Du Pont Heir Captured, Ending Standoff

A tense 48-hour standoff between police and a millionaire accused of killing an Olympic wrestler ended Sunday when the heir to the du Pont fortune was captured as he tried to restore heat to his chilled mansion.

John E. du Pont was unarmed when he stepped outside to fix his boiler and was arrested by a SWAT team hiding in the woods. He was not injured. He had been without heat since police cut off his boiler system Friday night.

Prosecutors said he would be charged with the murder of Dave Schultz, a 1984 Olympic gold medal winner who was training at the wrestling center on du Pont’s estate. Schultz, 36, was slain Friday just as he left his home on the grounds to repair his car radio. Immediately after the shooting, du Pont took refuge in his manor house, modeled after James Madison’s Montpelier home in Virginia.

Since then, 75 police officers surrounding the 800-acre estate had been keeping a wary distance because du Pont, an expert marksman with a history of bizarre behavior sometimes fueled by drugs and alcohol, possessed an arsenal of heavy weapons.

SWAT team members and technicians restored phone service to the mansion Friday night, repairing damage caused by mysterious fires at the estate in October, and also turned off the valves for the boiler in an underground tunnel nearby.

The discomfort of the cold did its work, and du Pont, wearing running tights and a black leather jacket advertising his Foxcatcher wrestling team, told police negotiators in a phone conversation Sunday that he was coming out to fix the boiler.

Police were more than happy to oblige.

“Shortly after 3 o’clock today as the result of negotiations, we encouraged John du Pont to exit his home and proceed in a southerly direction to a location where there were hot-water boilers,” said Police Chief Mike Mallon of the suburban Newtown Township Police Department.

“His intent was to make repairs to the boilers because he was without heat. Within a few moments, our SWAT teams made a capture.

“It was an extremely trying, difficult situation. Our SWAT teams were out in rain and high winds, extremely cold weather,” Mallon added. “There were no shots fired. No one was injured. I call that a very successful resolution.”

Looking dazed, du Pont was kneeling in a black van with his wrists handcuffed behind him as he was taken from the estate.

Du Pont was arraigned on murder and weapons charges. He was being held without bond pending a hearing Thursday.

Police said the violence began Friday afternoon when du Pont pulled up in his Lincoln Town Car and opened fire as Schultz was standing outside his home on the estate grounds, where he lived with his wife and two children.

According to an affidavit, Nancy Schultz saw du Pont fire a third shot into her husband’s body after he had fallen to the ground. She told police that du Pont also pointed the .38-caliber revolver at her, the affidavit said.

She read a short statement to reporters after the standoff ended: “Our family is devastated and saddened by Dave’s brutal, unexpected loss. He was not only a world-class athlete, coach and mentor, but a devoted and loving father to our children, and husband to me for the past 14 years.”

A bodyguard was in du Pont’s car during the shooting, but police said he will not be charged.

Throughout the ordeal, police conducted sporadic phone negotiations with du Pont, a great-great grandson of Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, founder of the Wilmington, Del.-based corporation.

Though barricaded inside his mansion, du Pont made no threats during conversations that sometimes lasted only two minutes and at other times stretched to a dozen, police said.

A retired FBI agent who had served as a hostage negotiator also sometimes spoke with du Pont.

“He’s in there saying: ‘Should I shoot myself? Should I turn myself in? Or should I get a Bronco and drive around on the freeway?’ ” said Bill Ryan, who until this month was with the local district attorney’s office.

Negotiations that started early Saturday broke off at 9 p.m. at du Pont’s request for sleep and then resumed about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

In Orange County, the Rev. Robert Schuller on Sunday released an audiotape urging du Pont, whom the Orange County evangelist has known since the mid-1980s, to end his standoff with police, but it was uncertain whether the appeal was a factor in du Pont’s arrest.

“If you did what they suspect you did, if you did that, John, you came under a spell that is not you,” Schuller said. “It is demonic.”

“Just lay down those weapons, open the front door, raise both hands . . . and walk between those pillars and do it now,” Schuller said.

The four-minute message was scheduled to air Feb. 4 on Schuller’s “Hour of Power” television program, which is seen in 184 countries, but Crystal Cathedral authorities decided to give an audiotape to the media on Sunday, hoping du Pont would hear it.

“Time was of the essence and we wanted to get the message out,” said Michael Nason, spokesman for the cathedral in Garden Grove.

In the audiotape, Schuller told du Pont to call him if the millionaire needed help.

About three hours after releasing the segment, church officials received the news that du Pont had surrendered.

“We don’t know if John heard it or not,” Nason said.

He added that Schuller “was very relieved to hear” that the standoff had ended.

Newtown Square police said they don’t believe the appeal played any role in du Pont’s arrest.

Du Pont had written a letter to Schuller in the mid-1980s “indicating that he was inspired by [Schuller’s] message,” Nason said. Du Pont once visited the Crystal Cathedral.

“They’ve talked on several occasions, but over the past few years had lost touch,” Nason said. “The Rev. Schuller heard about what happened and decided to appeal to John to surrender.”

Sandy Wark, who owns a local service station, said du Pont and Schultz visited the local elementary school Wednesday.

She said her two sons attend the school, and du Pont and Schultz worked with children rehearsing for a talent show.

“Both of my children can’t believe it happened because they knew both of them,” Wark said.

Times wire services contributed to this story.