Chad Langford
Real Name: Chad Langford
Nicknames: No Known Nicknames
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Date: March 12, 1992
SPC Chad Langford
Case
Details: SPC Chad Langford was a military police officer at the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama who was found dead outside of his police unit on March 12, 1992. At around 7:40pm, Langford radioed to his dispatch that he was stopping to assist a motorist and moments later called for back up. When back up arrived the officer found Langford's MP armband, portable radio and military id card arranged in the middle of the road. The arraigned items had finger prints on them not belonging to Lanford. About a quarter mile down the road the officer found Langford laying outside of his patrol car. He had the lanyard from his handgun wrapped around his ankles, handcuffs on his left wrist, the name "Robert" written on his hand, the units radar cable wrapped around his neck and his .45 caliber firearm was found under his left shoulder. He had a gun shot wound to the head and was barely breathing when he was found. He was rushed to Huntsville Hospital, but died a few hours later. Despite this evidence, the army ruled his death a suicide. When his family learned this, they were shocked and outraged, and did not believe he had committed suicide. His father claimed that in January of 1992, Chad told him that he was doing undercover work in the army, that it was drug-related, and that he was receiving several death threats. The army reviewed Chad's case for four months and claimed that he was not involved in any undercover work, and that he had several psychological problems that brought him to suicide. They claimed that his suicide was the result of the ending of his relationship with his girlfriend, Roxanne, but she claims that he broke up with her, not the other way around. She said that they broke up because he was focused too much on his work and that he didn't have time to spend with her, and that he was apparently angry for some reason. Roxanne felt that someone told Chad to break up with her to protect her. She last saw him five days before his death at the base nightclub, where he had apparently changed his lifestyle, was dressed in all black, and was hanging out with rough looking people that she didn't know. Some believe that his change in behavior was related to a CIA botched robbery that Chad was a ringleader. However, his family does not believe that Chad was involved in the robbery, but that others were trying to recruit him and he refused. Before his death, Chad called several of his friends, but not his family members and that he was apparently saying goodbye. However, Roxanne claimed that she didn't believe her call was a goodbye. Also, his relatives believe that if he was going to kill himself, he would have called them. The psychological autopsy also claimed that Chad had low self-esteem, and that he wanted to create a new image, even if it meant for him to kill himself. They believed that if he apparently died heroically then his family and friends would feel better about him. The inquiry claims that everything surrounding Chad's death was based on his methodical planning, including the story of a stranded vehicle, the different shots fired, and his suicide. However, his family and friends did not believe it was possible. According to Chad's family, the evidence gathered from the scene did not match the suicide scenario. There were no bullets found in and around the scene, and there was no evidence he had handled a gun, but fingerprints found on his radio and handcuffs are not known to have been checked. Also, they could not conclude how Chad ended up on top of his gun, or how two of his buttons ended up in his car. Chad's father found that the MPs responding to his son's distress car did not question any possible suspects in the nearby area. Chad's family believes that he went to that part of the base to meet someone about his undercover work. They believe that at least two men whom Chad knew shot and killed him in order to silence him about his secret drug-related work. Chad's death remains shrouded in mystery. His father has set up a $25,000 reward for information in the case.
Suspects: Within a mile of where Chad was found, MPs stopped two men in two different cars at around the time that Chad died. Surprisingly, neither of the men's names were written down, and they were not questioned about Chad's death. An informant claims that one of the men's names was Robert, the name found on Chad's hand.
Extra Notes: This segment originally aired on the February 24, 1993 episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
Results: Unsolved. After the broadcast, Chad's death was re-opened by the army, citing unspecified new developments. However, it is unknown what resulted from the re-opening of the case.
Links: None