A billboard soliciting information about Seth Rich’s murder. (Photo by Rachel Kurzius)

Close to midnight last night, Fox 5 added an editor’s note to the top of a story that has made waves across the conservative news sphere since its publication on Monday night.

“We want to make an important clarification on claims that were made by Rod Wheeler, the private investigator hired by Seth Rich’s family, whose services are being paid for by a third party,” the note says.

“What he told FOX 5 DC on camera Monday regarding Seth Rich’s murder investigation is in clear contrast to what he has said over the last 48 hours. Rod Wheeler has since backtracked.”

The entire story, which tied the fatal shooting of a 27-year-old Democratic National Committee staffer in Bloomingdale to leaked emails published by Wikileaks during the 2016 election, had fallen apart. Fox 5 blamed it on Wheeler, and Wheeler blamed it on a “miscommunication,” per the editors note.

The local television affiliate also published a separate report noting that Wheeler recanted. It’s not Wheeler’s first time as an unreliable source on television during his more than a decade he has been an on-air Fox News contributor—a fact that still hasn’t been included in the original coverage.

The bereaved Rich family still wants what they demanded yesterday: a full retraction of the story, which is still published underneath the editors note, and an apology.

“The new story that Fox 5 reported is a good start, but it does not reach the bar we are looking for in terms of a formal retraction and an apology,” says Brad Bauman, a spokesperson for the Rich family. “I believe that at this point, an apology or retraction is a way to show the Rich family that they are serious and that they maintain their journalistic integrity.”

Rich was killed on July 10, shot multiple times in the back and discovered conscious and breathing by MPD officers around 4:20 a.m., according to the police report. He died of his injuries at a local hospital. His murder remains under investigation by D.C. Police.

But his employment at the DNC and the fact that he was found with all of his valuables got conspiracy theorists cooking up outlandish scenarios, and Wikileaks fanned the flames by offering reward money for information about the homicide, implying that Rich (rather than, say, Russian hackers) was their source.

Fox 5 claimed in its story published Monday that Rich had been in contact with Wikileaks before he died. The entire story was built on Wheeler, who said had been hired by the Rich family to conduct a parallel investigation. Wheeler, who worked for MPD from 1990-1995, claimed that police were “told to stand down on this case,” which the police department emphatically denies.

But the family says that they didn’t hire Wheeler. A third-party, later revealed to be another Fox News guest named Ed Butowsky, hired Wheeler. Bauman says Butowsky and Wheeler “violated the trust of a grieving family and have manipulated the facts and have harmed the legacy of Seth Rich.”

Another person who offered monetary assistance to the family, a lobbyist named Jack Burkman, also ended up peddling unproven theories about Rich’s murder on Fox 5.

Bauman declined to say whether the Rich family has been in contact with Butowsky or Wheeler since the story has been published. “I’m not at liberty to discuss anything pertaining to any conversations that may have taken place, because that could be subject to further legal action.”

A statement Bauman released on Tuesday said that Wheeler “contractually was barred from speaking to press or anyone outside of law enforcement or the family unless explicitly authorized by the family.”

So will Fox 5 issue a full retraction, considering that the Rich family has said “everything is on the table,” including legal action?

The last time anyone from Fox 5 answered our request for comment, it was Tuesday afternoon. “We stand by our story,” a Fox 5 spokesperson says in an emailed statement around 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Rather than answer our questions about the story’s veracity, the spokesperson instead suggested we criticize a different media outlet. “We didn’t have any unnamed sources. And by the way, maybe you should call the Washington Post—they usually have 30 unnamed sources in their stories.”

Since then, multiple requests for comment to the corporate headquarters and the newsroom have gone unanswered.

There’s also now a Change.org petition calling on Fox 5 advertisers to “to stand with our community and pull all advertising from Fox 5 DC until they hold [reporter] Ms. Maracco and her superiors, including News Director Paul McGonagle and Assistant News Director Kyle Carmean accountable for their actions.”

Bauman says he has been in touch with the Fox 5 newsroom. While he declines to get into the specifics of the conversation, he says that “I believe that there are folks currently working at Fox 5 who are as stunned as the family is, and are doing everything in their power to figure out how they can best do the right thing by the Riches.”

Police are asking anyone with information to call 202-727-9099 or text 50411.

More:

Fox 5 Continues Peddling Shameful Hearsay On Murder Of DNC Staffer
GOP Lobbyist Now Opening ‘War Room’ Dedicated To Solving Seth Rich Murder
‘It’s Hurtful’: Seth Rich’s Family Responds To Latest Conspiracy Theory About His Murder
‘We Need Your Help’: Family Of Murdered DNC Staffer Pleas At Crime Scene
Seth Rich’s Family Demands Immediate Retraction Of Debunked Fox 5 Story

Updated with information about Change.org petition.