fort bragg deaths 2019 fort bragg deaths 2019

If you had a problem, you could count on Bryan to help.. Even if Leshikar had come at him with a screwdriver, Billy wouldnt just forget how to disarm somebody, Nicole says. Just because it was dismissed doesnt mean it didnt happen, says Ballard, who believes that military personnel are given special treatment within the criminal-justice system in the counties around Fort Bragg. Villalon is survived by his mother of Chicago and father of Brownsville, Texas. He was taken home that same night by some of his Delta Force teammates. This time he was charged with three felonies: breaking and entering, communicating threats, and impersonating a law-enforcement officer, but all of the charges were dismissed. Editors picks The GAO opened its investigation in October 2019 in an attempt to understand a spate of deadly mishaps that keep occurring. He was a very hostile individual. 0:44. To hear that such a high-powered group of senators had taken up the cause was very encouraging. We have a lot of Delta Force members in our community, says Ballard, the police detective in Vass. Indeed, you would have to pore over the news archives long and hard to find a single negative story on the unit, whose official name is the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, also known as the Combat Applications Group. A Fort Bragg spokesperson identified the soldier as Sgt. Keiths mom, Lynda Lewis, tells me that her son should have been expelled from the Army back in 2016, when he assaulted Sarah and got into an armed standoff with the Fayetteville police. At least 44 Fort Bragg soldiers died stateside in 2020 several of them were homicides. Thats when he made the statement that if I wanted my husband gone, he could take care of it, she says. Villalon was captain of the physical fitness team and a member of the drill team in the Navy Junior ROTC program, said Allen, who was a teacher in the program for 18 years. The next day, he was indicted on two felony charges: harboring an escapee and maintaining a vehicle or dwelling place to manufacture a controlled substance. Governor Roy Cooper ordered all U.S. and North Carolina flags at state facilities to half-staff beginning immediately until sunset Wednesday, April 26, in honor of U.S. Army Sgt. The entire building and surrounding area was demolished and built up new. At her house, a tidy single-story place with Christmas wreaths in the windows and a yard full of pine needles, she refuses to come to the door. Matthew Disney, 20, of Aberdeen, Maryland. A tricked-out Chevy Colorado with matte-black wheels and racing tires was stuck in a rut on a dirt road near Lake MacArthur. Theyll show up in their Class A uniforms looking all distinguished and get sympathy: OK, dismissed. CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report The militarys overdose crisis, though most severe at Fort Bragg, affects the entire Army and every other service branch, too. This data emerged amid increasing awareness of rising rates of drug use notably of cocaine and steroids in the Special Operations Forces. An orange sun is setting behind row upon row of monotonous pines. His use of alcohol was of even greater concern. She shows me the brief clip on her phone. He didnt respond, she says. From outward appearances, the two men simply lost their minds. The 9mm round, fired from a Taurus Millennium G2, missed the boy by about 18 inches. He was seeing bad things.. During a cycle of wet, windy and cold weather, a local resident, Jeffrey Kostick, was found deceased Sunday, Dec. 15, near Redwood Avenue in downtown Fort Bragg. Editors picks As she lay dying, her baby girl was born; she was going to be named Isabella, but she did not live. It would be an exaggeration to say that Fayetteville must be a more dangerous duty station than Raqqa or Kandahar, and yet piecing together data provided by Col. Buccino, and previous Army disclosures to the McClatchy news agency, as well as reports in the local media, I count no fewer than 44 active-duty deaths at Fort Bragg during 2020. Just a while ago the FBI went and dived in the area, and didnt find anything. He was convinced that people were following them. On a cold evening in late January, when I visit the approximate spot where he was found, the woods are perfectly still and quiet, with not even a bird chirping. It was much easier, ironically, to get information on Fort Bragg-based personnel who died in foreign countries. According to Dumas wife, the nightclub doesnt exist anymore. Three Fort Bragg soldiers died while deployed overseas in 2020, according to the Department of Defense. Virtually everything to do with this organization is classified, says Sean Naylor, author of Relentless Strike, a history of JSOC. In any event, there is no court record showing that he was ever prosecuted. July 3, 2022 (91 years old) View obituary. He wasnt looking for another rank or another award, Allen said. Finally, on December 4th, authorities released the autopsy report, and it left no doubt of foul play. Of fatal overdoses, how many were ruled a suicide? He was just a boy, she quotes him as saying. Joseph Zygarowski, 25. He repaired construction equipment and was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, a Fort Bragg news release said. Here are some of the tragic deaths that have plagued the base in recent months: Pvt. The young soldier who called 911 also told the dispatcher, unprompted, that Roman-Martinez had suicidal tendencies, which his sister strenuously disputes. He enlisted in the Army on March 12, 2019, as an x-ray Special Forces candidate. Joseph Zygarowski who died during a training exercise at Fort Bragg on April 19. People who knew him tell me that in life, he fit a certain kind of American archetype: the wannabe special-forces guy, a fake operator who, in order to impress people or intimidate them, passed himself off as an ex-commando. Estella doesnt know if he was still on the premises when the cops arrived. Ultimately, he concluded in his March 11th, 2019, report, I determined that [Lavigne] was NOT credible.. When a friend or babysitter could be found to look after the kids, the group of five parents, all in their mid-thirties, went out on the town in Fayetteville. Caleb Smither, 19, of Lubbock, Texas, died Jan. 28, 2020, in his barracks room on Fort Bragg. What substances were involved in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses? Leshikar was a native of rural Idaho and had lived in Washington state, near the Canadian border. Absolutely. More like brothers, says Leshikars 31-year-old sister, Nicole, who spent three weeks hanging out with them in February 2018. Words his sister uses to describe him include gentle, spiritual, and feminist. He was a hippie, a believer in crystals, she says. The police came and he was arrested in possession of cocaine, a digital scale, a crack pipe, a revolver, a hunting rifle, a snub-nosed pistol, and a pump-action shotgun. I have to prove that he was not in his right mind, she says. The details, gleaned from an administrative inquiry by the Army to determine whether Leshikar died in the line of duty, are sketchy: Around 1 p.m., while still on the road, Lavigne texted Laura to tell her that Leshikar was acting paranoid. The things that have happened with special forces are outside the purview of the Fort Bragg command, he says. On April 11th, shortly before the number of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 1 million, Dumas had been arrested in Winston-Salem. Well, I got 120.. Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world, with around There is no record of an indictment for either offense. Boger was a student of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Acid is the most commonly abused substance on post, in Romeros estimation, because people think its impossible to detect through urinalysis (its not). What is known is that on December 22nd, Sarah dialed 911 and fled to a neighbors house. She also retrieved her Glock from the bedroom and stuck it under a couch cushion. Lloyd Austin, citing, Senators Press Pentagon for Answers on Rash of Overdose Deaths, Pentagon Finally Stops Hiding Military Overdose Epidemic, These Kids Are Dying Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg, Bernie Sanders: Many GOP Leaders 'Don't Even Believe in Democracy', Ted Cruz Maligns Biden, Claims He Is 'Behaving Like a Terrorist' with Debt Ceiling, Top Fox Hosts Are Telling Friends They Could Be the Next to Go, DeSantis Suggests He Personally Prayed a Hurricane Away From Florida, Minnesota Lawmaker Needs to Roll Smaller Joints, Roy Wood Jr. Early Saturday afternoon, park rangers had approached the group from Fort Bragg to ask them to move their vehicles, which were encroaching on protected sand dunes. Congress has finally taken notice of an unprecedented wave of fatalities at Fort Bragg, some 17 months after Rolling Stone first brought attention to an apparent drug crisis at the base. They all knew Billy., Laura echoes Nicoles account when I speak to her separately. Lewis followed her outside, holding their three-year-old daughter on one hip and a gun in the other hand. William J. Lavigne II, 37, and Timothy Dumas, 44. All rights reserved. To cap off a freakish year at Fort Bragg, just three weeks after Lavigne and Dumas turned up dead, a 31-year-old combat medic assigned to Special Forces named Keith Lewis shot and killed his pregnant wife, Sarah Lewis, an Air Force veteran who was due to give birth at any moment. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, May 13th 2023 at the Veteran's Hall (360 N Harrison St, Fort Bragg, CA Billy Lavigne joined the Army right out of high school, in February 2001, to get free corrective eye surgery and money for a new dirt bike. Absolutely. SHERIFFS REPORTS The following were compiled from reports prepared by the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office: BOOKED: Jason Colson, 34, of Fort Bragg, was arrested on Feb. 19 at 11 p.m. According to military records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, a hard-to-believe 105 soldiers assigned to the base died stateside in 2020 and 2021. She and her husband, a Navy submariner, were moving to North Carolina, and stayed for a time at Leshikars apartment. It makes me feel great, said Carole De Nola, when she learned of the letter. Almost every time I saw Billy, he was strung out on something., A day after the bodies were found, an unnamed Army official leaked to CBS that both Lavigne and Dumas, at the time of their deaths, were under investigation for trafficking narcotics on Fort Bragg, and that investigators suspected a double homicide from a drug deal gone wrong.. Why in the hell would you just let some guy off on murder?, A waste of paper is how Nicole describes CIDs report, which she received in heavily redacted form. During the eight-hour drive back to North Carolina, Laura split off to take her sister to the airport in Raleigh. A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Roman-Martinezs murder. They were joined by Lavigne, the girls godfather, whom she called Uncle Billy, and his daughter, who was like a younger cousin to her. Governor Roy Cooper ordered all U.S. and North Carolina flags at state facilities to half-staff beginning immediately until sunset Wednesday, April 26, in honor of U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Dan Lessard, a spokesman for Lewis unit, the 1st Special Forces Command, says Cumberland County declined to prosecute and that there was insufficient evidence for a court-martial, but that Lewis did receive non-judicial punishment and was directed to receive substance-abuse and marriage counseling. It did cite, however, what it described as an unhealthy sense of entitlement among special operators. They have a different society, Lavigne would respond, in Nicoles recollection, and while I dont agree with it, we shouldnt be doing what were doing over there. . Me and my mom being Catholic, it was difficult to understand., Fort Bragg was on quarantine and soldiers forbidden from traveling far from base, but seven paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division snuck off for a Memorial Day weekend camping trip at Cape Lookout National Seashore, a barrier island on the gray coast of the Carolinas. Ive seen it. McLaughlins mother, Glenna Carroll, told a Virginia television station he will be remembered as a dedicated father, husband and son. According to military records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, a hard-to-believe 105 soldiers assigned to the base died stateside in 2020 and 2021. Through the intercom she says that she is just as clueless as anyone else and that she and Dumas led separate lives.. Yet there were no firearms to be found at the scene, and no trace of the third man, the surviving shooter. Sheriffs deputies took him to the station, but he was never placed under arrest or charged with a crime. Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set, Pharrells Something in the Water Fest Cancels Final Day Due to Severe Weather, Stagecoach: Kane Brown Breaks Mental Health Stigma With 'Memory,' Talks Depression. I killed my best friend, he said, according to Patino. Enrique Roman-Martinez of Fort Braggs 82nd Airborne Division was beheaded during a camping trip with six other soldiers. The bases spokesman, Col. Joe Buccino, acknowledged that illegal drug use seems to have been a common factor in all of the homicides that involved Fort Bragg soldiers, but emphasized that all but one of the killings pertained to the special-forces units at Fort Bragg, which he could not speak for. Recent surgeries to his legs had left him unable to run well. Here's who they are. WebThey are: Master Sgt. Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, he says, pretty much anywhere the U.S. had anything going on between 2006 and 2018, he was there. By 2012, he had made the ultra-selective cut for Delta Force, which rejects the overwhelming majority of Rangers and Green Berets invited to try out. It far surpassed Fort Hood, where 28 soldier deaths in 2020 led to a congressional investigation, a sweeping indictment of the installations toxic culture, and the dismissal of most of the chain of command. In the few photos of Delta Force that exist in the public domain, their faces are blurred or blacked out, their identities classified. McLaughlin is survived by his wife and four children. When they were doing cocaine, Mabey says, he always acted perfectly fine. He fell in love with what he was doing and decided he was going to make a career out of it, says his dad, who still lives in the remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan where Billy grew up skateboarding and riding motocross. He was getting clean.. Those two would always pull some shit, she says. She wipes away tears. Both girls witnessed what happened next. Joseph Zygarowski, 25. They were identified as Master Sgt. Nor would the base discuss the perplexing incidence of young men turning up unresponsive in their bunks, such as 19-year-old Caleb Smither, whose body was so decomposed when they found him that he couldnt have an open-casket funeral. Shes not the only military family member who wants answers. Barry Recap: A Tragic Death Shakes Up Bill Haders Dark Satire We would appreciate anyone, says Shelley Lynch, an FBI spokeswoman, who may have information about where the men were in the hours before their bodies were found to contact us. The FBI released a photo of Dumas truck, a dark-blue 2015 Dodge Ram, which was found abandoned in another location. They also released a better photo of him.