claimed that maybe she was providing 10 to 15 hours of care per week. The beneficiary's husband acknowledged to us that through the course of a year, approximately, he would estimate that Julie Wheeler only provided a total of 8 hours of care over a year.

[Phoebe Judge]

She was being paid $736 a day.

[Tom Dominski]

And it was right around 470,000 total that she had received from VA. And.

[Phoebe Judge]

She was never there.

[Tom Dominski]

Basically no, man.

[Phoebe Judge]

So tell me a little bit more about how did she get caught? I mean, how did the red flag happen?

[Tom Dominski]

So the red flag came from our Office of Community Care, which is run out of Denver, Colorado, through the Veterans Health Administration. Caregivers would fax that office basically statements monthly showing what hours they were there and what kind of care they provided. And those statements were used to reimburse the home health care people. So the paperwork that was being submitted was being faxed from West Virginia to Denver. I determined that that fax number was registered to a business by the name of Lincare in Beckley, West Virginia. And I found out that Julie Wheeler was employed there. I was able to subpoena and review her employment records, which showed that she worked at Lincare Monday through Friday from 8 to 4:30. At the same time, she was billing the VA for care again, seven days a week. But importantly, she was billing and acting as if she was taking care of Kelly Monday through Friday as well, from 8 to 4.

[Phoebe Judge]

Impossible.

[Tom Dominski]

Correct. I learned through her employer that the VA was somewhat backed up in their payments to reimburse Julie for the care that she had provided for a few months. So when Julie received her initial VA payment, it was about $130,000. And according to the folks at Lincare, the day that it hit her bank account, based on the review of records that I conducted, she never returned to work, she never called, and she had worked there for about seven years. She just stopped showing up. So it kind of showed. When she got her money, she never went back and continued the fraud scheme.

[Phoebe Judge]

When did you reach out to Julie Wheeler, or was that the next step?

[Tom Dominski]

In July of 2018, I took several agents to try to see what kind of care was being provided. And when we went to the home where Kelly, the VA beneficiary, was living, we found that it appeared she was living in a garden shed. It had some electrical wires running to it. It had a garden hose running through the window. So we were really concerned about her.

[Phoebe Judge]

They didn't know where she was.

[Tom Dominski]

And the group of agents that went with me, we ended up going to Julie Wheeler's house next, where we found them all together. And we conducted simultaneous interviews by separating everyone and myself and another agent spoke to Julie Wheeler.

[Phoebe Judge]

And what did Julie Wheeler say?

[Tom Dominski]

So one of the things we noticed right away, she had at least 100,000, if not $150,000 in new vehicles in the driveway. There was a brand new Ford Mustang convertible, a Chevy Tahoe, a Jeep Wrangler, and a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle. So when we interviewed Julie, that was one of the questions we asked her. You had a pretty modest income from Lincare. How can you afford all these vehicles? Initially, she stuck with her story that she did take care of her sister. She said she made an error with the billing because she went there after work for eight hours a day and not before work and said, you know, I'm wrong. I shouldn't have written 8 to 4 because I was at work. Eventually she broke down a little bit and said, well, you know, it's a lot to take care of her. She requires a lot of care. I also have a home, and I have a husband and two teenage children that I have to care for as well. So she acknowledged some of the fraud initially, but it wasn't until the second time we interviewed her, which would have been the next year, I believe, in 2019. In August, she had a new job because the VA was no longer paying her. We talked to her and she acknowledged that she was only caring for Kelly a few hours a week.

[Phoebe Judge]

And so what happened next, we go.

[Tom Dominski]

To the United States Attorney's office, which was in Charleston, West Virginia. For this particular case, Assistant U.S. attorney Eric goes was assigned to review our report and our evidence and potentially prosecute Julie Wheeler.

[Eric Goes]

My name is Eric Goes. I'm an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of West Virginia.

[Phoebe Judge]

In February of 2020, Julie Wheeler pled guilty to federal health care fraud. Her sentencing was scheduled for June. She was facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine and would be ordered to pay restitution, potentially as much as $469,000.

[Eric Goes]

But at least part of the structure of the plea agreement was so that the defense lawyer could argue that she should receive a lesser sentence even than the guidelines suggested. And that was at least part of the strategy as told to me by defense counsel.

[Phoebe Judge]

A couple of weeks before her sentencing. On May 31, she and her husband, Rodney Wheeler and their 17 year old son visited the Grandview Overlook in the New River Gorge national park in West Virginia.

[Eric Goes]

This is a scenic overlook. There's a protective fence around the overlook and it captures just a beautiful view of sort of a horseshoe bend of the New River. And it's a very steep drop off. So it's nearly a thousand feet from the overlook down to the river. And it's a series of ledges. It's ledges and deciduous trees. It's very beautiful in the fall in a very steep area.

[Phoebe Judge]

I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. We'll be right back. Support for Criminal comes from Quince. I always like to have a trip to look forward to. It doesn't matter how far in the future it is. If you'd like to get ahead of any summer trips you've planned, it's not too early to start looking now for a new outfit or two to take on vacation with quince. They have 100% linen shorts for just $30 and linen tank tops and short sleeve button downs to match. Plus a bunch of other things you might need for a trip. Suitcases, luggage tags, duffel bags, packing cubes. I'm always interested in learning more about packing cubes. Personally, I like Quince's wide leg linen pants. They're very lightweight, come in a lot of colors and wash and dry well. Everything at quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They say they're able to do that by partnering direct with top factories. For your next trip, you can treat yourself to the upgrades you deserve. From quince go to quince.com criminal for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q-U-I-N-E.com criminal to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com criminal support for criminal comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile offers phone plans for a lower price than their major competitors, starting with any three month plan for just $15 a month. Their plans don't include surprises in fine print, hidden charges or large monthly bills. Instead, customers get unlimited talk and text, high speed data and more, all on the country's largest 5G network. One of our friends made the switch to Mint Mobile and he saved money doing it. He says that it was painless. He liked not having to send friends and family a new number and says that he should have switched earlier to save even more. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop [e-mail] Phoebe that's mintmobile.com Phoebe upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Lauren Spohr]

Last night around 8pm it was reported that a woman fell off of the main overlook in the Grandview area of the New River Gorge National River. At this time she has not been located, but newswash reporter Anna Saunders was on the scene today as crews continue their search.

[Stanley Wilson]

The call came in just before dark.

[Eric Goes]

Last night when we arrived on scene and you know, we had a witness.

[Stanley Wilson]

That that said that someone went over the edge.

[Phoebe Judge]

Just after 8pm on May 31, 2020, Rodney Wheeler and his teenage son called 911 to say Julie Wheeler had fallen over the cliff.

[Eric Goes]

She had stepped over the overlook, was sitting with her feet dangling or something to that effect, and it slipped off and fallen. And both individuals spoke to the 911 operator. But for Rodney Wheeler's point of view, he said, you know, help, my wife is missing. She's fallen off the Grand View overlook. Well, that triggered a massive effort because it was later in the day. There was an initial effort to find her that was supplemented by a helicopter resources provided by the Army National Guard where they use thermal imaging. But the search ultimately involved hundreds of volunteers looking. So it went into the evening and then to the very next day. And when I say hundreds of volunteers, I mean hundreds of volunteers, everyone from professional fast rope teams to the state police fire departments. And they turned out in force to try to locate her.

[Stanley Wilson]

I had just gotten off work when I got a phone call about an individual reporting an individual had fallen from the Grandview overlook.

[Phoebe Judge]

Stanley Wilson is a deputy chief ranger with the National Park Service.

[Stanley Wilson]

It was explained to us that there were three of them. A juvenile and the. And Rodney and Julie were just walking. They had parked in an area called the north overlook and they had walked a trail that connects the two overlooks. And according to Rodney, he had walked with with his family to almost to the overlook when he turned and went back to get the vehicle to move it around the area set up so that there's two parking lots. And so he's basically parked fairly far away from the main Grandview overlook. And his statement is that he went back to get the vehicle because Julie and the juvenile were thirsty and he was going to move the vehicle closer because he felt they were tired too. And so according to Rodney, he goes back to get the vehicle, he drives to the main overlook, he exits his vehicle and starts to walk out the trail to the main overlook. And that's when he's met by his. By the juvenile coming up the trail reporting that his mother has fallen off the cliff. And then he went on to say that the juvenile and the mother had went around a barrier to sit and. And almost dangled their feet from the cliff edge. And when they thought they heard Rodney coming back, they wanted to get back on the proper side of the fence. And that when Julie stood up, she noticed that she had dropped an earring and bent to pick the earring up. And when she did, she fell from the cliff.

[Phoebe Judge]

How did the search begin?

[Stanley Wilson]

So we put folks in the end of the woods with just headlamps and packs and just sent them walking down around the trail. We did have a rescue team with ropes respond and they were able to anchor ropes to the top and repel from the cliff down to where we would see this impact zone. And so we had a mixture of folks walking, you know, in kind of it's a very thick area. So that just getting folks in there was a little bit of troublesome because they had to, you know, work their way through this thick underbrush.

[Phoebe Judge]

And it was dark.

[Stanley Wilson]

And it was dark. Yes, well, it was getting dark and. But it did get dark on these folks and so. And interestingly, you know, the West Virginia State Police aviation happened to be out and. And they were there on scene fairly quickly and they had the Infrared FLIR system and spotlights. And so they were able to illuminate that area, and then they were able to use the FLIR to, you know, look for thermal imaging. And it was dangerous conditions. You know, we had these low flights with this helicopter now, you know, just kind of perched on the side. And, you know, it's certainly hate to work under helicopters at low altitude like that. But, you know, also the folks on those ropes at one point had to call out to the aviation asset and to leave the area because when they came in, the rotor wash was so that it was swaying the ropes and they were starting to get tossed about. There was a phone that was discovered at the bottom of the cliff and a shoe, a single shoe. And Rodney confirmed that those two items belonged to Julie, but otherwise nothing else.

[Phoebe Judge]

And you weren't picking up any, you know, heat sensors from the infrared on the helicopter?

[Stanley Wilson]

That's right. And then some of the. Some of the folks that were doing the search itself, you know, they talked about how the. Even the terrain right there at the cliff, at the bottom of the cliff and the area around that wasn't disturbed. So other than a shoe and a cell phone, we had really nothing else there. So we just continued the search until we exhausted that at about 1am they.

[Phoebe Judge]

Went back the next morning.

[Lauren Spohr]

So the National Park Service, joined by the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department, West Virginia State Police, the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department, Jancare Ambulance, and the Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team were all on scene for day two. As teams rappelled down below both sides of the overlook, everyone on hand to search for a local woman who reportedly fell off the cliff, the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department sent in the Bloodhound team. They were able to find the woman sent at the overlook using her items. But from there, it was time for another rappel. This time, crews doing a grid search from top to bottom, 1400ft from the park's tallest peak all the way down to the river. Still nothing. This is still under investigation, but with limited details as the search is ongoing. Reporting in Grandview, I'm Anna Saunders, Newswatch.

[Stanley Wilson]

I was talking with one of the rangers that was on scene, and he said that they were still searching. And I asked if they searched at the bottom of the cliff, you know, just kind of off the cuff. And he said, of course we did. And. And so, you know, it was just. It was just odd. You know, it's. If you fall from this point to this point, we look there and I don't know, I'll say that, you know, we do a lot of search and rescue and, and in this particular one with, you know, such a 70ft is, you know, it's a pretty quick fall, but there was nothing there, no disturbance or anything at the bottom of that cliff.

[Phoebe Judge]

Rodney wheeler posted to facebook asking the.

[Stanley Wilson]

Public for support, support and privacy. You know, the, the post itself, you know, it struck me odd at least that he would so quickly do that.

[Eric Goes]

I have it and I can read it.

[Phoebe Judge]

Assistant u. S. Attorney eric goes.

[Eric Goes]

The facebook post stated, quote, I have been getting a lot of private messages, so I feel it's best that I address this. The accident at grandview yesterday involved my wife. They haven't found her yet, but I'm holding out hope that she will be found and she is okay. I am heartbroken and lost right now, but I have to have faith. Please give us time to work through this and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Quote.

[Phoebe Judge]

Investigators asked rodney and their son to come back to the grandview overlook to show them what had happened.

[Eric Goes]

So there was an actual reenactment to what did you see, what direction to try to figure out what exactly happened. Because it wasn't adding up. Investigators were already getting clues that something was amiss. There was a strong effort to not be callous because you could find a body. But the investigator I spoke with directly, who was stan wilson of the national park service, kept repeating, something doesn't add up here. This isn't right. It's only 100ft to the top of the overlook. It's a series of ledges. There's no impact crater. There's no broken branches, no blood trail. The body wouldn't have disintegrated. It couldn't have hit the river from this location. So there's no issue of dragging for the body. And unfortunately it's a sidebar. But it's very important. The national park service is expert in recovering bodies. Some miles from the grandview overlook is the new river gorge bridge that is unfortunately a suicide hotspot. And the national park service is often tasked with recovering bodies from people who choose to end their own life from that bridge or that location. So they develop some expertise in terms of what you would typically see. And it's hard won expertise. But they knew that something just didn't add up. There were simply no signs of her.

[Phoebe Judge]

We'll be right back.

[Stanley Wilson]

Foreign.

[Phoebe Judge]

Support for criminal comes from mint mobile. It's hard to stick to a budget when expenses you're expecting to be the same each month like your wireless plan expand because of Hidden fees if you'd like to switch to a more affordable plan with no surprise fees, consider Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile offers phone plans for less than their major competitors. Any three month plan is just $15 a month and you'll get unlimited talk and text and high speed 5G data. A friend of ours canceled his contract with a major cell phone carrier and has been using Mint and he says his phone works exactly the same but he's spending a lot less. He says he wishes he switched sooner. If you like your money, Mint Mobile may be for you. You can shop [e-mail] Phoebe that's mintmobile.com Phoebe upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Support for criminal comes from ADT. ADT's trusted neighbor sets a higher standard for home security systems. In the ADT plus app, you can give immediate or scheduled access to your home to neighbors and friends. You can also let people know when a package has arrived or an alarm is going off. And you can set limited access windows for planned guests like a dog walker, all without interrupting your day. Visit ADT.com when every second counts count on ADT requires ADT Complete pro monitoring plan and compatible devices. Copyright 2025 ADT LLC. All rights reserved. By the end of the second day of searching, there is still no trace of Julie Wheeler. Here's Deputy Chief Ranger Stanley Wilson.

[Stanley Wilson]

You know, folks really started to kind of give it a second look over. And so we were working with state police on, you know, on what our next steps should be and discovered that Julie was actually awaiting sentencing in federal court. Certainly it drew our attention and caused us to pause.

[Eric Goes]

Well, it was first reported to me that she was missing and there was some concern that she may have killed herself.

[Phoebe Judge]

Assistant U.S. attorney Eric goes and I.

[Eric Goes]

Spoke to the criminal chief briefly about that. That sometimes happens. It's pretty rare, but it's happened a couple of times in my career. And once the agent told me that they couldn't find a body. You're thinking, well, sentencing is coming up, they're looking for the body. But the more it didn't add up, the more you were thinking this isn't just simply a missing person, that this is someone trying to go on the run, not show up for sentencing. Duck court.

[Tom Dominski]

So I recall receiving a telephone call from the prosecutor, Eric Goes. We were scheduled to attend the sentencing not that long after May 31st of 2020 regarding Julie Wheeler. And he had told me that it was reported that she fell into the new river gorge national river from the Grandview overlook.

[Phoebe Judge]

Tom Dominski from the department of veterans affairs.

[Tom Dominski]

I have been to that park many times, and I could see somebody falling there if they weren't careful. There are no railings, and it is a very high point in West Virginia in the mountains. But, you know, I suspected immediately that, you know, this is something that she was potentially doing to avoid sentencing.

[Phoebe Judge]

Officers from the federal probation department, along with the West Virginia state police, decided to visit Rodney Wheeler at home and.

[Stanley Wilson]

Actually did a walk through the home. And of course, nothing was found there. And so then after it was over, West Virginia state police decided to do a search warrant for all cell phones in the home. And when the trooper went into the bedroom, he opened up the closet door and he looked, and in the floor he could see human legs. Julie was found hiding in her closet.

[Phoebe Judge]

Just sitting there in the closet.

[Stanley Wilson]

So it was explained that she was laying. And so he shuts the door and he's with another trooper. And he tells the other individual or the other trooper to place handcuffs on Rodney. And when he opens the door again, Julie comes out with her hands raised and asking for forgiveness.

[Phoebe Judge]

Stanley Wilson interviewed both Julie and. And Rodney later that day.

[Stanley Wilson]

Julie confessed to the whole scheme that she just. She didn't want to go to prison, and she thought this was her way out. And I asked her, you know, why she picked Grandview, and she said it was because of this vast view that you could see. And she wondered how we could. How we could search that entire area in a lifetime.

[Phoebe Judge]

Did you ask her why she just stayed in the house?

[Stanley Wilson]

I did. And she said she didn't really have a plan. She said that she thought she would just stay for a little while and just restart.

[Phoebe Judge]

How old was she?

[Eric Goes]

She was 43 at the time this happened.

[Phoebe Judge]

So that would have been an awful long life to be on the run.

[Eric Goes]

It was a very poorly thought out plan. If she had simply not shown up in court, a warrant would have been issued for her arrest. And the United States marshal service, who is excellent at tracking down people who don't show up for federal court or obstruct federal proceedings, would be looking for her. There would be an active search. I suppose the plan was if she was missing and presumed dead, then people would not look for her. But, yes, that is an awfully long life to live. However, I would hesitate to speculate what was going on in her mind. Other than the statement she gave after saying she was just desperate to not be sentenced and hatched this plan involving her family members so that she could go into hiding and resume a new life in Florida was one of the locations that was discussed.

[Phoebe Judge]

So did that mean that the Wheelers had put the shoe and the cell phone at the bottom of the gorge?

[Stanley Wilson]

So Rodney confessed that he and the juvenile had stood at the top of the rock and he had handed the juvenile the the two items and watched as they were thrown from the cliff.

[Phoebe Judge]

Julie Wheeler told Stanley Wilson that she had not gone to the overlook at all. It was just her husband and teenage son.

[Stanley Wilson]

Julie told me that she had mastermind, that's her word, that she'd mastermind this plan and that she didn't know what was special about May 31. But she said she looked at her husband earlier that day and said today's go day. And so that's what set the plan in motion.

[Phoebe Judge]

She was arrested along with her husband and pled guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice. Eric Goes prosecuted the case. She still needed to be sentenced for her original conviction for health care fraud.

[Eric Goes]

Judge Copenhaver reminded everyone that the theft from the spina bifida aspect of this case should not be overshadowed by her ruse in faking her own death. That her conduct was egregious and atrocious in stealing money that was needed by a spina bifida victim by not providing that person services. But the ancillary enhancements resulted in her receiving a 42 month sentence to be followed by three years of supervised release and restitution in the amount of exactly $289,055 for the spina bifida healthcare fraud. Of course, she was also sentenced after that for the separate indictment for obstructing.

[Phoebe Judge]

Justice an additional year. So her total sentence was 54 months. Her husband was sentenced to two months.

[Eric Goes]

In prison, to be followed by six months of home confinement, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

[Phoebe Judge]

Their 17 year old son was a minor and not charged.

[Eric Goes]

And frankly the juveniles story is of some note. He, his statement said he was pressured a lot by his mother to come up with this scheme. He initially didn't want to go along with it and his mother kept repeating to him, well, I guess I'll just go to jail then. And ultimately kind of guilt tripped him into it.

[Phoebe Judge]

When you hear about a case like this and see what, what they tried to pull off, do you just think, what were you thinking? How did you think this was going to go.

[Eric Goes]

I'll be as candid as I know how. I've never heard of a scheme like this. We, all of us in this business have had people who don't show up to court. That's pretty normal. I've never seen anyone go through some sort of elaborate hoax to fake their own death to get out of sentencing. I've never seen anything quite like it.

[Phoebe Judge]

Julie Wheeler is out of prison. We tried to reach her for this story but didn't hear back. Criminal is created by Lauren Spoor and me. Nadia Wilson is our senior producer. Katie Bishop is our supervising producer. Our producers are Susanna Roberson, Jackie Sagiko, Lily Clark, Lena Sillison and Megan Kinane. Our show is mixed and engineered by Veronica Simonetti. This episode was mixed by Michael Rayfield. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see [e-mail] and you can sign up for our [e-mail] Newsletter we hope you'll consider supporting our work by joining our membership program Criminal. Plus. You can listen to Criminal, this is Love and Phoebe reads a Mystery without any ads. Plus you'll get bonus episodes. These are special episodes with me and Criminal co creator Lauren Spohr talking about everything from how we make our episodes to the crime stories that caught our attention that week, to things we've been enjoying lately. To learn more, go to thisiscriminal.com plus we're on Facebook and Twitter criminalshow and Instagram criminalpodcast. We're also on [e-mail] criminalpodcast. Criminal is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Discover more great shows@podcast voxmedia.com I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Support for criminal comes from ADT. ADT's trusted neighbor sets a higher standard for home security systems. In the ADT plus app, you can give immediate or scheduled access to your home to neighbors and friends. You can also let people know when a package has arrived or an alarm is going off. And you can set limited access windows for planned guests like a dog walker, all without interrupting your day. Visit ADT.com when every second counts count on ADT requires ADT Complete Pro Monitoring Plan and compatible devices. Copyright 2025 ADT LLC. All rights reserved.