Colonel James Sabow: Death, Forensic Dispute, and Lawsuit

Colonel James E. Sabow, a 51-year-old Marine officer, was found shot dead in the backyard of his home at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Orange County, California, on January 22, 1991, five days after being relieved of his post as assistant chief of staff during an investigation into the misuse of military aircraft. The death of Colonel James Sabow was ruled a suicide by the Naval Investigative Service and upheld by at least four later reviews, but his brother, Dr. J. David Sabow, a neurosurgeon, has argued for more than three decades that the colonel was murdered to prevent him from exposing illegal activity at the base.¹

What Was Found at the Scene

On the morning of January 22, 1991, Sabow was discovered lying on his right side in the grass of his backyard. An overturned patio chair sat nearby. A 12-gauge Ithaca shotgun was positioned between his knees. He had been shot in the head.¹

The family would later allege that the scene was not properly secured, that evidence was moved before being photographed, and that the body was left in the sun for more than seven hours before being removed.²

Why Sabow Was Under Investigation

In late 1990, the Marine Corps Inspector General opened a probe into the misuse of military aircraft at El Toro following an anonymous tip to a Pentagon fraud hotline. Pilots at the base identified Sabow and Colonel Joseph E. Underwood, the chief of staff, as members of an informal “fliers’ club” whose members allegedly used government C-12 turboprops for personal travel, including weekend golf trips to the East Coast.³

Underwood was suspended on January 12, 1991. Sabow was relieved of duty on January 17, 1991, the same day Inspector General Hollis Davison briefed the base commander, Brigadier General Wayne T. Adams, on potential charges.⁴⁵ Five days later Sabow was dead. No formal conclusions on the misconduct allegations against him were ever reached, as the Inspector General’s inquiry ceased after his death.⁶

The Official Suicide Finding

The Naval Investigative Service, later renamed NCIS, led the death investigation and completed its report on August 27, 1991. Two reviews by the Office of the Judge Advocate General followed. All three concluded that Sabow had killed himself.² Later reviews by the FBI and the Defense Department reached the same conclusion.¹

The official explanation held that Sabow could not cope with the professional disgrace of being relieved of command and placed under investigation.

A sixth review came out of a provision Representative Duncan Hunter inserted in the 2004 Defense Authorization Act, requiring the Pentagon to commission an independent analysis. The resulting report by forensic analyst Jon Nordby again concluded suicide, though it acknowledged that mistakes had been made in the earlier investigations.⁷

The Forensic Evidence the Family Disputes

Dr. J. David Sabow, a board-certified neurosurgeon practicing in South Dakota, rejected the suicide finding almost immediately and brought in outside forensic analysts. He and the family identified several features of the scene they considered inconsistent with a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

Colonel Sabow’s fingerprints were not on the shotgun. The only prints on the weapon belonged to his son, who had cleaned it previously. The ammunition boxes also carried no fingerprints.¹

The Orange County coroner found a large amount of aspirated blood in the colonel’s right lung. Dr. Sabow argued this was physically impossible if the shotgun blast had destroyed the brain stem, which controls breathing. His theory: someone struck his brother on the head, blood drained into the nasal cavity and was inhaled while the colonel was unconscious but still breathing, and only then was the gun fired.⁸

The scene itself was described as nearly bloodless. A sizable spray appeared only on the colonel’s left forearm and palm, ending in a clean line. Dr. Sabow argued this spatter suggested his brother was already lying on his right side when the shotgun discharged, not sitting upright as a self-inflicted shot would require.⁸

Military officials said the colonel could have drawn a breath after the shot, and that absent fingerprints on a weapon are not unusual.¹

The Drug-Trafficking Theory

Dr. Sabow and supporters of the murder theory have argued that the colonel was killed because he had learned about covert drug- and weapons-smuggling operations running through El Toro, and that he intended to blow the whistle. According to Dr. Sabow, senior officers at the base were facilitating illegal shipments from Central America.⁹

Attorney Daniel Sheehan, who represented Dr. Sabow in a federal lawsuit filed in January 2000, incorporated these claims into his briefs. He referenced anonymous assertions that black-painted cargo planes were landing at El Toro after midnight and that the flights were tied to a federal drug investigation allegedly called “Operation Emerald Clipper.” The sources were largely anonymous. Dr. Sabow later distanced himself from Sheehan, citing concerns about his character and “duplicity,” while continuing to maintain his own belief in the broader theory.⁸ No government entity has substantiated the trafficking allegations.

General Adams and the Treatment of the Family

On March 9, 1991, General Adams held a five-hour meeting with Sara Sabow, the colonel’s widow, and Dr. Sabow, during which NIS agents Barrett and Nakasone presented the investigation’s findings. Court records state that Adams berated the family and called the colonel a “crook” and a “felon,” though no formal charges had ever been filed.²

When Dr. Sabow began publicly challenging the suicide ruling, Adams allegedly directed subordinates to look into how to “go after” his medical license in South Dakota. A complaint letter to state licensing authorities was drafted. It was never sent, but a copy was allowed to reach Dr. Sabow, which the family characterized as intimidation.²

Adams had problems of his own. He was being investigated by the Inspector General for personal use of military aircraft, including flights to meet his fiancée and a side trip to Florida to sign his divorce papers. In May 1991 he was removed from command at El Toro, reassigned to Quantico, formally reprimanded that August, and retired in February 1992.¹⁰¹¹

The Lawsuit and Its Outcome

The Sabow family filed a $10 million administrative claim in October 1992, alleging a conspiracy to conceal the facts of the colonel’s death, falsified records, intimidation, and efforts to disqualify Sara Sabow from military benefits.⁶ In June 1994 they sued in federal court under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging emotional distress, negligent handling of remains, and personal injury.

In August 1996 the Ninth Circuit upheld dismissal of all claims tied to the NIS and JAG investigations, finding investigators had exercised protected discretionary judgment, and upheld dismissal of the claim for negligent handling of remains. It revived the claims concerning Adams’s personal conduct, ruling that his alleged verbal abuse and his efforts against Dr. Sabow’s medical license were not discretionary policy judgments, and sent those claims back for trial.² After a bench trial on remand, judgment was entered for the government.¹²

The Pentagon Shooting Connection

The case returned to national attention in March 2010 when John Patrick Bedell, a California man, opened fire on police officers outside the Pentagon, wounding two before being shot and killed. Investigators found Bedell had been obsessed with the Sabow case, treating it as proof of a government “narco-conspiracy.”¹³

Beginning around 2006 Bedell had repeatedly tried to insert conspiracy material into Wikipedia articles about the case and grew angry when other editors removed his edits.¹³ Dr. Sabow said the family had no connection to Bedell, called him “a nut,” and worried that intelligence agencies would use the attack to discredit the evidence he believed supported murder.⁹

Where the Case Stands

More than five government reviews have concluded Sabow died by his own hand. The family lost every federal claim it brought, and the trafficking allegations central to the murder theory have never been corroborated by any government body. The forensic questions Dr. Sabow raised, particularly about aspirated blood in the lungs and the absent fingerprints on the shotgun, were never resolved to the family’s satisfaction, and the 2004 Nordby review itself conceded earlier investigations had been flawed. Dr. Sabow continued to press the case publicly for nearly two decades, maintaining his brother was killed to keep him from talking.

1
Los Angeles Times. Brother Won’t Accept Suicide Ruling in Colonel’s Death
2
FindLaw. Sabow v. United States, No. 94-56634
3
Los Angeles Times. Slain Officer’s Family Still Fights for Answers
4
Los Angeles Times. Two Top Officers at El Toro Suspended in Inquiry
5
U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Sabow v. United States, SA CV 93-991 AHS
6
Los Angeles Times. Family Files Claim in Officer’s Death
7
The Christian Science Monitor. Col. James Sabow: Pentagon Shooter Was Obsessed With 1991 Case
8
OC Weekly. Cold Case at the Marine Base
9
CBS News. Marine Col. James Sabow’s Family on Pentagon Shooter
10
Los Angeles Times. General Reassigned Amid Probe of Plane Use
11
The Seattle Times. Military Justice May Have Some General Flaws
12
U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Sara T. Sabow, et al v. USA, et al
13
Anti-Defamation League. John Patrick Bedell and the Lethal Lure of Conspiracy Theories