Was he murdered or did he kill himself? I think he was murdered, based on the physical evidence at the scene:

His pistol found right under his shoulder. He was shot in the head, so I doubt if he did it, the gun would have landed right on spot where his shoulder would.

Two shirt buttons found on the front passenger seat. If they came from Chad's uniform, they must have came off during a struggle. If not, it came from someone else who was at the crime scene.

The rest of his gear; how it was arranged, both a distance from where he was, and wrapped around his neck and hands. To me, those are signs of a struggle.

If he was working on a secret assignment, the Army probably would deny he was working undercover anyway because of its nature. The CID also reopened the investigation due to new developments, according to the segment. This case sort of reminds me of Justin Burgwinkel (who was also in the army) but Chad had to have really been working on a secret assignment.

Even if he did commit suicide, there has got to be much more to the story than a simple spur-of-the-moment decision that drove Chad over the edge to do this. If he was a whistleblower of some sort, maybe he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown based on his involvement or connection to some illicit activities happening at his place of duty (i.e. drug dealing, arms trafficking, espionage, etc) and before he could be subject to torture or other cruel treatment, decided the easy way out. Either way, there had to be more people involved somehow.

I'm surpised the original investigators didn't work harder to find the bullets fired from Chad's sidearm since they couldn't have been far from the scene. Plus, the coroner should also have been able to determine if the gunshot wounds on his body were at point-blank range or were at a further distance; that alone would have been the biggest indicator of whether or not it was self-inflicted.

Was he murdered or did he kill himself? I think he was murdered, based on the physical evidence at the scene:

His pistol found right under his shoulder. He was shot in the head, so I doubt if he did it, the gun would have landed right on spot where his shoulder would.

Two shirt buttons found on the front passenger seat. If they came from Chad's uniform, they must have came off during a struggle. If not, it came from someone else who was at the crime scene.

The rest of his gear; how it was arranged, both a distance from where he was, and wrapped around his neck and hands. To me, those are signs of a struggle.

If he was working on a secret assignment, the Army probably would deny he was working undercover anyway because of its nature. The CID also reopened the investigation due to new developments, according to the segment. This case sort of reminds me of Justin Burgwinkel (who was also in the army) but Chad had to have really been working on a secret assignment.

One of the stranger UM cases imo. I also think it was murder. The death scene didn't appear like a suicide. It seems maybe he was in with the wrong crowd or knew too much about something.

Anyone else notice that the actress who plays Chad's girlfriend is the same actress that plays Tammy Leppert?

Was he murdered or did he kill himself? I think he was murdered, based on the physical evidence at the scene:

His pistol found right under his shoulder. He was shot in the head, so I doubt if he did it, the gun would have landed right on spot where his shoulder would.

Two shirt buttons found on the front passenger seat. If they came from Chad's uniform, they must have came off during a struggle. If not, it came from someone else who was at the crime scene.

The rest of his gear; how it was arranged, both a distance from where he was, and wrapped around his neck and hands. To me, those are signs of a struggle.

If he was working on a secret assignment, the Army probably would deny he was working undercover anyway because of its nature. The CID also reopened the investigation due to new developments, according to the segment. This case sort of reminds me of Justin Burgwinkel (who was also in the army) but Chad had to have really been working on a secret assignment.
I highly doubt chad was working a secret assignment. MPs are front line police officers. they are like a "city cop". the army and every military branch has their own cops and their own detectives/FBI etc. just like the civilian sector. detectives/agents work undercover on the "secret" missions that no one knows about. If chad was working undercover...it was for his own rogue group that was not involved with a military function. it could have been army members since it was on base, but they were very unlikely to be performing any type of army mission. it appears he may have been murdered and the army got their investigation wrong. sometimes when there is no clear suspect its easy to say suicide if their is evidence that points in that direction. they may have been under pressure to close the case and did not follow every lead... and went with the easy way out. that's what I think, but who knows?

as far as justin berwinkle his case definitely is not army related. he did something on his own. he sounds like a kid that had big hopes of being something very exciting and was not happy with his life. Maybe he got involved in something in his personal life that cost him his life. or maybe he just faked it. who knows, but he was not working for the government.

I really don't think he killed himself he saw something he should not have saw and they killed him.