Thomas C. Wales

Case background and investigation

Thomas C. Wales was an Assistant United States Attorney in Seattle who had spent about eighteen years in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, where he concentrated on fraud and other white-collar cases. Outside work he was president of Washington CeaseFire, a gun-safety organization. He was 49 years old.

On the night of October 11, 2001, Wales was sitting at a computer in the basement office of his home in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood. According to The Seattle Times, someone entered the backyard and fired at least four shots through a basement window, striking him in the neck and torso. He died at a hospital the following day. Investigators have said the weapon was a Makarov pistol fitted with a replacement barrel, and the FBI has examined sales records for thousands of such barrels.

The FBI, the Seattle Police Department and federal prosecutors formed a task force that has remained in place for more than two decades. An FBI supervisor told KCPQ in 2021 that the file held more than 51,000 reports, making it one of the largest investigations the bureau has conducted. The Seattle Times has reported that the early inquiry was hindered by staffing shortages following the September 11 attacks.

No one has been charged with the killing. News reports state that investigators focused early on a commercial airline pilot whom Wales had prosecuted in a fraud case that was later dropped; the man has denied any involvement, his home was searched, and he has never been charged. In 2018 the FBI said publicly that evidence suggested the shooting may have been carried out by a hired gunman. Authorities also released a sketch of an unidentified man seen in the neighborhood before the shooting.

In 2019 a special prosecutor obtained an indictment of a Snohomish County woman for allegedly lying to a grand jury about what she knew of a person described in court papers as a possible participant. According to The Seattle Times, that case faltered and she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in August 2021. It did not result in any charge related to the murder itself.

On October 11, 2021, the twentieth anniversary, the Justice Department raised its reward to $2 million; together with roughly $500,000 offered by the National Association of Former United States Attorneys, the total reached $2.5 million. Oversight of the case was returned that day to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle. No arrest has been reported since, and the motive remains unestablished.