January 22, 1989. Temecula, California. The housemate of 30-year old Marine Captain Jeffrey Digman returns to their residence and discovers that Jeffrey has been shot to death inside his bedroom. Since a gun Jeffrey owns is lying next to him, his death is ruled to be a suicide and investigators theorize that he had become despondent over a recent transfer to Puerto Rico. However, Jeffrey’s parents discover some suspicious discrepancies to make them suspect he was murdered and while his cause of death is eventually changed from “suicide” to “undetermined”, there are no conclusive answers about how he was killed.
February 20, 1992. South Korea. 30-year old Army Staff Sergeant Billy Ray Hargrove is found hanging by a parachute cord from a tree outside his residence and his death is ruled to be a suicide. Billy Ray’s best friend, 37-year old Army Sergeant First Class Mike Carmichael becomes convinced that Billy Ray was murdered and vows to perform his own independent investigation. However, six weeks later, Mike is discovered hanging by a parachute cord from a locker handle inside his barracks office. Even though Mike’s death is also ruled to be a suicide, his family believes that he was murdered in order to cover up the truth about Billy Ray’s death.
On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore two suspicious and controversial suicide cases from the military involving three different servicemen whose families believed were the victims of foul play.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/jeffrey-digman/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jeffrey_Digman
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-21-me-4165-story.html
https://www.newspapers.com/image/175934667/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/175934840/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/175934982/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-10-me-80-story.html
https://www.newspapers.com/image/179220842/
https://unsolved.com/gallery/michael-carmichael-billy-ray-hargrove-2/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Carmichael_and_Billy_Ray_Hargrove
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930518&slug=1701787
https://www.newspapers.com/image/89948176/
“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” in Nashville on May 31-June 2, 2024 and “Crimecon UK” in London on September 21-22, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD24”, by visiting Crimecon.com or Crimecon.co.uk.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Denver Marriott Westminster in Colorado on July 12-14, 2024. To get a 15 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 289 – Justin Burgwinkel
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 288 – Dorothy Forstein
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 287 – Danny Casolaro
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 286 – Tracey Ann Patient
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 285 – Dana Bradley
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 284 – Earlene Barksdale
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 283 – Gordon Page Jr. & Kristi Krebs
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 282 – Mark Himebaugh
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 281 – Byron Carr
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 280 – Peter Watts
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 279 – Colonel Philip Shue
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 278 – Alexis Patterson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 277 – Wil Hendrick
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 276 – Paul Armstrong, Steven Lombard & Karen Wright
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 275 – Leonard Dirickson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 274 – Cary Sayegh
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 273 – Laurie Murninghan
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 272 – Kimberly McAndrew
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 271 – The Feeney Family Murders
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 270 – Andre Jones
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