TX TX - Col Philip Shue, 54, San Antonio, 16 Apr 2003

Casshew

Former Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Messages
27,884
Reaction score
88
Well I will have to read more about it, but it sure doesn't seem like your average suicide :eek:

Thanx for posting the link to this case.. I will check it out.
 
I did a search and found more articles about this case. There are some things I found that interest me.

1. The death threats

2. The notes he received from the "friend"

3. The fact that his lap top was stolen and then found on top of his car

4. The insurance policy his ex-wife and her husband had on him

5. The hospital that he worked at dealt with Gulf War Illnesses that the Pentagon refuses to acknowledge as real illnesses.

The last one is especially intriging to me. Possible motive for murder and a cover-up by the AF??????

If his ex-wife is responsible for his murder, why would the AF NOT do an investigation? That points the finger away from her and toward the AF, IMHO!

This is a very interesting case indeed. What are your thoughts on these points?

Here is a link to one article-

http://www.libertythink.com/2003_08_03_archives.html


d
 


Air Force Psych Apparently 'Suicided'

The widow of Air Force psychiatrist Col. Philip M. Shue is waging a legal battle to prove her husband was murdered. Lt. Col. Tracy Shue (Ret.) , a former Air Force nurse herself, has hired famed medical examiner Dr. Cyril Wecht to prove the official Bextar County autopsy ruling of "suicide" a fraud.

The "suicidal" Shue was found with his nipples surgically removed and other signs of torture.

Mrs. Shue told MilitaryCorruption.com that her husband had been receiving death threats.

Shue worked at Wilford Hall Medical Center on Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Wilford Hall is the largest military hospital and, according to testimony before the 1996 Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, psychiatric observations of Gulf War veterans suffering unknown illnesses were conducted there.

The Pentagon, of course, has written off most complaints of illness related to the first Gulf War as "psychosomatic". And the first reports of "mystery illness" are just now trickling in from Gulf War II.

[Retrieved from MommyD's link ~ LibertyThink.Com]

Anyone interested in researching this case?

13th Juror
 


SAYS "INVESTIGATION WILL CONTINUE"

PUBLIC OPINION ON SIDE OF COURAGEOUS
WIDOW IN FIGHT TO EXPOSE "COVER-UP"


When Kendall County District Attorney Bruce Curry walked out of the courthouse in Boerne, Tex., he was clearly a happy man.

The arrogant and abrasive politician thought he'd finally succeeded in "blowing off" the obvious torture/murder last April of Air Force Col. Philip Shue as some sort of "bizarre suicide."

Despite mounting evidence of foul play, and growing public opinion that a "cover-up" was in progress, Curry managed to convince a grand jury ~ you know the saying about them: that a DA can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich ~ to see things his way. In other words .. Shue severely mutilated and then killed himself in a car crash with no apparent motive.

The DA's smirk seemed to say: "Nothing more to see here, folks. Let's move right along."
The FACTS prove otherwise!

A "SUICIDE" THEORY FULL OF HOLES

Only an idiot would believe that the staff psychiatrist at Wilfred Hall Medical Center in San Antonio would slice himself open at the chest; deftly cut out both nipples; sever the last digit of his left 'pinkee' finger; and cut off an ear lobe. All this, while neatly wrapping duct tape around his ankles and wrists!

If we "buy into" Curry's preposterous tale, Col. Shue then drove his car erratically for several miles down Interstate 10 before "aiming" the vehicle at a clump of trees where he allegedly tried to "kill himself" in the subsequent crash.
A children?s fairy tale would be more believable than this baloney!

Kendall County Sheriff Henry Hodge knows better. He has vowed "the investigation will continue" and said he might even call in the FBI to study some of the most troubling aspects of the case.

The sheriff's remarks, first made on San Antonio's news-leader, KENS-TV (Channel 5), was a direct "slap-in-the-face" to DA Curry, who has crossed swords with the sheriff many times in the past.

Judging from the results of a poll in the Boerne STAR, more than two-thirds of the newspaper's readers responding to the survey said they did not believe the "official" story that Col. Shue had killed himself ~ the public thinks the sheriff is on the right track.

WHAT'S THE MOTIVE FOR A "COVER-UP"?

Why the extraordinary effort by Curry, controversial Bexar County Medical Examiner Vincent DiMaio [see our devastating investigative article on DiMaio below in the related story list], and the Lackland Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations to "cover-up" the real cause of death?

Besides the shameful fact that many homicides in the U.S. military are routinely written off as "suicides", officialdom has a very good reason to make sure the Shue case gets 'put up on the shelf' as soon as possible. Bad publicity would aid BRAC, the (Base Realignment Commission) in targeting Lackland AFB for closure next year. That would result in many jobs and millions of dollars lost to the local economy.

A 'messy' murder case, in which the OSI would have to explain its disgraceful abuse of the colonel's widow, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Tracy Shue, and tell why they rushed a 'suicide' finding, despite significant evidence to the contrary, would be a scandal the Air Force can ill afford.

COLONEL'S WIDOW DEMANDS THE TRUTH

With the OSI, district attorney and medical examiner all 'singing from the same song sheet', usually that's sufficient to stifle any family objections to a 'suicide' cover-up.

But no one figured that Tracy Shue would prove to be such an articulate and tenacious fighter for the truth. In many cases, family members just give in to an "official" SUICIDE verdict, take the Serviceman?s Group Life Insurance money [up to $250,000], and quietly 'go away.'

Not this time.

By all accounts, Tracy and Philip Shue had a loving and long-lasting marriage. "He was everything I could have asked for in a husband," the widow told MilitaryCorruption.com. "I owe it to our family and Philip's memory to make sure his name is cleared, and that those who tortured him ~ leading to his death ~ are found and punished for their crimes."

If she does that and we're betting she will succeed when the results of Dr. Cyril Wecht's much-awaited second autopsy are made public in a matter of days ~ those who conspired to cover-up what really happened could find their careers over.

As for the obnoxious OSI commander, if 'obstruction of justice' can be proven .. [did OSI personnel "wipe" bloodstains off the outside of Col. Shue's cell phone to conform with the "official" story he 'must have committed suicide,' as he had the phone but (according to DiMaio on Court TV), 'didn't try and call for help'?] .. losing retirement and a major's slot would be secondary to avoiding a long stretch in military prison.

[SNIP]

Much more info to follow ~ access link here.

Shue Case ~ Military Corruption

Several more links at bottom of webpage to additional articles & info.

13th Juror
 
You could not convince me that anyone would take their own life that way. It's too ridiculous to even consider. The tail end of it being to drive his car into a tree which may or maynot have killed him. As a psychiatrist he would have had access to many drugs that would have been perfectly capable to kill him. Why in the world would you duct tape yourself, cut off your nipples and try to aim yourself at a tree?

I am not sure what I believe the motive of murder to be and/or orchestrated by whom but I definitely don't give any credence to suicide.
 
In my opinion, the ex-wife made herself look guilty by pleading the fifth. If she had nothing to do with his death when asked that question, why didn't she just say NO. I for one do not believe it was a suicide.
 
In my opinion, the ex-wife made herself look guilty by pleading the fifth. If she had nothing to do with his death when asked that question, why didn't she just say NO. I for one do not believe it was a suicide.

Taking the 5th really set my hinky meter off.. and it wasnt just once but repeatedly.. she has also had multiple opertunities to deny these suspicions and she has not. The details of Col Shue when he was found are too suspicious .. they do not add up to suicide. Why would you duct tape your wrists and ankles... when you need them to steer your self into the tree... there are so many other possible and easier methods he had access to if he was determined to comit suicide.. this one is too bizarre and less possibly successful. The other aspect is why would he sign a bid on a property one day prior..? so many other details that do not point to suicide or a depressed man.. nope this is not a suicide.. someone caused his death .. but it was not by his own hand
 
In my opinion, the ex-wife made herself look guilty by pleading the fifth. If she had nothing to do with his death when asked that question, why didn't she just say NO. I for one do not believe it was a suicide.

Before we saw the ex wife pleading the fifth to everything under the sun, the suicide was more than questionable. It appeared he was tortured (I've never heard of a person cutting their own nipples off?) and escaped, from what I saw on the show? And then when they showed us the ex wife and her "testimony", it seemed to point to her guilt.

Can anything be re-examined based on this 48 Hours segment?
 
Why hasn't the possibility that Col. Shue may have led a secret life ever been investigated? According to Tracey Shue, her husband 'left for work earlier than usual' that day to 'catch up on paperwork'. This point seems to have been readily overlooked in reports.

Why couldn't it have been that he left early to meet someone before going to work? Not someone he necessarily knew very well but someone who was interested in the same, well, 'pleasures' ... and the 'meeting' turned unexpectedly and seriously out of hand?

I certainly do not intend to smear the Col.'s reputation, but the possibility should at least be ruled out, just to be complete.

Or, maybe he was intercepted at random by a psychotic?

What if the removal of certain body parts from the Col.'s body might have been an over-zealous psychotic attempt to remove saliva-covered (DNA) skin or to collect souveniers?

Regarding the 1st wife (Nancy) pleading the 5th, it is her constituitional right. She may have at one time or another bad-mouthed her ex- (the Col.) in anger with no intent beyond that and if she proceeded answering questions investigators most certainly would throw past utterances back at her. Either way, it was a smart, well-advised move.

As for the 'threatening letters' ... were they received via mail? Left on a door-step? Car window? Dusted for prints? Checked for DNA?

Just my ­2¢.
 
I saw this case for the first time this morning and felt compelled to read everything I could find on it. (and there is a lot out there).

No way do I believe for even one second that this was a suicide. It was murder IMO. Unfortunately because of the way LE handled the case from the beginning, ruling it a suicide and allowing crucial evidence to be destroyed, it is most likely that the killer will never be found. Unless someone decides to confess, which as we all know is not very likely to happen, then it will remain an unsolved cold case. JMO
 
If you can't watch the video here are the transcripts from the show:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/26/48hours/main4894504.shtml

Well, this is indeed a bizarre case. It seems pretty obvious Shue did not precisely, with surgical skill and no hesitation marks slice off his own nipples nor did he slice off one of his own fingers or his earlobe and probably did not wield the object which made a 6inch incision across his chest. It is pretty shocking LE would rule this a suicide. If he lost his finger in the crash then where is it? The crime scene was severly comprimised and no forensics or investigation was done.
 
In a video deposition played for the jury on Friday in the Tracy Shue vs. USAA Life Insurance Company lawsuit, Col. Philip Shue’s ex-wife, Nancy Timpson Shue, invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself when she was asked questions as to whether she, her husband, or her son had anything to do with the Colonel’s death.

Nancy Shue held one million dollars in life insurance on Philip Shue’s life. According to Lt. Roger Anderson, former Deputy in the Kendall County Sheriff’s Department and lead investigator in the local investigation of Col. Shue’s death, Florida residents Nancy Shue Timpson and her husband, Lt. Col. Don Timpson were suspects in the alleged murder of Shue. Lt. Col. Timpson is a pilot and a member of the Air Force Special Forces Unit.

Shue allegedly received two letters warning him that his former wife and her current husband were plotting to kill him.




http://www.nowpublic.com/world/col-philip-shues-ex-wife-takes-fifth
 
If you can't watch the video here are the transcripts from the show:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/26/48hours/main4894504.shtml

Well, this is indeed a bizarre case. It seems pretty obvious Shue did not precisely, with surgical skill and no hesitation marks slice off his own nipples nor did he slice off one of his own fingers or his earlobe and probably did not wield the object which made a 6inch incision across his chest. It is pretty shocking LE would rule this a suicide. If he lost his finger in the crash then where is it? The crime scene was severly comprimised and no forensics or investigation was done.

That's not necessarily true -- you might want to google "self-mutilation." Though I think in this case he probably didn't do it to himself.
 
I followed this case when I lived in San Antonio from the first day that the story was reported. Shue almost certainly did this to himself. There is no compelling physical evidence to suggest otherwise. If this were murder for insurance purposes, than why did the killer(s) perform the bizarre array of mutilations? Further, why would he be allowed to escape? This was a deeply troubled man who sought to objectify his mental suffering by making visible his troubles via deep wounds self-inflicted. His would not be a unique case history.

As for the missing finger, he could easily have disposed of it en route.
 
That's not necessarily true -- you might want to google "self-mutilation." Though I think in this case he probably didn't do it to himself.


I have read quite a bit about self-mutilation, sado-masichism, etc but my issue with it in this instance is allegedly Shue had never mutilated himself before nor did he show any tendencies (according to his wife) towards enjoying that kind of thing. Anything is possible, of course, but if it is true he had never done anything like this before it seems unlikely his first foray into self mutilation would be so extreme as to chop off his own finger. That's all I meant. I didn't really articulate it very well. I totally agree that a person who is a self mutilator could have done this to themselves but in this instance and given his history (or lack thereof) it just doesn't fit.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
166
Guests online
2,484
Total visitors
2,650

Forum statistics

Threads
589,981
Messages
17,928,625
Members
228,029
Latest member
Truthseeker158
Back
Top