The grieving father of a slain Democratic National Committee staffer reportedly rejects persistent rumors that his son, Seth Rich, secretly gave WikiLeaks a trove of emails that rocked the 2016 presidential race.
"Anyone who knew Seth knew that wasn't the way he would have handled the problem," Rich's father, Joel Rich, told FoxNews.com in an interview posted Tuesday —
six months after the homicide.
"He would not go outside the system."
"The reason Seth was killed is probably because he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," his father told the outlet — a theory the Washington, D.C., police share, though nothing was taken during the July 10, 2016 violence in Washington, D.C.
"There are all kinds of scenarios, but until something else is proven, these are just scenarios."
Rumors about Seth Rich's alleged involvement in the DNC hack were fired up when WikiLeaks' Julian Assange offered a $20,000 reward leading to the arrest of the 27-year-old DNC staffer's killers.
Then during an Aug. 9 interview on Dutch television and in subsequent media interviews, Assange implied that Rich was killed because he was the WikiLeaks source of emails from top DNC officials showing they conspired to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont from becoming the party's presidential nominee, FoxNews.com reported.
That controversy resulted in Debbie Wasserman Schultz having to resign as DNC chairperson.
"We're interested in anything that might be a threat to alleged WikiLeaks sources," Assange later told Fox News Channel.
That's not his son, Joel Rich said.
"Seth above all wanted to make a difference in the world," Rich said. "At work, Seth was able to extend his desire to make everyone feel included to the basic right to vote in American elections."
His main job at the DNC was to build an online system to get out the vote. And four days before he was killed, Hillary Clinton's campaign had offered Rich a job, the elder Rich told FoxNews.com.
"What makes Seth stand out is wanting to help others and wanting to make a difference," his father told the outlet. "As a parent, you always think your children are great, but after speaking to people who knew him who started calling the day after he was killed, we realized we didn't have to be as modest about what we said about him."
D.C. police told FoxNews.com they are still investigating the case.