The death of an Army nerve agent chemist ruled an accident despite conflicting evidence

INTERMEDIATE: The death of a Defense Department scientist in 2022, ruled an accident, will be re-examined as authorities investigate a series of deaths and disappearances involving researchers connected to sensitive government work.

The case comes as federal authorities and lawmakers are investigating reports involving at least 10 to 11 scientists connected to sensitive government research, including people connected to the nuclear, aerospace and defense systems.

The cases, which go beyond disappearances, confirmed murders and unexplained deaths, have attracted the attention of the White House and Congress, prompting federal agencies to determine whether there is a wider risk to national security.

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One of those cases that is drawing renewed attention is the death of Jude Height, a longtime military biologist whose work has placed him among the kind of high-profile research now under federal review.

Height, 71, died on September 9, 2022, after a car rolled backwards down the driveway of a home in Chester County, Pennsylvania, hitting him and trapping him under it, according to the local coroner’s office and official records. The death was ruled accidental.

The FBI declined to comment on specific cases, but told Fox News Digital that it is “leading an effort to look for connections to missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and our state and local law enforcement partners to get answers.”

The White House also declined to continue its investigation.

“The White House continues to coordinate with all agencies to investigate these incidents and provide transparency to the American people,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the US Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for comment. The Department of the Army refers to the Army.

Height spent more than four decades working as a biochemist for the U.S. Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Edgewood, Maryland, focusing on how nerve agents interact with the human body — work that put him at the center of a type of national security research that is now drawing wide-ranging federal scrutiny.

His work included findings on Novichok agents, a class of chemical weapons used in high-level international poisonings, including the 2018 attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.

“We were working on the next generation of nerve agent therapy,” Scott Peghan, a biochemist who has worked with Height on military research programs, told Fox News Digital.

Photo by Jude Height (Kristin Height)

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His final research, published posthumously, examined how Novichok agents inhibit acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that is critical to nerve function. Height was preparing to present his findings at the annual Health Systems Research Conference when he died.

“He worked on the design of proteins that are involved in interacting with nerve agents,” Dennis Reuter, a former military scientist who runs a chemical weapons laboratory and has supervised Height’s work for two decades, told Fox News Digital. “It was a very high-quality study.”

Dr. Emory “Bill” Sarver, a senior scientist who worked with Height for 25 years, told Fox News Digital that his work focuses on how those agents bind to key enzymes, including whether that interaction can be reversed — research that has implications for both chemotherapy and medicine.

Photo by Jude Height (Kristin Height)

Nerve agents like Novichok disrupt the body’s ability to transmit signals between nerves, leading to paralysis and, in extreme cases, death.

His colleagues say the work requires special expertise and is carried out in a limited number of government laboratories. Long has been used with special forces as a general scientist to conduct analyzes related to suspected chemical weapons.

In the 911 audio reviewed by Fox News Digital, the caller appears to say someone “ran him over a few times,” prompting the dispatcher to repeatedly ask who ran him and if it was intentional.

But sworn testimony from Height’s girlfriend — the only person present at the time of the incident — later differed significantly from the initial police report.

In the accident report, police wrote that the car had been parked “unoccupied, overnight.” In her later letter, the girl said that she had driven the car early in the morning and returned home before the incident.

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Photo by Jude Height (Kristin Height)

The report also stated that Height ran after the car trying to stop it. However, in the sworn testimony, the girlfriend said that she did not see him running behind the car, but saw him behind it and fall.

The police also wrote that the car “overturned (Elevation) twice.” While giving a speech, the girl said that she did not know if she had been run over more than once, explaining that she saw the car “bumping” while she was driving.

Height’s ex-girlfriend did not respond to a request for comment.

Those who have worked with Height for decades say the circumstances surrounding his death have never been fully explained.

“None of us believe the official account. There’s no connection,” Reuter said.

“Nothing is well defined,” Sarver said.

A source close to Height with legal experience described the crash report on Fox News Digital as “one of the worst crash reports I’ve ever seen,” citing the inconsistency in how the incident was written.

Cases like Height’s have drawn attention as part of a broader review of scientists related to sensitive government research, although authorities have not indicated that his death is linked to any broader pattern.

The crash report provides a basic account of the incident but provides little detail as to how the car moved or how the Height was subjected.

In Birmingham Township, Pennsylvania, Police said they did not handle the initial response, but an investigation — including drawings and analysis — was being conducted by Chester County detectives, who did not respond to a request for comment.

The Chester County Coroner’s Office ruled the death an accident, listing the cause as multiple accidents. An autopsy was conducted based on the circumstances provided by the investigators.

The coroner’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

A separate autopsy conducted at the request of the family reached a different conclusion, finding a manner of death could not be determined and raised questions about whether the injuries were consistent with the reported accident.

The report described the findings as “highly suspicious of murderous violence associated with an attempt to pass this off as an accident,” and noted that the injuries appeared to occur at multiple levels, with head and neck injuries described as separate from torso trauma.

The report also indicated a puncture-type injury, although it did not determine how the injury occurred.

However, the coroner did not make a definitive determination as to the manner of death.

Height’s daughter, Kristin Height, has spent years trying to understand what happened and has urged local law enforcement and the FBI to reopen the case.

Height told Fox News Digital that he was not notified by authorities of his father’s death but learned about it from his father’s co-worker.

In sworn testimony, the girlfriend said police ordered her not to have direct contact with Height.

He found some records, including the original crash report, but struggled to access more investigative material.

“I applied … and they rejected (them),” he said, referring to efforts to obtain other records.

Family members said Height, at times, expressed discomfort at his job.

“He was worried that someone like him was being watched or watched,” his brother Bill Height told Fox News Digital.

Height’s daughter said she expressed concerns during the COVID-19 crisis about working from home and that bringing government-issued devices outside of secure areas could expose sensitive information.

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Family members also said Height expressed some concern about his relationship.