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/

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“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.