Chase Boruch, U of W student, war veteran, accused of killing his mom

Chase Boruch is accused of killing his mother for money.

​Chase Boruch had already been through the ringer. But to the rest of the world, it looked as though the 24-year-old Iraq War veteran had managed to avoid the mental health roulette endemic to the conflict--returning home, starting college, and making friends.

But looks can be deceiving.

In early June, tragedy struck the young man who'd already been through enough: While he was accompanying his mother, 63-year-old Sally Pergolski, on a fishing trip, she lost control of a truck and drowned in nearby Moraine Lake. He tried to resuscitate her, but couldn't save her. At least that's what Boruch told the cops.

Now, the tables have turned--Boruch is accused of killing his own mother for insurance money.

Boruch's story started to fall apart when the autopsy results came back and revealed that Pergolski suffered brain trauma two hours before the crash. 

That made the cops suspicious, and Pergolski's death was ruled a homicide. More evidence piled up when the tire tracks into the lake showed a controlled descent, rather than the veering trail of a vehicle wildly out of a control.

Boruch had taken out nearly $1 million in life insurance on his mother, and he was the sole beneficiary. Investigators found that Boruch had printed out copies of the insurance policies. On a map of Moraine Lake, Boruch had highlighted the deepest part.

People who knew Boruch didn't seem to pick up any signs that crime was in the works--he was a model student who twice made the dean's list at the University of Wisconsin, Marathon County. He had plenty of friends, and seemed to have a good support system, especially among veterans, the Huffington Post reports. Boruch was successfully pulling off the role of the healed warrior.

Boruch was arrested Monday and is being held on a $2 million bond. He's been charged with intentional, first-degree homicide, a crime that carries a life sentence.