John Eleuthère du Pont (November 22, 1938 – December 9, 2010) was an American multimillionaire philanthropist and convicted murderer.

In 1972, du Pont founded and directed the Delaware Museum of Natural History and contributed to Villanova University and other institutions.

Du Pont became a prominent supporter of amateur sports in the United States and a sponsor of USA Wrestling.

[2] On February 25, 1997, he was convicted of murder in the third degree for the January 26, 1996, shooting of Dave Schultz, an Olympic champion freestyle wrestler living and working on du Pont's estate that was located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

During the 1920s and 1930s, du Pont's parents acquired more land and developed Liseter Hall Farm for Thoroughbred breeding, showing, and racing.

[7] During his graduate work, du Pont participated in several scientific expeditions to study and identify species of birds in the Philippines and South Pacific.

According to du Pont's will—unsuccessfully challenged by several parties—80 percent of the sale proceeds went to the family of Bulgarian wrestler Valentin Jordanov Dimitrov and 20 percent to the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Foundation, based in Paoli, Pennsylvania, a group du Pont founded to support Pacific wildlife.

[16] In 1986, competing as "John Foxbridge", he won the Grand Prix d'Honneur in the FIP Championship Class at the STOCKHOLMIA 86 international stamp exhibition for his display of "British North America".

[18] Du Pont developed the 440-acre (180 ha) Liseter Hall Farm in Newtown Square as a high-quality wrestling facility for amateur wrestlers.

Du Pont established an Olympic swimming and wrestling training center and sponsored competitive events at the estate.

He began competing again at the age of 55 in the 1992 Veteran's World Championships in Cali, Colombia; following that in 1993 in Toronto, Ontario; [23] and in 1995 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In December 1988, a lawsuit, which was settled out of court, claimed du Pont had made improper sexual advances to Villanova assistant coach Andre Metzger.

Schultz's wife Nancy and du Pont's head of security Patrick Goodale, who was a former U.S. Marine officer, were present and witnessed the shooting.

[25] Charles King Sr. blames du Pont's "security consultant", Patrick Goodale, for influencing what happened.

In September 1996, du Pont was ruled incompetent to stand trial, as experts testified that he was psychotic and could not participate in his own defense.

[27] During the trial, one of the defense's expert psychiatric witnesses described du Pont as a paranoid schizophrenic who believed Schultz was part of an international conspiracy to kill him.

The insanity defense was thrown out by the court and, on February 25, 1997, a jury found him guilty of third-degree murder but mentally ill.[29] In Pennsylvania, third-degree murder is a lesser charge than first-degree (intentional) or second-degree (a killing occurring during the perpetration of a felony), and indicates a lack of intent to kill.

In Pennsylvania criminal code, "insanity" applies to someone whose "disease or defect" leaves him unable either to understand that his conduct is wrong or to conform it to the law (the M'Naghten Rule).

[30] The jury verdict of "guilty but mentally ill" meant sentencing would be referred to the judge, Patricia Jenkins.

[4] Following the guilty verdict, Nancy Schultz, Dave's widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against du Pont.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing anonymous sources, reported du Pont was to pay Schultz at least $35 million.

[1][35] He was buried in his red Foxcatcher wrestling singlet, in accordance with his will, at the Du Pont de Nemours Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Delaware Museum of Natural History, which du Pont formerly headed and which held the dairy farm in trust, sold that portion in January 1998 after his conviction and sentencing to prison.

[40] The mansion stood on a 400-acre (160 ha) portion of the property that is now being developed by Toll Brothers into a "master planned community of 449 luxury homes" called "Liseter Estate.

The petition claims that during that period, John du Pont asserted alternately that he was Jesus Christ, the Dalai Lama, and a Russian tsar.