 It was April 16, 2003, a day like any other in San Antonio, Texas. Traffic along the I-10 was carrying on as usual, when out of nowhere and without any warning, a gold mercury tracer swerved towards the median and struck something, causing the car to launch into the air, bounce around for more than 1,000 feet, then crash back down onto the concrete. Every witness to the crash naturally assumed that something awful had likely happened to the driver, but here's the kicker. The car then just kept driving along as if nothing happened. The car continued down the highway for several more miles, before finally veering off the road near the John's Road exit and crashing into a patch of trees. When investigators arrived at the scene of the crash, they very quickly learned something wasn't right here. The driver of the car had been mortally wounded, but his injuries weren't caused by the crash. Craziest of all, the victim's nipples had been removed and he was missing a portion of his pinky finger. When detectives noticed that his hands and feet had also been duct taped together, well, that's when they knew they uncovered much more than a car crash. They had just stumbled onto a very bizarre crime scene. Before we keep going, I want to let you guys know about the sponsor of today's video, Factor. If you're getting too busy with your summer plans to cook, Factor can help you skip the process of making a menu, going to the store, prepping everything, and cooking meals that ultimately take you hours. Factor offers incredible flavor and nutrition that you just can't beat. With Factor's fresh, never-frozen meals, you can have an amazing dinner ready to go in just two minutes, giving you more time to take care of the things that matter most to you. If you're ready to stick to your wellness goals while also saving heaps of time, I strongly suggest you give Factor a try. 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That way I won't be wasting money on a meal that I know I won't end up eating. Factor75.com, or click the link below and use code TINOTS50 to get 50% off your first factor box. That's Factor75.com and use code TINOTS50 for 50% off your first order. Thanks to Factor for sponsoring today's video. Colonel Philip Shu was a licensed doctor who worked for the Wilford Hall Medical Center, located on the Lackland Air Force Base. Colonel Shu was assumed to be employed psychiatrist at the facility and had worked for the Air Force for more than 23 years, with plans to retire in October of 2003. Philip wasn't your average veteran, he'd been decorated with more awards and honors than I can count and was a man deeply dedicated to his country. His wife Tracy recalled Philip and said that she'd never met anyone else who had such a passion for life and all the little things that go along with it. Philip was fiercely loyal to his country and his uniform. Philip and Tracy had met back in 1988 when both of them were stationed at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Philip had just been coming down from a very difficult divorce from his former wife Nancy, with her seemingly taking every opportunity to make Philip's life difficult, at least in his eyes. Strangely, around the time of their divorce, his ex, Nancy, took out two life insurance policies on Philip, with each being valued at around $500,000. Philip did his best to have these policies canceled later on, but he wasn't able to do so, as the insurance agency claimed that he hadn't been the one who opened the policy, so they couldn't have them canceled without the policyholders consent. Now, I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I don't understand how Nancy would have been able to take out a policy on Philip after the two had already been divorced, especially considering that their marriage had ended on very bad terms. But according to various sources, this was certainly the case. In fact, some sources even claim that these policies were given to Nancy as part of their divorce settlement. I just can't wrap my head around this, so if there's any divorce lawyers watching, be sure to let us know in the comments how all of this would have played out, because this just seems incredibly bizarre. And in reality, I'm not the only one who thinks this is strange. In fact, Philip found it very concerning as well. Philip wrote a letter to USAA Life Insurance, the company that offered the policy, and explained that the policy caused him to fear for his life, worrying that his former wife and her new husband may do anything within their power to claim the benefits of this plan, even if it meant ending his life. In his letter, Philip said, quote, my former wife and her husband would prefer that I die of natural causes. However, the longer I live, the more tempting it becomes for them to act on their plans for my murder. While there isn't any foolproof evidence to claim that Nancy was in any way involved in the case, Philip certainly believed otherwise. His fears were heightened even more when he began receiving a strange series of letters in mid-1999. But these letters weren't from some deranged killer, as you may expect. Instead, they were from an anonymous author who was actually trying to help Philip, or so it seemed. The first letter was received in May of 1999. Philip had told his wife about the letters, and they scared him to such a degree that he even told his supervisors at work about them. The only problem is that no one outside of Philip's wife seemed to believe that the letters were anything to be concerned about. These letters Philip had begun receiving were more than just a little bit creepy. They were downright haunting. Just take a look at the first one and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Please read this letter. You may be in danger. I'm writing because I remember you as such a kind and caring doctor. And I can't just sit by and not help you by telling you what I know. I'll try to keep it short so you're certain to read it. A friend of mine who worked with Don, your ex-wife's husband, told me some scary things. I don't know Don or your ex-wife myself. Sorry, I don't even know her name. My friend told me they wish you were dead so they could collect life insurance. I don't understand why they would have life insurance on you, but that's what my friend told me. My friend thinks they may actually be planning something. I don't know if they would actually hurt you, but please be careful. I had to write. If I didn't, I couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to you that I could have prevented by telling you what I heard. If I hear anything more specific, I'll let you know. Please be careful. Shortly after this, things started to go missing. For Philip, the most concerning item that was stolen was his laptop, which contained his nearly complete master's thesis. Philip reported his stolen laptop to the police in June of 1999, seeing that he was working the library when he stood up and left his table to go use the restroom. When he returned, his laptop was gone. Evidence confirms that Philip's laptop was returned later on in July of 1999, after being left on the hood of his car. When he approached his car, he found a note that said if he reported anything else to the police, other people would die. When he booted up his laptop later on, he found that his entire hard drive had been wiped, taking his master's thesis with it. Philip would eventually confront his ex-wife about the letters and the rumors that she'd been plotting something. Naturally, Nancy claimed she had no idea what the author of the letter was talking about, and she claimed it was probably just some kind of joke. While Philip did his best to brush off the thought of someone coming after him, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Throughout 1999, Philip was still attending schooling so that he could receive his master's degree and ultimately become a psychiatrist for the Lackland Air Force Base, as mentioned a moment ago. Just to clarify, it was during his final year of schooling that his laptop was stolen. One of Philip's counselors at the school had approached Philip about his master's thesis, explaining that he needed to turn it in soon if he planned on graduating on time. It was during one of these meetings with the counselor that Philip revealed that his laptop had been stolen, but he was doing everything he could to get his thesis completed, though the only copy of it was on his laptop and that had obviously been deleted during the theft. Around this same time, Philip also told the counselor about the threats on his life, as they'd been stressing him out severely. His counselor seems to have been one of the only people to take these threats seriously, and he immediately told Philip that he should contact the police. Philip was apprehensive about going to the police, insisting that they simply wouldn't care or wouldn't take him seriously. Though in reality, it's more likely that he just feared someone else may get hurt if he were to raise any more awareness about his situation. As far as the counselor knows, Philip never spoke with investigators about these allegations. Philip did eventually complete and turn in his master's thesis, though. But things only got more strange from here. Just over a year later, in October of 2000, Philip was scheduled to take his aerospace medical board exam. He had obviously been preparing heavily for the exam, but when the results came back in, Philip scored zero points. It was as if he had never taken the test at all, but several people confirmed that he had been present that day and had actually turned in his exam personally. The crazy thing is, his test was multiple choice, so at some point during the exam, even if he had guessed most of the answers, he was bound to at least get one response correct. The professors believe that for whatever reason, Philip intentionally failed the test, though no one knows why. One theory is that Philip had become dissatisfied with the Air Force and wanted to send a message to his superiors. This rumor is furthered by the fact that he planned on retiring from the Air Force entirely and beginning to practice psychiatry in a private environment. This has never been proven, but it's certainly an interesting theory, though I don't understand why failing his exam would have proven anything to his superiors. In our reality, it would have just made things more difficult for Philip in the long run, but when looking at Philip's medical history, things get pretty concerning. He began reporting panic attacks in June of 1999, the month after he received that first creepy letter. His records indicate that by the end of 1999, his anxiety had grown to such a degree that it had progressed into symptoms of depression. He was placed on medication for depression and in December of 1999, his symptoms had improved, but his underlying fears did not. He still feared for his life, but the medication took the edge off so that he wasn't so focused on it all the time. Over the following three years, up until April of 2003, Philip worked alongside a psychiatrist trying various medications to help remedy his panic attacks, but they persisted all throughout this time. Philip's paranoia grew to a worrying degree and his panic attacks continued to worsen and severity to the point that Philip began to fear he was going to have a heart attack. Philip's psychiatrist worried that he wasn't being entirely truthful in their conversations. It wasn't necessarily that Philip was lying to him, but he felt that Philip was instead withholding important details in some of the scenarios. But that's when Philip finally dropped a bombshell on the psychiatrist and revealed the story about the threatening letters. Philip knew that the story sounded crazy, but the psychiatrist noted that Philip's anxious response to telling the story indicated that he was, without a doubt, telling the truth. Around the same time, on April 11th, 2003, Philip updated his will. He had previously had his son listed as a beneficiary. The problem is that his son was in the midst of some marital issues and Philip feared that if he lost his life and his son received the money, he may end up losing most of it in a divorce settlement. To fix this, Philip updated his will and everything that was going to be given to his son was now going to be given to his wife. While this is the official explanation to this sudden change in plans, other people believe Philip was making final arrangements as he knew his life was about to end, but more on that in a moment. Philip's concerns about his job performance were taking a heavy toll on him. He knew his anxiety and paranoia were affecting his ability to work and he confided in a psychiatrist that he was worried he was soon going to be unable to do his job. But that's when Philip revealed the most concerning thing of all. He came in one day and revealed to a psychiatrist that he'd experienced what he called a dissociative episode. Philip elaborates on this by saying that he had an episode or a vision would be a better way to put this, about driving to work one day and losing control of his car after a great deal of violence had been inflicted on him. Now, this may sound like something out of an episode of The Twilight Zone, but I assure you this story is entirely true and unfortunately for Philip and his family, his worst fears right down to the very last detail were about to come true. It was the morning of April 16th, 2003, just days after his last meeting with the psychiatrist. Colonel Philip Shue was traveling along Interstate 10 just outside of San Antonio, Texas, just minutes after 8 a.m. Two witnesses reported seeing Philip on the highway just after mile marker 543. They reported that immediately after this marker, Philip's car began to behave erratically. He would swerve in and out of lanes, eventually crossing the median and remaining here for several hundred yards, then weaving in between light poles. As he was traveling along the median, his car struck something though we don't know what specifically. After hitting this object, his car became airborne with some reports suggesting the car bounced several times over a span of a thousand feet. I'm not sure what these reports mean when they say that the car bounced, but judging by the photos of the aftermath, it seems safe to assume the car had been through quite the ordeal. Regardless of the obvious damage to the car, Philip continued traveling down the highway for several more miles, with witnesses saying that Philip corrected the car and seemingly drove normally again throughout this time. However, four or five miles later, as soon as the car passed the Johns Road exit, it crossed the side median and drove directly into a patch of trees, striking three of the trees and coming to a halt after the driver's side smashed into one final tree with some serious force. Both of the witnesses claimed that the car had been seen driving between 60 and 65 miles per hour throughout the entire ordeal. And neither witness ever saw the brake lights on the car light up, not even once. Reports indicate that Tracy says that Philip left home early that day at about 5.30 AM so that he could catch up on some paperwork that he'd been lagging behind on. He had coffee with his wife as usual and the two talked about their plans for the future. Then he left afterward telling his wife, see you later. When he crashed his car later that morning, police noticed that Philip was actually headed in the opposite direction from his work and no one knows what he had been doing between 5.30 and 8.00 AM. It doesn't seem that anyone ever reported seeing him at work that morning and none of the evidence found at the scene suggested that he had been there either. What he'd been up to during this time remains a mystery. When investigators and detectives arrived at the scene of the crash, they quickly determined that Philip had suffered fatal injuries. He was in such a bad state that there was never any attempt to resuscitate him. Police and first responders were initially treating the case as a simple car crash. But that's when they noticed the duct tape. When investigators made it to the scene of the crash where Philip's car had come to rest, they removed the door of the car and uncovered several pieces of evidence that just didn't make sense. They first noticed the strips of duct tape that had been wrapped around his wrists and ankles with around four or five inches of tape dangling off of each extremity. Stranger yet, his work uniform had been ripped open and was covered in blood. When they examined him even further, that's when they noticed that both of his nipples had been removed, leaving disturbing wounds on his chest. While most videos and articles covering this case claimed that his pinky had been entirely removed as well, in reality, only the tip had been removed and this tip has never been found. Philip's cell phone was found inside the car. It was a clamshell style phone and while no calls had been made that morning, there was blood found on the inside of the phone, suggesting that it had been opened up at some point after Philip had been attacked. Philip was known to have had at least $47 in his wallet but his wallet was missing and the wallet pocket on his pants had been cut open but investigators don't believe this would have been a severe enough cut to cause his wallet to fall out somewhere, suggesting that they believe it was either ditched or stolen. The only other suspicious items found inside the car were a straight razor, two pocket knives, a latex glove and some medical needles. Philip's DNA was later found on both the glove and one of the knives but there was no DNA from anyone else inside the car or on any of the other items. The latex glove doesn't appear to have been ever worn and detectives claim that the knives they found would not have been sharp enough to inflict the injuries that Philip was found with. A large wound was found in Philip's chest during the autopsy. This wound, according to the autopsy report, does not appear to have been caused by the crash. It seems as though it was inflicted just minutes or hours beforehand. The coroner reported signs of hesitation around the wound, suggesting the perpetrator was either nervous or wanted to make the wound as painful as possible. The same hesitation was not found around his nipples and they appear to have been removed with the utmost confidence and precision. The coroner ultimately found no evidence or any signs of a struggle, as is true in many of these cases but this is where the investigation takes a nosedive. After all of this evidence was gathered, after learning the man had been possibly restrained and duct taped by all four limbs, after his nipples had been removed, after his shirt and pants had been torn open and after the tip of his pinky had been removed, the coroner ruled that Philip did this to himself. At the request of Philip's late wife, Tracy, a second autopsy was performed. The doctor who performed the second autopsy agreed with most of the findings from the first autopsy but with a few exceptions. Mainly, this doctor didn't believe that all these wounds could have been inflicted by Philip himself. He did admit that there was a distinct possibility that Philip could have done this to himself but most of the evidence suggested otherwise. The main bit of evidence that I personally find most concerning is the fact that there were no fingerprints found on the duct tape that was wrapped around his limbs. This would suggest that whoever put the tape there was wearing gloves or was being particularly cautious but there's a bigger picture here that to some extent could actually help prove that Philip didn't do this to himself. Philip had recently announced that he planned on retiring from the military with this retirement being scheduled to take place in just a few months. Philip had also been accepted into a fellowship program that he'd been highly anticipating and he'd just purchased a new home with his wife, Tracy, outside of town. But to top all of this off, Philip's psychiatrist found no indication that Philip had any sort of plans to claim his own life, none whatsoever. In fact, Philip was looking forward to the future though the creepy letters that he'd been receiving certainly put a damper on things. Philip's medical records showed no signs of mental illness outside of his depression and justifiable paranoia. When a toxicology report was conducted, the only thing found in his system was his prescribed medications and a small amount of lidocaine. Interestingly, the reports showed that Philip had stopped taking his anti-depression medication at least a week before the crash but both his psychiatrist and his wife say that they were not aware that he had discontinued his medicines. Worse yet, the levels of lidocaine in his blood were initially reported to have come from pain cream but upon further analysis, it was determined that the levels in his system were far, far higher than what would have been usual in pain cream. And that's when investigators remembered the pack of surgical needles that had been found in his car. Investigators have concocted a narrative that when you really think about it, it could make sense. They believe since Philip worked in a hospital, he was able to procure lidocaine injections for himself. They believe that he would have used the lidocaine prior to inflicting the injuries on himself. While this does make sense in a way, it doesn't explain the hesitation that was found around his chest wound or why he would have done this in the first place. Now, some reports say that this chest wound was quite deep as were the wounds to his nipples but I was able to locate an official legal report about the incident and this report claims that all of Philip's unusual wounds were just superficial. Meaning that they didn't penetrate deep enough to cause any lasting damage or threaten his life. So if this is true, the hesitation found around his chest wound may have meant that Philip did in fact inflict the wound upon himself but he was apprehensive about doing so. Either because of the pain or because he was unsure that he wanted to go through with it. To make things even more interesting, the duct tape that was found wrapped around his wrists was not tied in a way that would indicate that he was fully restrained by someone. In fact, the method in which the tape was applied wouldn't have restrained him at all. Now, I don't fully understand how the police described the tape being wrapped around his wrists and there's no public photos from the case to prove anything but they claim that any grown person would have been able to break the tape due to the way that it had been wrapped even if it was tied behind their back. There were also no signs of stretching on the tape as you might expect if someone was struggling to break free but there's still one other piece of evidence that just doesn't make sense. The missing tip of his pinky finger. According to first responders, while this is certainly a strange clue, it's most likely that he lost the tip of his pinky in the car crash. First responders noted that while there was a sizable amount of blood on Philip's clothing from his other injuries, there wasn't a large amount of blood coming from his finger, suggesting that it may have been cut off after he passed away, possibly being severed by glass or by his own car door during the crash. Now, we're all obviously asking the same question here. Did Philip really do all of this to himself? And if not, who's to blame? Well, according to his wife, Tracey, the answer lies in another question. Who stood to gain the most? Tracey Xu has been very outspoken about Nancy, Philip's first wife and her potential involvement in Philip's demise. Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of the video, there's no evidence to suggest that Nancy or her husband were involved outside of the mysterious letters that Philip had received. But in 2008, Tracey and Nancy were involved in a lawsuit with one another. During this lawsuit, Philip's passing was officially reclassified and it's now being listed as a full-blown homicide. This allowed USAA to release the funds of Philip's life insurance and who received them, Nancy and her husband. Tracey did her best to sue for the money but she ultimately lost the court battle and the funds were handed over to Nancy. It's been reported that only 500,000 was paid out to Nancy though and we know that Philip had two policies so I don't know where the other money went. It may be best to assume that this is why Philip changed his will and he somehow managed to get the second policy switched to his current wife's name but this is just a guess I really don't know what happened to the rest of the money. So who is to blame here? Well, we still don't know. More than 20 years later, the case remains as mysterious as the day that it happened. There's so much that can't be explained here such as why Nancy was given two life insurance policies on Philip's life. Who had been writing the mysterious letters that Philip received leading up to the crime and even stranger, how Philip had such a bizarre premonition about his crash just days before it happened. Well, there is one explanation for Philip's bizarre premonition about his crash. He planned it. He planned it down to the last detail. Now, I have a hard time believing the theory that Philip did this to himself, but it is possible. But considering the courts in 2008 determined the case is now reclassified as a homicide, I mean, we just don't know. I could see this case going either way, especially considering that Nancy, Philip's first wife has refused to make any comments about the case. In fact, she's pleaded the fifth more than a dozen times when asked about Philip's final moments. In a letter to USAA, written back in 1999, Philip implicated his ex-wife, Nancy, and said, quote, thoroughly examine my eventual death for evidence of foul play, even if on the surface, the cause would appear to be natural or accidental. And wiser words may never have been spoken. Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Stories. If you wanna see more true crime documentaries like this, be sure to hit the like button and subscribe. If you'd like to help support the channel, the best way you can do that is simply by leaving a comment below, any comment at all. It helps out the channel a lot more than you may realize. If you wanna help out financially, you can do that by clicking the blue join button below or by picking up a True Crime Stories mug from tieknots.com. But with that, my name is Tie Knots and I'll catch you guys in the next video.