A former police officer says years of digging convinced him that a Navy SEAL commander's 2012 death in Afghanistan, officially ruled a suicide, was actually a staged murder tied to a much larger pattern of corruption and cover-ups inside the SEAL community.

• Commander Job Price was found shot in his bunk in Afghanistan weeks before he was due to come home and months from retirement; the Navy called it suicide, but forensic reviewers found no gunshot residue testing, no ballistics proving the gun was fired in that room, and a body position that doesn't match how he was shot.
• The crime scene was left unsecured for nine hours with the same people under suspicion free to move around it, and witnesses say Price's body was washed before it was returned home, destroying evidence.
• The investigator ties the killing to things Price was reportedly about to report up the chain: an Afghan detainee's death, the rape of a local teenager by one of his men, and stolen government cash meant for local leaders — on top of SEAL involvement in Afghanistan's opium trade.
• He argues this fits a broader pattern of SEAL leadership shielding misconduct, fast-tracking promotions for people involved in scandals, and even blocking proper recognition for a serviceman (Air Force combat controller John Chapman) who died a hero, to protect the "brand."
• Lawmakers who were asked to reopen the case reportedly got dismissive responses from the Navy, and the Pentagon has not acted.

Outlook: Without new government action, the official cause of death stands as suicide, which also means Price's family remains denied the survivor benefits that a combat-related death or homicide ruling would trigger.