The mystery surrounding the murder of rising Democrat star Seth Rich took a sudden sinister turn Wednesday with claims that he was responsible for the email dump that brought down close Hillary Clinton ally Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, the organization that released the emails, announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to Rich's July 10 death, hinting that Rich was responsible for leaking the documents.

Assange's offer has also added fuel to the flames of conspiracy theories sweeping the Internet that the Democratic presidential candidate and her husband Bill were somehow involved in Rich's death.

Commenting to Daily Mail Online for the family, Brad Bauman said 'Some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy, and in their attempts to do so, are actually causing more harm than good and impeding on the ability for law enforcement to properly do their job.'

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Seth Rich, 27, a rising star in the DNC was shot several times as he walked home in Washington. Anti-Clinton forces link Rich to the dump of emails that brought down close Hillary Clinton ally Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

After decades in the national spotlight Bill and Hillary have amassed enough enemies who are more than happy to point to the number of Clinton associates who have died before their time

Wasserman-Schultz stepped down from her post as head of the Democratic National Committee on the eve of the party's national convention in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton has suggested that Russia was responsible for hacking party computers and leaking the documents.

But the new theory suggests Rich, who was murdered in what looked like a botched robbery, was behind the leak

Rich, 27, was gunned down on his way home in the affluent Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington D.C. last month while on the phone to his girlfriend.

He was still alive when he was found but died on his way to the hospital. Police still have no leads and are offering a $25,000 reward for information.

Hillary sought out Rich's parents for a private meeting during a trip to their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska last week. Rich's father Joel told the Omaha World-Herald that the former First Lady knew a lot about his son and was 'very warm and comforting.'

Rich's body was found on the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW, but he still had his watch, cell phone and wallet on him.

'Some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy,' Seth Rich's parents told Daily Mail Online through a spokesperson

'There had been a struggle. His hands were bruised, his knees are bruised, his face is bruised, and yet he had two shots to his back, and yet they never took anything,' his mother Mary told Washington's NBC affiliate.

'They took his life for literally no reason.'

So far, police have uncovered no clues to help solve his July 10 murder.

A police report seen by Daily Mail Online also states the circumstances surrounding Rich's homicide are 'unknown'.

The mystery has sparked a flurry of theories posted online, including claims he leaked DNC emails or that he was on his way to speak to the FBI when he was shot.

Reddit user The_Donald also constructed a timeline that links Rich to the Clintons, as pointed out by Heat Street.

'The death of this DNC staffer is too suspicious to ignore, especially in the face of voter fraud allegations against Hillary's campaign… The Clintons definitely have a long list of unfortunate souls who crossed the wrong politicians', wrote ClashDaily.com, which describes itself as a website for 'God- and country-loving patriots.'

But one of Rich's closest friends, Miles Mawby, told the Daily Mail Online that the idea that Rich was the source who gave the leaked DNC documents to Wikileaks was 'absolutely absurd.'

'Never in a million years,' said Mawby, who had known Rich since 2011 and was with him on the Friday evening before he was killed.

'[People are] fanning flames of wild rumors from the internet from conspiracy theorists. It's absolutely absurd. Seth was one of the most dedicated people I've ever met. His day-to-day work…that got him up in the morning.'

Mawby said Rich was happy with his job at the DNC and supportive of Clinton's presidential campaign.

Yesterday Wikileaks announced it is offering a reward -$20,000 - for information leading to a conviction in the murder case, adding fuel to the flames of conspiracy theories that the Clintons are somehow involved in Rich's death

On the Friday before Rich was shot, he met Mawby, 27, out for drinks in the D.C. suburb of Ballston, Virginia. Mawby said Rich was in good spirits and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

'We had a long-overdue night catch up, just the two of us,' he said. 'We were having fun, catching up. We planned on getting together at some point in the next week. Everything was absolutely normal

Bauman said: 'The entire Rich family is so heartened by the outpouring of support and love that they have felt over the past few weeks as they continue to come to terms with this terrible tragedy.

'The family is in constant contact with authorities and thank them for their extremely thorough investigation. The family believes this matter is being handled professionally and with the seriousness that it requires.

'The family welcomes any and all information that could lead to the identification of the individuals responsible, and certainly welcomes contributions that could lead to new avenues of investigation.

Julian Assange announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to Rich's July 10 death

Rich's death - along with four other deaths in recent weeks - have reignited old rumors that Hillary Clinton and her husband will stop at nothing when they want to silence someone who could stand in the way of their political ambition.

On the face of it, such speculation seems ludicrous, but that doesn't stop the talk. And after decades in the national spotlight Bill and Hillary have amassed enough enemies who are more than happy to point to the number of Clinton associates who have died before their time.

'I'm not saying the Clintons kill people. I'm saying a lot of people around the Clintons turn up dead,' Larry Nichols, who worked with the former First Family before turning against them told Daily Mail Online.

After Fox News' Greta Van Susteren tweeted about the death on July 26 of Mark Weiner, a Clinton confidante preparing to go see his old friend Bill speak at the DNC, her Twitter feed was filled with comments suggesting one or both of the Clintons were somehow responsible. Weiner, who had long suffered from leukemia, suddenly felt ill and put himself to bed. Within hours he was dead.

'ANOTHER Clinton 'friend' dies at a young age! Glad they aren't my friends!' tweeted Kathy East.

'Did they find a note, or are they still writing it?' queried Irina Florescu.

'Who doesn't the Clintons bump off? Pure evil,' commented Robin Kay Anderson. 'Did he know too much?' asked Ben Nicola Sr.

Websites with names such as Whatreallyhappened.com, Clintonmemoriallibrary.com and Govtslaves.info obsessively list the deaths going back decades, desperately trying to pin them on Bill or Hillary. Most put the total at around 50. Others list nearly 80. Some go even higher.

They document people who have supposedly killed themselves or been murdered. Many have died in plane crashes. Other deaths have been put down to natural causes.

The lists have circulated on the Internet for years. Now the death Rich, among others, have set the rumors afire again.

'I can't give a guarantee that everyone on my list was killed deliberately but they all have the potential,' Michael Rivero, the webmaster of Whatreallyhappened told Daily Mail Online in an exclusive interview.

'But by the general law of statistics there are just way too many of them.'

Rivero, who also hosts a talk radio show on Republic Broadcasting Network, goes further than most, listing more than 100 names of people with connections to the Clintons who have died. Among those deaths he questions are John F. Kennedy Jr. and a man who, he claims, died of 'overdose of mouthwash' while in the dentist's chair.

'Just the sheer number raises questions,' he said.

The political establishment dismisses such talk as conspiracy theory gone wild. And indeed many of the lists that circulate on the web are poorly sourced and run by people who see evil in anything the Clintons do

Snopes.com, a website that covers urban rumors has attempted to debunk the rumors. It points out that the Clintons' years in power have led them to have thousands of people who can claim they know them and the number of their deaths is not out of the ordinary.

Snopes founder David Mikkelson says talk about the Clintons being involved is 'claptrap.'

'In a frenzied media climate where the Chief Executive couldn't boff a White House intern without the whole world finding out every niggling detail of each encounter and demanding his removal from office, are we seriously to believe the same man had been having double handfuls of detractors and former friends murdered with impunity?' he wrote.

Mikkelson points to people such as 69-year-old Florence Martin whose name appears regularly on the Internet lists to prove his point. Martin, who was murdered in her Texas home in 1994, was not a CIA accountant, as widely claimed, but a night manager at a convenience store, he says.

Twenty years after her death a man was finally convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no mention of the Clintons at his trial.

WHO ELSE IS ON THE CLINTON DEATH LIST? The names on the various Internet lists varies from one website to another, but these are among those most frequently cited as possible victims of a vast Clinton conspiracy. Kevin Ives and Don Henry, both 17, crushed by a train, August 23, 1987. Their deaths were ruled accidental, with the medical examiner saying they had fallen asleep on a railroad line after smoking marijuana, but a grand jury found they had been murdered before being placed on the tracks. They had allegedly stumbled on a plot to smuggle drugs and guns from an airport in Mena, Arkansas that Bill Clinton was said to be involved in as state governor. Victor Raiser, 53, small plane crash, July 30, 1992. The second finance co-chair of Bill Clinton's presidential campaign was killed along with his son during a fishing vacation in Alaska. Campaign press secretary Dee Dee Myers called Raiser a major player in the organization. Paul Tully, 48, apparent heart attack, September 25, 1992. A chain-smoking, heavy drinking political consultant who weighed in at more than 320 lb. Tully died seven weeks before Clinton's first presidential election win. He had been political director of the DNC during Clinton's rise. Tully was on the left of the Democratic Party and usually worked for those who shared his views, however he agreed to work for Clinton because he was impressed with his oratory and thought he was the only Democrat who could beat President George Bush. Paula Gober, 36, single car accident, December 7, 1992. She was Clinton's interpreter for the deaf for several years and traveled with him while he was governor of Arkansas. Her vehicle overturned on a bend, throwing her 30 feet. There were no witnesses. Vince Foster, 48, committed suicide on July 20, 1993. He was an Arkansas lawyer who Bill appointed as deputy White House counsel when he became president in 1993. It didn't take long for Foster, 48, to realize he had made a terrible mistake by accepting the post. He hated the work and fell into a deep depression. Just six months into the job, his body was found in his car in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia, a gun in his hand and a suicide note torn into 27 pieces in the trunk. Stanley Heard, 47, small plane crash, September 10, 1993. An Arkansas chiropractor who, according to the book, A Profession of One's Own, treated the Clinton family, Heard was asked by Bill Clinton to represent the practice as plans for 'Hillarycare' were being finalized. His attorney Steve Dickson, was flying him home from a healthcare meeting in Washington DC just eight months into the Clinton presidency. On the way to the capital from his home in Kansas, Dickson's small plane developed problems so he landed in St. Louis and rented another plane. That rented plane was the one that crashed in rural Virginia, killing both men. Jerry Parks, 47, shot to death, September 23, 1993. Parks was head of security for Bill Clinton's headquarters in Arkansas. As he drove home in West Little Rock, two men in a white Chevrolet pulled alongside his car and sprayed it with semi-automatic gunfire. As Parks's car stopped a man stepped out of the Chevy and shot him twice with a 9mm pistol and sped off. Despite there being several witnesses, no-one was ever arrested. The killing came two months after Parks had watched news of Vince Foster's death and allegedly told his son Gary 'I'm a dead man.' His wife Lois remarried and her second husband, Dr. David Millstein was stabbed to death in 2006. Edward Willey Jr, 60, Willey, 60, was having serious money problems and his wife, a volunteer aide in the White House, agreed to ask Bill Clinton for a paid job. Their meeting ended when Clinton allegedly forced himself on her in the Oval Office, kissing her, fondling her breast and pushing her hand on to his genitals. Four years later Kathleen Willey wrote a book in which she put forward a theory that the Clintons may have had her husband murdered. She said after his death, a friend had told her that Ed had confided that he took briefcases full of cash to the Clintons' base in Little Rock, Arkansas during Bill's first presidential campaign. Herschel Friday, 70, small plane crash, March 1, 1994. Friday was an Arkansas lawyer who Richard Nixon had once considered for the Supreme Court. Friday was known as a benefactor of Bill Clinton, serving on his campaign finance committee. Kathy Ferguson, 37, gun suicide, May 11, 1994. She was the ex-wife of Arkansas State Trooper Danny Ferguson, who was named in a sexual harassment suit brought by Paula Jones against Bill Clinton. Ferguson left a note blaming problems with her fiancé, Bill Shelton. A month later Shelton, upset about the suicide verdict, killed himself. Ron Brown, 54, plane crash, April 3, 1996. Brown was chair of the Democratic National Committee during Bill Clinton's rise to the presidential nomination and was rewarded with the cabinet position. He was under a corruption investigation when his plane slammed into a mountainside in Croatia. Doctors who examined his body found a circular wound on the top of his head which led to suspicions that he had died before the plane crashed, but that theory was later discounted. The crash was attributed to pilot error. Charles Meissner, 56, same plane crash as Brown. Meissner was assistant secretary for international trade and had been criticized for allegedly giving special security clearance to John Huang, who later pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges for violating campaign finance laws, in a case that enmeshed the Clinton administration. Barbara Wise, 48, natural causes, November 29, 1996. Wise, who worked alongside Brown, Meissner and Huang in the Commerce Department was found dead at her desk on the day after Thanksgiving 1996. Her death was originally classified as a homicide but police later said Wise, 48, who had a history of severe ill health, had died from natural causes. A local TV station initially quoted an unidentified police source as saying her body was partially nude and her office was locked, but those reports were also later denied. Mary Mahoney was just 25 when she was gunned down along with two assistants at the Washington D.C. Starbucks in 1997 where she was night manager. Mahoney, a lesbian, was also a White House intern and gay rights activist who reportedly acted as a 'mother-figure' to various women who had allegedly been sexually harassed by Bill Clinton. John Ashe, 61, a politician and former president of the United Nations General Assembly, was pumping iron at his home in Dobbs Ferry, New York on June 22 when he dropped the weight. He died from 'traumatic asphyxiation. Ashe was about to stand trial in a corruption case for allegedly receiving $500,000 from billionaire real estate developer Ng Lap Seng. Ng was involved in a fundraising scandal and named in a 1998 Senate report for illegally funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC during Bill Clinton's presidency. 'During the trial, the prosecutors would have linked Ashe to the Clinton bagman Ng. It would have been very embarrassing. His death was conveniently timed,' The New York Post reported. Mark Weiner, 62, died on July 26. He had been due to be part of the Rhode Island delegation to the convention but pulled out due to ill health. However, Weiner, who was suffering from leukemia, still planned to travel to Philadelphia to see Bill Clinton speak and was dressing for the trip when he suddenly said he felt ill. Weiner, who raised prodigious amounts of money for both Clintons, never woke up. Both Bill and Hillary attended his funeral in Providence last week, with the former president giving the eulogy, remembering his old pal as 'forever young, forever exuberant … always just a little too much.' Victor Thorn, 54, a journalist and strong critic of the couple climbed a mountain near his State College, Pennsylvania home on his August 1 birthday and shot himself to death. He wrote a trilogy of books on the Clintons, devoting one of the books to the number of their contacts who had mysteriously died Shawn Lucas, 38, a lawyer who supported Bernie Sanders, was found dead on August 2 on the bathroom floor of his Washington DC apartment. Just a month earlier he had attempted to serve papers on Wasserman-Schultz in a fraud case that alleges the party had unfairly favored Hillary Clinton in the primaries over Sanders. A video of Lucas taking the papers to the DNC's Washington headquarters has been viewed almost 400,000 times as of Wednesday morning on YouTube. In it, Lucas, who was said to have been a Sanders supporter and worked for a company called One Source Process, calls serving the papers 'the most gratifying thing I have ever done.' Lucas's mother Susan told Daily Mail Online the family is currently awaiting results of an autopsy and she does not know why her son died. 'He was a young man — 38. He was in good health,' she said. 'But these things happen when people in seemingly good health suddenly die. The list of deaths associated with people who had worked with Clinton was originally drawn up by right-wing radio personality Linda Thompson. She too died early in May 2009. She was 56 when she took an overdose of medication prescribed for a gastric bypass surgery she had had more than a decade earlier. Advertisement

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call police on 202-727-9099 or text anonymous information to the department's tip line at 50411.



