Family adamant about colonel's 2008 death: It was not suicide

Family adamant about colonel's 2008 death: It was not suicide
By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 08, 2011

HUDSON --
At the kitchen table of their Heritage Pines home, filled with treasures collected over a lifetime of service to the country, John and Mary Lou Stahlman look through pictures of their youngest child, the highest-ranking Marine casualty in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Michael Stahlman as a Marine Corps fighter pilot. As a Judge Advocate General Corps lawyer who investigated civilian killings. As a Marine colonel going on the jogs he loved.

The pictures bring back memories, but the most vivid is the one that came from their daughter-in-law Kimberly Stahlman on July 31, 2008. The news was shocking: The Marines said her husband had been found in his bunk in Ramadi, Iraq, with a single gunshot wound to the left temple.

Michael Stahlman survived for several months but succumbed to infections Oct. 5, 2008. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

To the military, the case is open-and-shut. The Marines ruled his death a suicide, saying Stahlman shot himself with his Marine-issued Beretta 9 mm.

Stahlman's parents, though, don't believe the Marines' version of what happened half a world away.

"He was murdered," John Stahlman says steadfastly.

"I could scream," Mary Lou Stahlman says. "He was making plans to come home. He would never kill himself."
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Family adamant about colonel's 2008 death: It was not suicide