It's been nearly a year since a young staffer for the Democratic National Committee was gunned down near his home in Washington, D.C., but rumors about his death continue to spread.

Seth Rich

Although police suspect Seth Rich was the victim of an attempted robbery, conspiracy theories center on a more sinister plot.

A private investigator hired by Rich's family fueled those theories this week, saying there was evidence Rich had been in touch with the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, which published embarrassing emails from the Clinton campaign before the 2016 election.

The investigator, Rod Wheeler, later appeared to walk back his comments. But that was not enough to assuage Rich's family, which has denounced Wheeler and the man who helped the family hire him: Dallas-area financial adviser Ed Butowsky.

"The family is dismayed, disappointed and is currently exploring their legal options," said Brad Bauman, a spokesman for Rich's parents, Joel and Mary Rich of Omaha, Neb., and brother Aaron Rich.

Butowsky said Thursday that the Riches are "the nicest people in the world" and that all he had done was try to help them get answers.

"Rod's a great guy, a great PI, but it wasn't me who decided on him; the Riches did," Butowsky said. "I just agreed to pay the bill."

Seth Rich, the DNC's 27-year-old voter expansion data director, left a bar July 10 and was walking near his home when someone shot him in the back. His watch strap was damaged, but his wallet and other possessions weren't taken, according to news reports. No arrests have been made.

Conspiracy theories quickly emerged. Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, offered a $20,000 reward to help solve the case but wouldn't say whether Rich was a source. Roger Stone, an associate of President Donald Trump, implied Hillary Clinton was to blame for the murder.

Butowsky, a managing partner at Chapwood Investments LLC in Addison and a regular guest of Fox Business News, said he learned information about Rich's slaying that he felt obligated to share with his family.

"I felt funny thinking that I knew something about his murder and didn't know if the parents knew," Butowsky said. "You could read everywhere that the parents had no idea what happened to their son."

He declined to describe the information he relayed: "It's not relevant."

As Butowsky tells it, family members were grateful he reached out and told him they weren't getting reports from police. He said he suggested that the family hire a private detective, but the Riches told Butowsky they couldn't afford one, so he offered to pay for the service.

"I said, 'You know what? This is one of my good deeds. What I'll do — I'll back it. I'll pay for it for you,'" Butowsky said he told the Riches. "And they said, 'Oh, my goodness. That would be so nice.' "

Ed Butowsky

Butowsky, a former Morgan Stanley executive, said he called people in the Washington area on the family's behalf and found Wheeler, whom he connected with the Riches. The Dallas financier said he probably gave the family the names of three or four investigators.

Like Butowsky, Wheeler — a former D.C. police officer — is a frequent contributor to the Fox network. Joel Rich had seen a story Wheeler had done about his son's death and liked him, according to Butowsky.

"I said, 'OK, well, you want to hire him, go ahead; I'll pay the bill,' " Butowsky said.

Joel Rich didn't return a phone call seeking comment.

Butowsky said that he hasn't been billed for the investigation and that Wheeler has been working for free.

But Bauman, the Rich family spokesman and a D.C.-area communications specialist who has represented Democratic causes, said Butowsky had provided "a very sanitized version of the facts."

"It's my belief that Ed, over the course of six months, cultivated a relationship with the family, urged them to move in the direction of an independent investigation, conveniently had Rod Wheeler ready and available to step in, offered to pay for it, knowing full well that Rod as well as Ed had a shared political agenda," Bauman said.

Wheeler got in trouble with the family after he told a Fox affiliate in D.C. on Monday that there was evidence showing Seth Rich had communicated with WikiLeaks before his death. His televised exchange with the reporter:

Reporter: "But you have sources at the FBI saying that there is information ..."

Wheeler: "For sure ..."

Reporter: "... that could link Seth Rich to WikiLeaks?"

Wheeler: "Absolutely. Yeah. And that's confirmed."

The Fox affiliate, WTTG-TV, also cited a Fox News story published this week quoting an unnamed federal investigator who said Rich had sent more than 44,000 internal DNC emails to WikiLeaks before he died.

On Friday, Wheeler told The Dallas Morning News that he had learned information from the federal investigator last week after talking to a Fox News journalist, and that this investigator was the FBI source he was thinking about when he answered a WTTG reporter's questions on camera.

Wheeler said the reporter left out that context from her story.

"I told her I didn't have this source," Wheeler said. "The source is from the Fox News report."

The WTTG reporter didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

The day after his WTTG interview, Wheeler appeared on The Sean Hannity Show and repeated the claim that there was a federal investigator who had seen Rich's computer and case file: "This person, we checked them out — we have to check them out — very credible." Wheeler clarified he hadn't seen the emails himself.

"When you look at that, with the totality of everything else that I've found in this case, it's very consistent for a person with my experience to begin to think, well, perhaps there were some email communications between Seth and WikiLeaks," Wheeler told Hannity on Tuesday.

The same day, he told CNN that he had no evidence to suggest Rich had contacted WikiLeaks before his death.

Wheeler later told The News that he hadn't talked to the investigator referenced in The Sean Hannity Show and was referring again to the Fox News source.

The frenzy had already started. Right-wing websites churned out headlines like this one, from Breitbart: "Was DNC hack an inside job after all?"

FBI spokesmen told The Washington Post that the agency is not involved in the case. The newspaper reported that law enforcement officials have said Rich's computer activity suggests nothing that would connect him to WikiLeaks.

The consensus of the U.S. intelligence community is that a Russian operation was responsible for the leak of DNC emails.

The Riches objected to Wheeler's comments. In a written statement earlier this week, they noted their contract with Wheeler bars him from speaking to reporters.

"Even if tomorrow, an email was found, it is not a high enough bar of evidence to prove any interactions as emails can be altered and we've seen that those interested in pushing conspiracies will stop at nothing to do so," the statement reads. "We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth's murderers."

Wheeler and Butowsky rejected accusations that they got involved in the case because of a political agenda.

"We never talk about politics," Wheeler said. "The only thing I talk to Ed about is finding the murderer."

Butowsky said he didn't know Wheeler before he reached out earlier this year to see if he could help the Riches.

The Addison businessman gave shifting statements to the press this week. According to NBC News, Butowsky denied playing any role in the Rich case. But when Butowsky spoke with CNN hours later, he acknowledged his offer to pay for the private investigator.

Asked by The News about his initial denial, Butowsky said he was "leery" of certain people in the media.

"I don't like NBC," Butowsky said. "That's all."