Keith C. Ryan, 47, commissioned in Alameda in 02/97. He was selected for LtCdr in 2007 from MLCLANT as a lawyer. Not sure if stripes were put on.

US diplomat found dead at home
By Fazal Sher

ISLAMABAD: Kohsar police on Monday found the body of a United States diplomat with a bullet wound in his head at his home in Sector F-7/3.

Police sources said Keith Ryan had been found dead in a bathroom of his residence along with a letter indicating that he had committed suicide. However, they said that murder could not be ruled out. Sources at PIMS said that an external post-mortem had confirmed that a bullet was lodged in the diplomat’s head.

The US Embassy said Ryan had worked for Homeland Security. A police official said Ryan had been expected to return to the US on Monday.

Police have constituted a team consisting of SSP Aftab, DSP Habibullah and officials of the Investigation Cell to investigate the killing. “We expect it is suicide, but we are investigating,” Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told Reuters.

Also on Monday, the US Embassy issued a press release condoling the death of Ryan. In it, the embassy said Ryan’s next of kin had been informed of his death. It said he leaves a wife and three children. It also said foul play was not likely. Later, AFP quoted State Department spokesman Sean McCormack as saying that investigations were continuing, “but we have no indication at this point that it involves foul play”.

Background story.

Published: Friday, 9 March, 2007, 10:20 AM Doha Time
ISLAMABAD: Thirty-eight ancient Buddhist artefacts dug up by treasure hunters and smuggled to the US were officially returned to Pakistan yesterday. An alert customs officer in Newark, New Jersey, seized the shipment of artefacts, some nearly 2,000 years old, in September 2005. An investigation then began to determine where they came from, said US ambassador to Pakistan Ryan Crocker.
"This is a long and painstaking process. Heritage of this value and consequence has to be properly researched and investigated to determine its true origin," Crocker said at a ceremony at a museum in the Pakistani capital.
"Now they're back where they should be."
The collection included a relief panel depicting a dance scene, a frieze showing monks meditating, various Buddha statues and other items from the Gandhara civilisation, when Buddhism flourished across what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan.
They were dug up - and in some cases damaged in the process - in northern Pakistan.
"It, literally, is a collection beyond price and ... we're very, very, very pleased to have played a role in restoring this legacy to the country that produced it," said Crocker, who will soon take over as US ambassador in Iraq. Pakistani Minister of Culture Sayed Ghazi Gulab Jamal said it had not been possible to stop the illegal export of artefacts, in particular Gandharan sculptures.
But he said he was encouraged by the stand of the US against the "international gangsters" who deprived countries of their culture.
"No nation should be deprived of its cultural identity and cultural wealth," Jamal said.
The US was determined to stop the smuggling of artefacts, said Keith Ryan, immigration and customs enforcement attache at the US embassy in Islamabad.
"We take our obligation seriously to intercept antiquities coming in to the US," Ryan said.
"This is the heritage of Pakistan," he said in a small museum room where the pieces were on display.
No arrests had been made in connection with the seizure.
"The criminals hid their tracks," he said.
The recovered artefacts would be put on display at various Pakistani museums, an archaeology department official said. - Reuters

Sad story. It's an interesting background story thats attached, are they implying foul play (mob hit) or that he was involved in any criminal way with this smuggling ring, or have I misread the article?
Peace,
Dick

First and foremost, condolences to the family. ASM, I am going to hold back my speculation; as I will need more information. It is a very dangerous place, I am not so ready to accept this for what it appears.

BMC (ret)

In amplification, I found the following story:

ISLAMABAD: In a shocking incident, a diplomat of the American Embassy was found dead in his house in F-7/3 on Monday, police said.

Keith Ryan, 36 belonged to the ‘Homeland Security Department’ of the US Embassy (the department cooperating with the Pakistani authorities in war against terrorism) and was to return home on Monday morning after completion of his tenure in Pakistan, the sources said.

The victim had bullet wound in the upper back portion of his neck, the sources at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) said, adding his death was caused by excessive bleeding. The police, on the information of the staff members of the US Embassy, recovered the body of the diplomat and a 9 mm gun from the bathroom.

The police had earlier declared it suicide. The pathologists at the PIMS hospital confirmed that Ryan sustained bullet injury on the rear upper neck. The medico-legal experts, however, said he was murdered.

“There is only an entry wound on the rear upper portion of his neck but no exit wound, “ the sources revealed, adding that the bullet could not be found even in X-Ray report. “There is no visible blackening of the entry wound, indicating that the shot was fired from the distance of more than four feet”, the sources claimed.

Keith was scheduled to leave for the USA by Qatar Airways flight QA-398 at 8.45 AM on Monday after completion of his tenure and his colleague, Mr. David Dean, an employee of the USA Embassy, came to his house at about 6.00am to give him a ride to Islamabad Airport but he found no body at his house. The sources quoting the witness said, “As he opened the door of the bathroom, Keith was lying dead in the bathtub while a gun was lying three feet away from the tub. He was wearing knickers.”

Inspector General of Police Islamabad Shahid Nadeem Baluch when contacted by this correspondent said, “We cannot say anything before getting the postmortem report. No doubt, there are many questions to answer but it would be immature to make any opinion at this early stage”.

The SSP Islamabad, Syed Kaleem Imam said, “It is very early to reach any conclusion”, adding that an inquiry team headed by SP (East) Nasir Aftab has started investigation to ascertain the cause of death. He said that the team was interrogating the security guards on duty and other people serving in the house.

Responding to a question, the SSP said that bloodstains were found in the bathroom, not in his bedroom or any other place of his house.

“Postmortem of the victim has not yet been conducted and we are trying to offer the supervision of representatives of the American Embassy during autopsy”, an officer of the Islamabad police said when asked.

Meanwhile, the PIMS administration claimed that they have not received any official request from the police or any other authority for postmortem but the deputy commissioner office when contacted said that additional district magistrate would officially write to PIMS for an autopsy.

Keith’s wife and three children are on a pleasure trip to England these days. Talking to The News, the US embassy spokesperson said, “We have been informed that the next of kin have been notified. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to all his family. Ryan was a well respected, trusted, and longtime member of the U.S. Mission in Pakistan. His death is a great loss. He will be sorely missed by all who have known and worked with him here in Pakistan. There will be a full investigation; however, there does not appear to have been any foul play.”

The News understands that the US Embassy feels that it is a case of suicide and that it was not a terrorist related incident. AFP adds from Washington: There is no suggestion of foul play in the death of a US diplomat who was found shot at his home in the Pakistani capital on Monday, the State Department said.

Spokesman Sean McCormack identified the diplomat as Keith Ryan, an attache from the Department of Homeland Security working on immigration and customs enforcement at the Islamabad embassy. “It’s a sad, sad event,” McCormack told reporters, expressing condolences to Ryan’s family.

Investigations were continuing, he said, “but we have no indication at this point that it involves foul play.” No further details were available on Ryan, who Pakistani police said had apparently shot himself in the head. <End Story>

If the veracity of this story is sound; I have some real problems with this report. 1) He was preparing to return home the next morning; he was shot in the back of the neck; and the bullet lodged in his head and did not exit.

I am not too ready to accept the suicide version at this time.


BMC (ret)

Stand corrected on his age 37 vice 47.

U.S. diplomat from Hingham shot dead in Pakistan home

By Mike Underwood | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
U.S. diplomat Keith Ryan, the son of Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan, was found dead at his home in Pakistan yesterday, a day before he was due to fly back to the States.

Keith C. Ryan, 37, a father of three who was a Homeland Security attache at the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, apparently shot himself in the head, Pakistani police told news agencies. U.S. officials said foul play is not suspected, but an investigation is ongoing. A Pakistani newspaper, the News of Islamabad, citing sources on the post-mortem results, later reported that evidence suggests Ryan may have been murdered.

Ryan had finished a yearlong tour as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s liaison, said ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel. “Everyone at ICE is deeply saddened. He was a consummate professional, and he will be sorely missed. He was a critical member of our team in the embassy.”

She declined to discuss his duties at the embassy. Ryan, a Hingham native, is survived by his wife, Kate, and their triplets, who spent the past year apart from Ryan in the United States. He joined the federal government in 1996 after graduating from Boston College Law School. An international law expert, he had been a U.S. Coast Guard officer and a Border Patrol agent. His father, one of the Globe’s leading sports columnists, was in Phoenix to cover the Super Bowl and left upon receiving word of his son’s death.

“I know that we join everyone who knows Bob in expressing our deepest sorrow at his loss,” said Globe publisher Steven Ainsley.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1069654

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Ryan family....

Bruce --> I believe it is LCDR, not LtCdr.... or at least is was when I was in...

Wray...

Truly a sad thing to hear. I had the pleasure of knowing Keith when I was in high school with him. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

WRAY, Yes it is LCDR as that is my current rank in the Coast Guard Reserve. Keith was one of my trainee's out of the Border Patrol Academy and a fellow officer. He was one of the brightest lights I have encountered in public service and will be sorely missed. Despite my considerable understanding of depression and suicide I still would be reluctant to believe that Keith would kill himself. All the evidence so far leads me to believe this is a murder investigation. I hope they find the perpetrator for his families sake. I will be praying for them.