WASHINGTON – DNC staffer Seth Rich, who was brutally murdered on July 10, 2016, on a street near his Washington home – sparking discussion that he might have been the source of party insider emails turned over to WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential race – probably wasn't the victim of a random homicide.

Or a robbery gone bad.

Rather, his murder "more likely (was) committed by a hired killer or serial murderer."

Those are the conclusions of the Profiling Project, which released the results of a months-long investigation into Rich's death on Tuesday.

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The project, an "all-volunteer group of current and former George Washington University forensic psychology graduate students and instructors," said it came together for the investigation to "aid the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police utilizing forensic psychology skills and tools in hopes of providing at least one actionable item."

The findings include:

Seth's death does not appear to be a random homicide. Seth's death does not appear to be a robbery gone bad. Seth['s] death was more likely committed by a hired killer or serial murderer. There may be additional video surveillance of the crime and crime scene. The resolution of prosecuting the individual(s) responsible appears to be hindered both actively and passively. Seth's killer(s) most likely remains free with the community.

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The group said it "decided not to officially interview anyone for this section" to avoid "the potential for re-victimization" and instead used information available to the public.

The investigation found Rich was "conscious and breathing with apparent gunshot wound(s) to the back" when police heard gunshots and then found him.

He was taken to an unnamed hospital and "pronounced by attending physician at 0557 hours."

The group found in its investigation "the crime scene was very organized to the point of being sanitized."

"This would indicate careful planning on the part of the offender, control of the entry to and exit from the crime scene as well as in-depth understanding of law-enforcement investigative processes."



The group noted it did not have access to police or medical examiner reports.

But, it said that if the CCTV cameras it "observed on May 4, 2017, around the crime are consistent with the CCTV cameras on July 10, 2016, the offender could successfully remain unrecorded in approaching, engaging and withdrawing from the crime-scene."

"A proficient killer is what we think – the fact that the killer has gotten away with it for this period of time and it appears it was a very sanitized crime scene, so there is certainly some level of proficiency in the killing," Kevin Doherty, lead investigator of the Profiling Project explained during a press conference Tuesday.

When asked if there are any specific clues that have led to his team's conclusion, Doherty explained "it is the lack of clues" that substantiated the deduction.

"The crime scene was sanitized, there is no direct linking to really anything. The police have no suspects," he said. "The individuals have gotten away with it at this point in time. There were no behavioral indications at the crime scene. It didn't look like rage or revenge or hate were the motivation behind it. It's really a lack of behavioral indicators, motion and evidence that leads us to believe that whoever did this is proficient at killing."

The Rich family issued a statement complaining they were not given a copy of the report in advance and urging that people not pay attention to it.

"As noted, by the report's own methodology, 'The profiling project was given no special access to any materials, evidence or persons and due to case sensitivity, conducted only informal, limited interview,'" the family statement said.

"Given that fact, the family hopes that the general public takes the findings at face value – valuable experience in research collection and report writing for students at George Washington University but in no way should take any findings contained within as new, credible or otherwise lending credence to conspiracy theories surrounding the circumstances of Seth's death."

The group's report continued: "Offender brought a most likely unregistered firearm to the crime-scene, utilized the firearm and most likely carried the firearm away from the crime-scene with them post-commission. This is a bold behavior in D.C., which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country."

The investigators added: "The act of killing is one of the most extreme human behaviors. The offender had already accepted that the use of a firearm was an option, indicating that offender had either previously killed, or a significant amount of preparation had gone into planning for this kill. Additionally, offender could elude police from the commission of the crime to present."

Also, no firearms casings were reported to be found.

The investigators said Rich "was reported to have (been) awake, talking to responding officers and unaware he was shot."

That could indicate "there was no face-to-face interaction between Seth and offender."

Further, "if offender actively managed the crime scene, intentionally leaving no evidence or insight, offender may be an experienced, sophisticated criminal with in-depth knowledge of law-enforcement procedures."

"We do not believe offender is a robber, nor a robber who killed. Offender had the ability to kill, and brought with them an instrument to do so. Though we do not know what other items Seth may have had in his possession, his watch, phone and necklace were not stolen."

Just days ago, WND reported the comments from neighbors near where the shooting happened.

On June 8 and 12, WND hit the D.C. bar scene frequented by Rich – including Lou's City Bar, where the DNC staffer was last seen before he was shot to death – and Rich's neighborhood to ask locals for their insights on the mysterious murder.

Bars throughout the nation's capital were hosting viewing parties to watch the June 8 congressional testimony of former FBI Director James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The bars opened their doors at 9 a.m., and several locals shared their thoughts on Rich's slaying.

Watch as WND asks locals for their thoughts on Seth Rich murder and investigation:

Joseph Cortez, who watched the "Comey Crawl" at Union Pub, dismissed claims that President Trump colluded with Russia to leak the Democratic National Committee's emails to WikiLeaks.

Cortez said he believes Rich was, indeed, the WikiLeaks source.

"He was the one who leaked the emails to WikiLeaks, originally the DNC emails. It wasn't Russia that did that; it was Seth Rich," Cortez told WND.

"I am not a conspiracy theorist – I think that maybe that should be looked into a little bit more," he continued. "The president has done nothing wrong, and that was proven today. So I think we can move on with the agenda that the president has put forward."

As WND reported, Rich was murdered July 10, 2016, in his affluent neighborhood in Washington, D.C. He was shot in the back with a handgun at 4:18 a.m. while he walked home, and nothing was taken from him. He was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead at 5:57 a.m. On July 22, just 12 days after Rich's death and days before the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia, WikiLeaks released 20,000 emails from DNC officials.

Establishment media have ignored recent revelations concerning Rich's case. The little coverage on the investigation has been devoted to dismissing speculation surrounding Rich's murder as "conspiracy."

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Cortez blasted the establishment media for hastily dismissing speculation that Rich was the DNC leaker, and he suggested a federal investigation is warranted.

"The mainstream media is fake news," he said. "I don't care what the mainstream media says."

Meanwhile, Rocky Twymaan held a sign outside Union Pub that called on Americans to "pray for Trump and America."

Twymaan, who supported Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential race, told WND he's not familiar with details of the Rich murder, but he speculated that the DNC staffer's slaying may have been politically motivated.

"That really could have been a possibility," Twymaan said of claims that Rich's murder could have been an inside job.

"The Democrats were very shady – look how they did Bernie Sanders," he said. "Many of us that supported Bernie, we really think that if he had won, he would have won this election. Because this was a non-traditional political year. People were looking for something outside the system, and Hillary just did not offer that."

Ultimately, God Himself intervened to stop Hillary Clinton from winning the White House, Twymaan claimed.

"The old saying is that you reap what you sow," he said. "So many people in the Democratic Party were against Bernie Sanders. They were going to elect Hillary no matter what, and I believe God stepped in an intervened and said, 'No, that's not going to happen.'"

WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. Help us find out what really happened to the DNC staffer!

Jack Burkman, head of a team of private investigators in D.C. working to find Rich's killers, told WND the Metropolitan Police Department was instructed by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser for political reasons to stop investigating Rich's murder.

Burkman revealed during the conference that a source who wishes to remain anonymous and "afraid for her life" told him Rich died at George Washington Hospital.

"We do know the hospital – it was George Washington University Hospital. I was approached about a week ago by a woman—don’t know how to describe her, she is actually very afraid for her life, I am not sure why but she is very afraid to get involved in all this — she is a federal contractor in the health arena. It’s George Washington hospital. She is also conducting a bit of her own investigation trying to find out who the doctors were who worked on Seth Rich. That’s a group that doesn’t want to talk.”

Former detective Rod Wheeler, who was initially hired by the Rich family to solve Rich's case, revealed to WND in May that the MPD withheld information from him pertaining to the murder after former DNC interim chairwoman Donna Brazile called police to ask why investigators were "snooping" into Rich's slaying.

As WND reported, emergency responders, along with the Metropolitan Police Department and two local hospitals, are refusing to reveal what hospital admitted and treated Rich before a physician pronounced him dead on July 10, 2016.

Furthermore, the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has reportedly refused to release Rich's autopsy report.

A police report issued by the Metropolitan Police Department indicates that Rich was "conscious and breathing" when law-enforcement authorities arrived on the scene. However, the report doesn't name the hospital where Rich was treated or name the physician at the hospital who pronounced Rich dead. The report states:

CIC reports the sound of gunshots at 2134 Flagler Pl. NW. Upon arriving to the scene, the decedent was laying in the Southwest corner of the intersection of W. St. and Flagler Pl. NW. The decedent was conscious and breathing with apparent gunshot wound(s) to the back. The decedent was transported to local area hospital and was pronounced dead by attending physician at 0557 hours.

As WND reported, a manager at Lou's City Bar, the last known location where Rich was seen before his murder, claims police never interviewed the bar's staff or requested evidence, such as footage from security cameras. And police never questioned Rich's DNC co-workers.

WND also asked 125 members of Congress to weigh in on the unsolved murder, but not a single U.S. representative has agreed to address the case.

WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. Help us find out what really happened to the DNC staffer!