Blood Money : The Du Pont Heir and the Murder of an Olympic Athlete

by Carlton Smith

The story of an Olympic wrestler allegedly murdered by the wealthy heir to the Du Pont fortune, Blood Money takes readers inside the bizarre world of a multi-millionaire, and lays bare the brutal shooting and tense police siege that riveted the nation. Includes eight pages of photos.

Genres: True Crime, Biography, Nonfiction

269 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Jeff Clausen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of a family that goes way back, filthy rich, and full of weirdos, eclipsed by this maniac. Tune in and hold one for a history that ended up with a madman who no one could or would stop, his mental illness unrepairable. I will leave it up to you, as far as reading about a serious nutjob, whether you think he could’ve been anything besides a megalomaniac. But he was, a guy died, and it’s a dirty shame.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carlton Smith has written many true crime books. I got interested in this one after reading about the 1856 British one-cent magenta stamp, as John du Pont was at one time an owner of the rare stamp. As of this writing, it belongs to its present owner, Stuart Weitzman, a famous shoe designer, who bought it at a Sotheby’s auction on June 2014, for just under 9.5 million dollars. Smith does not mention this stamp in his book, but he does mention how John du Pont came to inherit billions from his heirs who hugely made their fortune selling gun powder during various wars.

Despite his fortune, du Pont never seemed happy or satisfied in his life. He was very interested in sports, even attempting to compete in the Olympics as a swimmer, but he just wasn’t good enough. He ended up become involved in the training of wrestlers and Dave Schultz who did win the Olympics as a wrestler in 1984, came to become involved with du Pont in the mid-1990s, in the hopes that du Pont might help him win the Olympics again.

John du Pont had a drinking problem and seemed to be suffering from mental illness as he was often paranoid, said there were bugs crawling on him, had severe anger issues, and didn’t always seem to be able to comprehend situations. He was often abusive to the wrestlers by sexually assaulting them, or was verbally abusive, but some wrestlers stayed with him regardless. Dave Schultz did seem to get along with du Pont, so it was surprising when du Pont shot him dead on January 26, 1996.

No real motive was found, but du Pont spent fourteen years in a Pennsylvania prison for the murder, which Schultz’s wife witnessed. John du Pont passed away in prison on December 9, 2010. This book, however, was copyright in 1996, while du Pont was still alive.

[Matthew Picchietti · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I've read Foxcatcher, saw it last night and now read this. This is by far the more fascinating telling of the story. The film, Foxcatcher, does not do Mark, Dave, or DuPont justice. And maybe the story is too complicated and drawn out over too many years to be told well in a film, but it is a heck of a story and Blood Money tells it in a gripping way. My only complaint with it, and it is significant, is that for all of its journalistic quality: historical research into DuPont's family and personal histories, quotes from interviews, and quotes taken from court cases, the book has no bibliography. I'm a dork and that bugs me with non-fiction books. Smith was a NYT bestselling author (he passed in 2011) and a respected journalist so maybe that is his prerogative.

If you liked Foxcatcher and you like good story-telling and good journalism, you will like this. This is a better read than Foxcatcher, especially for those who have zero wrestling knowledge. Smith does a great job highlighting the challenges that Olympic athletes, at that time, faced in retaining their amateur statuses.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating account of the infamous murder, including a history of the Du Pont family. Contains more information than many books of twice the length.