Why Lisa Dean Moseley Matters–Even If Her Death Doesn’t.
Sherry Freebury. Elmer Setting. Lisa Dean Moseley.
We all know that Freebury and Setting, at the time they accepted favors from Moseley, were/are among the most powerful people in New Castle County and deeply connected to the county police.
Freebury received, and publicly admitted that she would never have had to repay, a $2.3 million sweetheart loan from Linda Dean Moseley allegedly in exchange for county approvals for a country club that Moseley wanted. At the time she received that loan, she was Tom Gordon’s CEO, as she was from 1997 to 2004. She previously was the head of NCC police, as was Gordon. There’s so much more on Freebury and Gordon. This article serves as a good starting point.
More recently, the longstanding ‘rent-free’ deal that current NCC Police Commissioner has enjoyed from Moseley was documented in the this WDEL story. He claims he provides ‘security and maintenance’ for the property. (BTW, didja know that one of Lisa Dean Moseley’s marriages was to her gardener? Another was to her gynecologist. But more on that later.)
Lisa Dean Moseley died recently. Here is the obit from the paper.
I searched for anything recent in the News-Journal to place her life and death in context. After all, context is everything. So far, nothing. If she had merely had the two clearly inappropriate relationships with Freebury and Setting, that alone would have warranted such an article. Two law enforcement officers at the highest level being paid off for their ‘services’.
But here’s another reason why anyone from law enforcement should have had nothing to do with Moseley, and perhaps a reason why they did. It is quite possible that Moseley paid to have someone killed (her husband did, and it’s impossible to think that she wasn’t aware, and unlikely that her money wasn’t involved). I’m not making the accusation, but you’ll see it in black and white soon enough if you click on the upcoming link.
I didn’t know this story, although I was aware of some ‘unpleasantness’ in her past. It was only when I read that both her sons predeceased her that I got curious and decided to do a Google search and came up with this. Written in a sensational and sensationalistic manner as only Dominick Dunne could. The ‘glamorous DuPont heiress’ mentioned at the top of the article is Lisa Dean Moseley. Here’s the tease:
On August 2, 1998, a woman of no importance was beaten and strangled to death in a cheap motel in Las Vegas, Nevada, that rents rooms on an hourly basis to prostitutes, drug addicts, perverts, and, on this occasion, a trio of alleged murderers for hire. Across the country in a grand mansion at the end of a quarter-mile-long driveway in the rolling hills of Delaware, an heiress from one of America’s most prominent families and her third husband were making plans for the opening of an exclusive new golf club that he would manage on land that she had inherited. The two stories are closely related.
Read the whole story. If you start, you won’t be able to stop. What’s clear, however, is that Moseley’s then-husband arranged for a hit and that Lisa Dean Moseley may well have been involved. They didn’t want their drug-addled son marrying someone ‘unsuitable’.
You will also see that, at the exact same time, the Moseleys started their full-court press for Fieldstone, their country club project, which was the project that led to the $2.3 mill ‘loan’ to Freebury.
So, do you see now why any close relationships between Lisa Dean Moseley and any police officials might be viewed as tainted, not to mention, completely unethical? Freebury and Setting are/were aware of this as, of course is Gordon, yet they have both taken favors from Moseley. The husband who paid for the hit was gonna run the bleeping country club, for bleep’s sake. Didn’t stop Freebury or Setting from receiving enormous favors. Kinda makes me wonder whether ‘keeping the bodies buried’ is part of their quid pro quo.
The stink and corruption that emanates from Tom Gordon’s ‘government by cop’ goes on. For all we know, many of the other cops ‘working’ with Gordon are on the take. The precedents established by Freebury and Gordon demonstrate that cops are above the law in Gordon’s administrations. Fairly or not, they’re all under suspicion. At this point, they’re guilty until proven innocent.
The so-called paper of record owes what’s left of its readership an article placing Lisa Dean Moseley’s life in context. At least as long as Setting continues to get free lodging for his ‘services’. In the meantime, I hope our readers who have more information to flesh out this story do so.
Now, I’m gonna take a long shower.
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Thank you El Som for laying it out.
That NJ obit should be submitted to the Pulitzer committee.
Well, that’s likely just the standard obit submitted by the funeral home with facts from the family.
But, just like when, say Capano died, this one calls for something much more complete from the paper itself.
So the forgiveness of the Freebury loan is official, then.
I’m not sure if this quote covers the entire $2.3 mill, or only a portion. But here’s what she said back in 2007:
“In her statement yesterday, Freebery said that she “took responsibility” for not disclosing to the bank that she had signed a promissory note for the Mosley loan. “Both Lisa and I knew that she would never demand repayment and she has recently forgiven the note entirely.” Freebery said the bank loan has been paid off “in its entirety.”
That’s not a loan. That’s a bribe.
My comment was meant to be snark.
I agree that the entire business needs a bunch of sunshine. Too bad the NJ isn’t up to it.
The Dominick Dunne piece is chilling. Some of these du Ponts are stone cold sociopaths.
I’m gonna take at least some credit for this story, which was just posted on the News-Journal site:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2016/05/02/dupont-heiress-pocked-scandalous-headlines-dies/83833334/
Trust me. Neither Freebury nor Setting look any less sleazy here.
Here’s the question that needs to be answered. For the past 13 years, Elmer Setting, his wife, and their three daughters, have been living rent-free on the estate of someone who bribed another County official into getting her country club approved and who likely helped finance a murder.
What did Setting do in order to get this golden deal? No rent, no mortgage for a family of five for 13 years? There simply HAS to be a sleazy reason for it. The News-Journal has repeatedly sought responses from Setting and Gordon. What are they hiding? How can this man hold a high position of public trust while refusing to explain away something that appears inexplicable? Can County Council require him to answer questions? And, is the AG’s office going to investigate this?
Bueller? Bueller?
Alex, I’ll take ‘Jeez It’s The Cops’ for 1,000 – Who was the NCC police office sent to Las Vegas in late 1989 to assist with the 8-Aug homicide investigation?
This Is getting so interesting.
Who handled the Delaware side of that investigation? It is a good question, and it should be a matter of public record.
That last question is a very interesting question.
According to his bio, Setting was a rookie cop in 1989, in the patrol division. Not likely he would have had anything to do with a homicide investigation in Vegas in that year.
Nice theory, but the glove doesn’t fit.
The murder was 1998, not 1989.
1995….Public Information Officer, representing the division in local and national media outlets…1998 promoted to police sergeant. The dates actually do line up.
So what’s the theory? Freebury/Gordon send Elmer to Vegas to make sure nothing untoward splashed onto Dame Moseley? In return Setting gets to live rent free in perpetuity and Freebury gets big “you’ll never have to pay this back” loans? Then, when she threatens to spill the beans to avoid jail she suddenly gets to plea down to making a false statement? Is that the theory? It sounds very implausible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgFOhdoBwno
Wow, thanks! I need to start watching more tabloid TV…
Jason, I don’t have a theory. But my Spidey Sense tells me that, when five people get to live rent-free in a palatial mansion, and when one of them is the NCC Police Chief, and when the person bestowing this sinecure is Lisa Dean Moseley, then there’s likely a hinky reason for it. The chief owes us an explanation, if, for no other reason, than to show the people he’s paid to protect that he isn’t above the law.
BTW, I found out that County Council has no authority to call Setting before them to ask him questions. Not sure I like the way this whole County government thingy is going…
These arrangements between the police and rich people with extra housing space on the compound have been going on since before Gordon’s time, and it’s done by both the county and state police forces. It should be against the code of ethics for either force.
The News Journal turned this up way back in the pre-indictment days when it was investigating the Moseley/Freebery connection, but never wrote about it.
The item about Setting being in Las Vegas could not be confirmed by the US Attorney’s office at the time. Whoever the county officer in Nevada was, his role supposedly was to ask for the suspect to be remanded back to Delaware under County Police auspices.
It’s a good watch, El Somnambulo. Saw it some years back.
Thought I remembered it as “City Confidential”, but it was “Power Privilege and Justice”.