Newfound circumstances arise in Danton arrest
i ne Biues piayer iviiKe
Danton was arrested in San
Jose, Calif., on Friday
By Michael Shaw
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT)
ST. LOUIS — Two circumstances
appear to have thwarted what author
ities have described as a murder-for
hire plot by Blues player Mike Danton
to kill his agent.
One was the choice of a young dis
patcher for the Columbia, 111. police
as a hit man. A source identified him
Tliesday as Justin Levi Jones, 19.
The other was a swift effort among
local and federal authorities in three
states to ensnare Danton early Friday,
after Jones called authorities Thursday
morning.
Danton, 23, and Katie Koester
Wolfmeyer, 19, of Florissant, were ar
rested last week on federal charges of
conspiracy ana using a telephone in in
terstate commerce to set up a murder.
Investigators said Danton enlisted
Wolfmeyer's help to find a killer, and
that she turned to Jones, even though
she knew where he worked.
Dan Kelley, the sheriff of Monroe
County, who once employed Jones as
an intern, put voice Tuesday to a ques
tion many must have asked quietly:
"If you know (Jones) and know he
worked for a law enforcement agency,
why would you call him?"
There was no answer from officials.
Danton remained in jail near San
Jose, Calif., where he was arrested
Friday morning. He awaits a transfer
to court in East St. Louis, where the
case was filed.
Kelley said Jones' internship involved
working two to three hours a week with
the sheriff s department for two semes
ters before Jones graduated last spring
from Waterloo High School.
me school s principal, Todd Man
ning, said Tuesday, "lie was really fo
cused on what he wants to do. He's a
good kid."
Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards
declined to comment.
Jones, contacted at home Tuesday
by a reporter, said he could not dis
cuss the case and referred questions to
the FBI.
Federal prosecutors say Danton
called Wolfmeyer last week, asking
her to help him find someone who
would kill a hired killer who Danton
claimed was coming from Canada to
kill him over a debt.
Wolfmeyer presumably knew Dan
ton through her work at the Blues'
practice rink at St. Louis Mills in
Hazelwood; court documents said
she had a "personal relationship"
with the Blues forward. It was not
clear how she knew Jones.
Prosecutors say Danton offered
$ 10,000 to perform the killing in his
apartment in Brentwood, while the
hockey player was with his team in San
Jose. When Jones and Wolfmeyer
showed up at Danton's apartment
about midnight Thursday, it was not a
hit man inside but Danton's longtime
agent and mentor, David Frost 36.
Frost has denied he was the target
of a murder plot. He could not be
reached for further comment on Tues
day. But sources said he was the one
Danton intended to have killed.
A motive was not immediately
clear. Court documents said Danton
and his intended target had argued
the night of April 13 about issues of
drinking and promiscuity and that
Danton had begged the target not to
tell the Blues general manager and
min his career. Danton scored a goal
April 13 in a 4-3 playoff loss to the
San Jose Sharks at Sawis Center.
Frost has said the case has nothing
to do with drugs or alcohol and that
there was never anyone threatening to
go to the GM with any information.
Authorities later recorded a sobbing
Danton telling the target in a phone call
that he "felt backed into a comer and
also felt the acquaintance was going to
leave him," the complaint against Dan
ton said. So Danton "decided to have
him murdered."
A check of court records in Monroe
County showed that Jones, who still
lives in Waterloo, was placed under
court supervision last June after plead
ing guilty of misdemeanor battery in an
incident at the high school in which he
was accused of slapping another stu
dent and pushing him against a urinal.
Jones paid $75 in court costs and $441
to the student
Jeremy Kohler and Derrick Goold
of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed
to this report (c) 2004, St Louis Post
Dispatch. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Warner's departure favors all those involved
By Bryan Burweli
St Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT)
ST. LOUIS — One of the harshest
facts of athletic life is this everlasting
truth: The beginning of a young man's
career usually signals the end of an
old man's livelihood.
This is the revolving-door existence
professional ballplayers grudgingly
accept the moment they begin their
fantastic athletic journeys. Sooner or
later, the same revolving door that so
easily swept you in, will rather abrupt
ly kick you out onto the street to make
room for some younger gun eager to
get his turn at stardom.
Kurt Warner certainly knows this
now that he is standing on the outside
looking in at the world he once com
manded so brilliantly. The two-time
NFL most valuable player and rags-to
riches hero of the Rams' Super Bowl
championship has lost a bitter,
two-year battle with Marc Bulger. The
Rams' QB controversy is over.
Bulger's in, Warner's out.
And it's about time. Finally, the
nonsense and the useless, endless,
nonstop soap opera is over. No more
weekly — no, daily —all right, make
that hourly updates on the QB con
troversy. No more looking over the
shoulder. No more complaining
about deep, dark conspiracies. No
more surprise calls to radio talk
shows. No more tiresome, divisive
speculation. No more sports radio
buzz and uninformed, though highly
passionate chat room debates.
The Rams needed to make a deci
sion, because the Warner vs. Bulger
controversy was a distraction the team
could no longer tolerate. The Rams
needed to make this decision, and
they needed to do it sooner, not later.
Bulger and Warner have both pub
licly and privately been urging Mike
Martz and Rams management to
make a decision. While Warner has
been a bit more public, vocal and dis
ruptive, sources close to the situation
say Bulger too had repeatedly asked
Martz to hurry up and make a choice,
just as long as Martz did it clearly and
definitively.
Now everyone gets what he wants.
Bulger gets the undisputed ownership
of the job he believes he earned long
ago. Warner gets the freedom to pur
sue a second chance on a career that
has gone progressively south since
that Super Bowl loss nearly three years
ago, and prove to a world full of
doubters that his career is a long way
from over.
But there's another harsh reality
that both Bulger and Warner are
about to face.
Be careful what you ask for.
Both of them are about to prove
just how right they are about their
own abilities, or how right their critics
are. Bulger gets relief from the contro
versy with Warner, but if he does not
continue to excel, Martz will revert to
his fickle ways, and that rookie passer
he is sure to draft this weekend will
become the apple of his eye. Bulger
could eventually suffer the same fate
as Warner.
But mostly this is about Warner. He
says he's the same guy who was the
most magical passer the NFL ever saw
during his first three seasons as the
Rams' starter. He says he knows he can
return to his old form. In fact, he's
convinced he never fell off in the first
place. He doesn't agree with the folks
who say something physical or some
thing mental has turned him into a
fragile shell of himself.
He says all he needs is a chance.
But the NFL is full of skeptics. Is
there anyone out there who is willing
to invest the sort of salary he earned
last season ($11 million)? Probably
not, because most NFL insiders con
sider him as nothing more than a
backup or a stopgap who will keep
the seat warm until a young QB grows
into the job.
Warner has a lot of mileage on his
32-year-old body now. NFL oppo
nents say he's gun shy. Opposing
coaches who've studied his game
tapes say his right hand still isn't right.
The Rams coaches and players have
quietly voiced their concerns about
his competitive instincts.
Now Warner gets to prove us all
wrong. I wish him well and hope he's
right. But sadly, I suspect the golden
age of Warner's golden arm is all so
much faded glory.
(c) 2004, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. His opinions
do not necessarily represent those
of the Emerald.
Bonds homers, but Giants can’t get past San Diego
Barry Bonds homered in his
seventh straight game; he
now has 667 for his career
By David Kiefer
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
SAN FRANCISCO — A night's
work for Barry Bonds: One swing and
another home run.
As unfathomable as it seems, the
San Francisco Giants' slugger made
the most of his only opportunity,
homering for the seventh consecutive
game to close to a major league
record.
Not even Bonds had accomplished
such a feat — reaching six twice be
fore — until drilling the first strike he
saw inside the right-field foul pole for
his 667th career home run. The two
run fourth-inning shot triggered a
three-run inning, but it wasn't enough
to lift the Giants out of a hole in a 9-5
loss to San Diego before 33,825 at
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SBC Park on Tuesday night.
Bonds, who has hit nine of the
dub's 14 home mns, will attempt to
tie the consecutive-games mark
shared by Pittsburgh's Dale Long
(1956), the New York Yankees' Don
Mattingly (1987) and Seattle's Ken
Griffey Jr. (1993) in tonight's third
game of the four-game set.
He did, however, set a National
League with eight homers in seven
consecutive games, breaking Long's
mark of seven. Mattingly keeps the
major league record with nine.
Though Bonds walked as a pinch
hitter April 14 vs. Milwaukee, it did
not count against his consecutive
games streaks because he did not have
an official at-bat in the game.
Before Tuesday's game, San Diego
Manager Bruce Bochy said the Padres
wouldn't shy away from Bonds.
"Sure; you should pitch to him," he
said. "Where would this game be if we
didn't pitch to Babe Ruth?"
Bochy was partly correct. They
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walked him three times. But on
Bonds' second trip to the plate, pitch
er Brian Lawrence fell behind 2-and
0 before delivering a fat fastball right
over the plate. After hitting the ball,
Bonds lifted his arms high, then
pointed toward Raiders defensive
lineman Warren Sapp along the first
base line.
(c) 2004, San Jose Mercury News (San
Jose, Calif.). Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.