The death case of Col. Phillip Shue of nearby Boerne, TX is a classic example of the kinds of things that go on all the time around here, but because it has some particularly bizarre aspects, it has attracted the attention of CBS News and recently became the subject of an episode of their 48 Hours Mystery program. Because Shue's death has similarities to so many others here and involves the same D.A. and one judge as our case, I try to follow all of the progress with investigating it as often as I can. I hadn't done any checking on it in quite a while, but two nights ago I did a web search and found a website called "MilitaryCorruption.com" that had a posting from someone claiming to have a great deal of new information on the case and claiming to be "hot on the trail of Shue's killer" (or something similar). I decided to email them asking for more information.
Last night I received a strange phone call from a man named John Porterfield who said he is writing a book about the Shue case that will "be coming out sometime this fall". Mr. Porterfield asked me if I had additional information on the case, and I told him no, only what I'd read in the papers. He then proceeded to ask me a lot of questions about Jason Davis, attorney for Shue's widow, Tracy. I told him I knew nothing about Davis other than that he'd been the law partner of a lawyer I once met with regarding possibly representing me and my children who tried to get me to give him the originals of some of my documents and, when I refused, told me 4 of his clients had been murdered and that I'd better be really careful driving home. Mr. Porterfield told me I had the wrong attorney named Davis, and I said that was interesting but that I couldn't help him.
Porterfield then started asking me about the harassment my kids and I have experienced from TX DPS officers, so I told him about 2 specific incidents. I also mentioned that around here you can't always believe people who claim to be eyewitnesses, and he said something about there being a third witness in the Shue case who was never interviewed by the police. Porterfield also made several statements to me that seemed to contridict things posted on the website and things I'd read in published accounts, which I found confusing. I told him it sounded to me as if he did not agree with anything the investigator hired by CBS News had concluded, and Porterfield called him "that idiot from New Jersey they sent down here" [sic.].
I started asking him about his book, and he told me his conclusions in it would come as a big surprise that I'd have to wait for. Porterfield then told me a little about himself. He mentioned that he was involved in the local music scene and that a well-known local musician [whose son was murdered at Colorado School of Mines] is his only acquaintance in my town, which I immediately suspected was not a truthful statement, since the musician he said he knows is extremely gregarious with LOTS of friends who all know each other very well. Porterfield also claimed not to know my ex- and his family, which didn't make sense to me if he lives in this area, because EVERYONE here knows them. At that point I became suspicious of him and ended our conversation by telling him I would be looking forward to seeing his book.
Later when I went online and checked my emails, I found one from the man Porterfield said had given him my contact info. from the website, Glenn MacDonald. MacDonald told me he'd given Porterfield [whom he identified as an attorney and crime writer, meaning he absolutely HAD to know my former father-in-law and brother-in-law as fellow attorneys!] my phone number and said he'd be calling me for information on attorney Jason Davis. Then MacDonald wrote that Tracy Shue had tried to have him [MacDonald] killed and that she would probably not like Porterfield's book when it comes out (which pretty much spoils the "surprise" for me)!
MacDonald ended his email by asking me what I thought happened to Col. Shue, so I told him about some of the similar "deaths on the side of the road" as I call them and explained that many of them had even been along the same stretch of highway. I told him that my personal opinion, for whatever he thought it was worth, was that Shue was already dead, the accident was staged, the witnesses had not been truthful, and DPS troopers had probably compromised the scene.
I did not tell either Porterfield or MacDonald that Porterfield had accidentally given me what I believe is a very important piece of information I hadn't known before: he said that the tree Col. Shue's car hit had a yellow ribbon tied around it. The whole evening gave me a lot to think about regarding the MilitaryCorruption website in general.
