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It was a sensational find by AP reporters David Rising and Randy Herschaft _ a suspected Nazi war criminal living in the United States, hiding in plain view for more than six decades. More than just a low ranking foot soldier, suspect Michael Karkoc was an officer who commanded a combat company responsible for civilian massacres, and a founding member of the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion _ and had never before come across authorities' radar. In an eight-month investigation with reporting in more than a half dozen countries and documents in five languages, the two were able to put together evidence so solid that it has led to criminal investigations in Poland and Germany, and not officially confirmed investigations in the United States and Ukraine, with Germany already recommending that prosecutors pursue murder charges against Karkoc. Rising and Herschaft were able to prove Karkoc lied to American officials when he immigrated to Minnesota in 1949, saying he never served in the military during the war _ which has been enough in similar cases for a Nazi war crimes suspect to be deported. But the investigation went much deeper, with the two uncovering details from eyewitnesses, wartime documents and Cold War-era archives firmly establishing not only that Karkoc's unit massacred civilians, but that he specifically gave the order to attack a village in which more than 40 men, women and children were gunned down and burned in their homes.