Searches, no arrests mark Wales case

Oct. 11, 2001: Thomas Wales is shot to death in his Queen Anne home.

Dec. 1, 2001: FBI agents search the house and vehicle of a Bellevue airline pilot whom Wales had prosecuted in a fraud case.

July 2003: Gun owners report that FBI agents are conducting a nationwide search for a customized pistol used in the killing of Wales. The gun, an Eastern European-made semiautomatic called a Makarov, had been fitted with a replacement barrel that leaves telltale marks on bullets.

April 21, 2004: Investigators remove a bullet from the wall of a Bellingham home where the pilot once lived, hoping it will show he owned a Makarov pistol. Ballistics tests prove negative.

April 25, 2004: FBI agents remove 27 boxes of possible evidence during a second search of the pilot's home.

Jan. 23, 2006: An anonymous letter is mailed from Las Vegas to the Seattle FBI office. The writer claims to be a hit man hired to kill Wales, a claim the FBI dismissed as a hoax. Investigators determine the pilot was in Las Vegas when the letter was sent.

June 13, 2006: FBI officials take the rare step of removing the Wales investigation from the Seattle FBI office, after the special agent in charge of the office tries to reduce the number of investigators. The case is put under the direction of the Portland FBI office.

August 2006: Agents search the pilot's homes in Bellevue and Snohomish for evidence linking him to the Las Vegas letter.