Uncovering the Truth Behind My Father-in-Law's Death: My Journey and First Steps in Investigation (Part 2 of 9)

Why I Decided to Investigate

After Jim and I divorced I decided it was time to investigate what really happened to his father.

I know how strange that sounds—an ex-wife determined to untangle a story that, on paper, was no longer “hers.” But the truth is, it never left me. When we were together, we talked about his dad’s death often. Over time, it became a kind of legend Jim would share at parties or with new friends—part grief, part disbelief, part theory. And every time we revisited what happened after the funeral, the same feeling returned: something wasn’t right.

One detail always stuck with me most—the possibility that my own father was somehow connected. Mike and my dad were friends and met at the VFW, and of all the friends Mike had he had chosen my dad to hold onto classified aerial photos and a lens, with instructions to pass them to his son if anything happened during his temporary assignment at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. Why would my dad agree to that? Why would Mike ask? That question kept gnawing at me. Looking back, that likely violated protocol for handling classified material.

Then, in the early ’90s—before our girls graduated high school—they became deeply curious about their grandfather they’d never known: the mysterious “Grandpa Mike.” Their questions opened a door I couldn’t close. I started making calls, thinking I could piece it together with a little persistence.

I was wrong.

My first steps into that investigation didn’t go smoothly—or easily—and looking back, I realize I made a major mistake right out of the gate: I started calling agencies around Sumter, South Carolina before making our first trip to begin investigating.

Next week how my first attempt to investigate failed terribly