The Strange case of Mike Danton

For those of us south of the Mason-Dixon line, hockey doesn’t come up on the register very often, if at all. Our psyche is so bent on baseball, basketball and football that the concept of following some sport we fail to understand and are incapable of playing seems laughable. But occasionally, there enters into the world a story so bizarre, so strange, so irrefutably perplexing, that our minds drift from the courts and fields more suited to our more tepid climes. Such a story has drifted from the glacial land of Canada, intertwined with the similarly frosty plains of Illinois, made a beeline in the livable domain of St. Louis, and finally arrived at our attentions, compelling us to train our minds to its endless complexities. It is a story of family secrets beyond which can be found in the Southern tradition of the dimestore novel, a betrayal which far surpasses the bounds of any film-noir screenplay, and smitten manipulation which exceeds the confines of even the most scandalous of tabloids. It is the story of Mike Danton, a young, talented left wing for the St. Louis Blues, who Friday pled guilty to murder-for-hire conspiracy, along with girlfriend Katie Wolfmeyer.
To immerse oneself in the intricacies of this case would be an excercise in complete confusion. Here are the details which, at this time, are known:

Mike Jefferson was born October 21, 1980, in the small town of Brampton, Ontario. All reports indicate that his was a less than blissful childhood. In a statement Danton issued to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time of his arrest, he was seriously mentally and physically abused by his father, Steve Jefferson, and others. In 2002 he changed his last name to Danton to distance himself from his family, not long after taking up residence with the most mysterious figure in the tale, his agent David Frost.

Frost’s history is far from a shining endorsement. As a hockey coach, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a player and at the end of his undertakings in coaching had been banned from many of Canada’s largest junior hockey organizations. But that is not the strange part. The Jeffersons have accused him of “practicing mind control” on Danton. How else to explain how Frost connected with Danton, a quiet, antisocial boy who only rarely spoke to his own teammates? But even there, this story does not take its strange curve. When Danton was preparing for a professional career he chose Frost as his agent. The inexplicable part is this: Frost was whom Danton described as his “best friend”. Danton maintained contact with Frost throughout his incarceration, taking his advice over legal counsel. Frost played another role in this story–he was the alleged target of the hit.

It seems impossible to fit another character into this sordid narrative, yet in steps Katie Wolfmeyer. Wolfmeyer was a nursing student on a volleyball scholarship at St. Louis Community College. It’s not clear when Wolfmeyer met Danton; family members didn’t even know she knew him. No details have been released as to Wolfmeyer’s character; her lawyer insists that Danton manipulated a smitten Wolfmeyer. But if Wolfmeyer was only being controlled and played no active part, then how did she know of a hit man living in another state? Or is her attorney merely providing a weak cover for personal secrets possibly even deeper than Danton’s? Only time will tell.

The plot and subsequent debacle goes as follows. At one point, Danton and Wolfmeyer agreed to hire a hit man for some purpose (Danton denies Frost was the target). The hit man, Justin Jones, a police dispatcher from Columbia, Ill., agreed to meet Wolfmeyer at a Denny’s in St. Louis County on April 15. They then drove to Danton’s apartment building and asked a security guard to see Danton, who at the time was in San Jose with the Blues. The guard called Danton’s room and an unknown acquaintance appeared on the second-floor railing, asking Jones who he was. Jones became rattled and gave the man a false name; the man responded by claiming to be Danton’s father. Jones panicked and drove out of the parking lot, later informing the police. Wolfmeyer was subsequently arrested.

After the Blues were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Danton was arrested in San Jose. The case adds complication from here. Danton’s sordid family history comes out, with Steve Jefferson claiming that Frost manipulated him into the estrangement. Danton fired back from within a jail cell, claiming in the Post-Dispatch release that Frost was a father to him and denying that the hit ever took place. Soon after, the news came out that Frost had wanted Danton to seek help for his painkiller and sleeping pill abuse and for erratic behavior. Prosecutors jumped on the supposed lead, saying Danton, worried that Frost would go to the Blues with damaging information, ordered the hit on him to protect his fledgling NHL career. When Danton pled guilty on Friday, his plea agreement did not name Frost as the target.

While this squalid affair is far from closed for the Jeffersons, Wolfmeyers, Frost and Jones, it appears that we may never know the sordid minutiae.Who was the man in the apartment, and why did he claim to be Danton’s father? How signifigant a role did Wolfmeyer play, and how did she know Jones? Was david Frost a manipulative lunatic, or was the Jefferson family abusive and controlling instead? It appears now that the best option is to return our eyes to the stories of NBA free agency, MLB wild-card standings and the upcoming college and professional football seasons and not to bother ourselves with the many inquests that will never find a satisfactory explanation. Don’t consider yourself unsatisfied not to have closure to this escapade in oddity.

Consider yourself fortunate that it is not your tale to tell.