fort bragg deaths 2019

Cloaked in secrecy and sloshing with money, JSOC has operational control over the most elite commando units of each of the major service branches, including the Navys SEAL Team 6 and the Armys Delta Force, which it uses to carry out the nations most politically risky, no-fail missions, like the killing of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the emir of the Islamic State, in 2019. I called every day for a month. Of fatal overdoses, how many were ruled a suicide? Army Investigates Deaths of Green Beret and Veteran at Fort Bragg Officials have not said how the men died. In 2015, former SEAL James Matthews got pulled over in New Jersey towing a trailer loaded with $1.4 million worth of marijuana. I was never a detective, she says, but even the limited crime-scene investigation that Ive done tells me these guys are full of shit. Here are some of the tragic deaths that have plagued the base in recent months: Pvt. Why did it take them till December?. Caleb Smither, 19, of Lubbock, Texas, died Jan. 28, 2020, in his barracks room on Fort Bragg. Lewis followed her outside, holding their three-year-old daughter on one hip and a gun in the other hand. He attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection and graduated as a Special Forces engineer sergeant in October 2007, beingassigned to the 19th Special Forces Groups 2nd Battalion. Editors Note: This report is limited to the latest information obtained by SOFREP about the death of MSG Lavigne and Timothy Dumas. Its not just combat trauma and moral injury, says Naylor. It was much easier, ironically, to get information on Fort Bragg-based personnel who died in foreign countries. Other operators that were there. 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. He was trying to get into Buddhism. He had migraines, nightmares, personality changes., She still has his body in cold storage, in a freezer in Alaska, because the Army wont turn over his autopsy report or medical file, and she doesnt want to lose evidence that his brain was damaged from TBI or that he was medicated for PTSD. View obituary. When I ask if his best friend ever took LSD, Romero says, Yeah. From 2020 through 2021, there were 109 active and reserve deaths among Fort Bragg soldiers, according to military records. When Marky would spiral was when he drank too much. He would turn to his wife and say things like, You know Im a bad person, right? This led to a physical fight, a wrestling match on the driveway. Billy seemed to have ideals that matched mine. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and this time, for whatever reason, the charge was not dropped. Army investigators have disclosed nothing, not even the identities of the other soldiers who were on the camping trip, one of whom was a young woman. There was never no mention of this Dumas. Nicole and Laura say the same. Everybody seemed to know the same people. Bragg that are still unexplained but many believe might be tied to the U.S. Armys policy of mandatory covid-19 vaccinations:. 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. 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. And I said, Well, no, because its not legal, says Mabey. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Carol Ann Brown to pay them a last tribute. To date, the House Armed Services Committee seems not to have noticed the similar pattern at Fort Bragg. 18h ago. He was a three-time volunteer on his second combat deployment, said Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commander of the 82nd. Joseph Zygarowski, 25. Each death is blamed on the husband. She faults the Army for prescribing him tramadol, an addictive opiate, after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2017 from a roadside bomb in Tajikistan. He saw people die. Out of nowhere, she says, this tall, baldheaded black dude comes up with a skinny black guy with dreads. In 2018, former senior special-forces sergeants Daniel Gould and Henry Royer were busted trying to import punching bags that had been gutted and packed with cocaine from Colombia. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Staff Sgt. Families want answers. 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. Asia Graham, a Fort Bliss soldier who died of an overdose of fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids after she reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier. Col. Kara Soules, a press officer for JSOC, also did not respond to questions. But he scared me., a copy of which was first obtained by Jack Murphy of. The 172,000-acre Fort Bragg base is one of the world's largest military complexes with approximately 57,000 military personnel, 11,000 civilian employees and 23,000 family members. As she lay dying, her baby girl was born; she was going to be named Isabella, but she did not live. The cause of his death is under investigation by the Fort Bragg Criminal Investigation Division. Ive seen it. Tammy Mabey, Leshikars mom, had spent 18 years in law enforcement, working as a dispatcher, a jailer, and a patrolwoman in California, Idaho, and Nevada. On Friday night, there was a thunderstorm. Green Beret Mark Leshikar (left, and at right, with tattoos) was shot and killed by his best friend and fellow special-forces soldier Billy Lavigne (far right), in an inexplicable, drug-fueled altercation witnessed by the two mens young daughters. He was participating in an airborne training operation at Fort Stewart, Georgia. When they found my brothers remains, he didnt have eyes. He was getting clean.. Tracie Augusta Smith. He was trained for that., The Army officer who did the line-of-duty investigation, a copy of which was first obtained by Jack Murphy of Connecting Vets, noted several discrepancies between the statements Lavigne gave and the evidence collected, including the absence of a screwdriver. Hed read an article about hallucinogenic mushrooms, she says. It was late at night and she was out front smoking a cigarette. In recent years, whistleblowers have alleged that the use of hard drugs is widespread among special operators. Both men had young daughters. A burial was held on Monday, April 24th 2023 at the Rose Memorial Park (760 N Franklin St, Fort Bragg, CA 95437). Jessica Donati, the author of Eagle Down: The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War, tells me that since 2014, the burden of maintaining the United States never-ending war in Afghanistan has shifted almost entirely onto the Green Berets, who have been used by successive administrations as a political tool to plug holes in policies that dont work, and to maintain the fiction that the United States has withdrawn from combat operations. A Dallas County jury awarded more than $860 million to the parents of a woman killed in 2019 when a 200-foot steel crane toppled onto her apartment building from an adjacent construction site. William J. Lavigne II, 37, and Timothy Dumas, 44. Here's who they are. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. I would rather see peace than war. On March 28th, the Fayetteville police responded to an incident in which he was suspected of shooting into an occupied dwelling. Sens. 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. It showed multiple chop injuries, a broken jaw, lacerations, and fractures of the cervical spine. At least 170 Afghan civilians were killed. She used to rent a house from him in Carthage, another little town on the periphery of Fort Bragg. Details of Smithers death have not been released. I was like a fly on the wall, she says, watching their interactions. Unlike his buddies, Lavigne never bragged about the number of people he had killed. In March 2018, Mark and Laura Leshikar took their daughter to Disney World to celebrate her fifth birthday. I thought it was guns because he would talk about all the parts he had access to, and all the guns he could get., At the time, Ballard had recently left the Navy and had yet to join the police or become a detective. Fish ate them, says his sister (above at her brothers funeral and on the beach where his remains were found). Roman-Martinezs partial remains had washed up on Shackleford Banks a few days later, but in the six months since then, few details had been forthcoming. Weve been looking for him all day. At bars like ODonnells Pub in Southern Pines, they are easily identified by their signature off-duty style, which incorporates elements of biker culture, and is characterized by beards, tattoos, muscles, sun-faded baseball caps with tattered brims, and concealed handguns. The DAs office did not respond to multiple requests for more information. The DA, Billy West, did not respond to requests for comment but told the Fayetteville Observer that two other people whod been at Lavignes house took responsibility for the drugs. He was just a boy, she quotes him as saying. Tier 1 operators have ascended so high in the lethal bureaucracy that they no longer exist. 0:44. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in the attack and 45 were wounded. He sped off from the scene and was charged with a hit-and-run. Pfc. Fort Bragg; which has nearly double the soldier population as Fort Hood, is reporting 24 deaths so far this year, with five of them happening in accidents, one homicide, seven from illness, nine by suicide and two still pending. 2020 Soldier Fatalities on Major Installations, January 1 2020 August 13 2020 (KWTX) We are far from the flagpole and are expected to be incorruptible.. Over the next year, Leshikar moved on to benzodiazepines, then MDMA, then cocaine. The last person to have seen him alive that I could identify is a woman named Jessie Marie Patino, a tattoo artist and junkyard mechanic. Spc. He called me and said, Mom, Ive got a gun to my head. 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. He had a strong personality. Maybe. They didnt do anything., So far, we have not been able to determine that that call on the 11th of December actually happened, says Maj. Lessard. June 23, 2021. Roman-Martinezs partial remains were later found May 29, after washing up on Shackleford Banks Island, which is part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. He enlisted in the Army on March 12, 2019, as an x-ray Special Forces candidate. Her brother enlisted for a steady paycheck and for the GI Bill. On-post deaths or off-post accidents and incidents: Officials released information throughout the year about the deaths of other Fort Bragg soldiers who either died on post or in off-post inicidents. The next day around 7 p.m., one of the campers called 911. A small boy about waist high is dancing next to a laundry hamper to music from the television. He expressed political disagreements with Leshikar, who was of the opinion that the United States ought to nuke the Middle East and be done with it. .An Idaho forensic pathologist on Wednesday detailed how doomsday mom Lori Vallows two children were killed in 2019, including how her 7-year-old son was allegedly strangled to death by a plastic bag over his head and duct He returned to active duty in 2010 and was assigned to his current unit. He was a very hostile individual. This morning, a group of five senators led by Sen. Edward Markey demanded answers from the military on the subject of overdose deaths in the armed forces, in a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Mount is survived by his wife and parents. Thats when he made the statement that if I wanted my husband gone, he could take care of it, she says. Succession Recap: Logan Roy Makes Shock Return, Shiv and Tom Get Kinky You would not believe how many people I have reached out to. Pfc. She also claims to have given Lavigne a tattoo on his chest, and her description matches what CID agents described to Mabey: The tattoo includes the initials M.L., for Mark Leshikar, the date he died, and an inscription, Till Valhalla.. Both girls witnessed what happened next. He was looking to be helpful and to be part of the team.. On February 2nd, the Charlotte field office put out a bulletin seeking assistance from the public to establish a timeline of the two mens movements up until their deaths. Ruth Sparks, a native of San Jose, California, and resident of Fort Bragg, California, passed away on December 1, 2022, surrounded by her family. In light of this disturbing trend, the letter reads, we write seeking a full understanding of the pattern of overdoses., Sen. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts who has sponsored a number of bills to combat the opioid epidemic, is spearheading the oversight effort. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. I have to prove that he was not in his right mind, she says. He didnt respond, she says. No way., Romero knows one of the other paratroopers who was on the camping trip. In his LinkedIn photo, Dumas looks fairly nondescript. Law enforcement still has no known suspects in the case. Leshikars killing was ruled a justifiable homicide, but Swain declines to say on what grounds investigators came to that conclusion. Thats the way I feel about it.. 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. . He was arrested for a final time on September 17th, in Fayetteville, this time on a prostitution charge. As a psychological operations specialist, Boyd deployed eight times, including tours to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, the Philippinesand Lithuania. Pvt. Trending He repaired construction equipment and was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, a Fort Bragg news release said. You always got the sense from him that he was involved in something illegal, like some kind of crime ring. 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. How they knew each other, the nature of their connection, remains a mystery. But he would be dead before his scheduled court appearance. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, No narcotics were reported recovered, but for the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, which is headquartered at Fort Bragg, it had all the makings of yet another drug scandal, the latest in a string of them to hit the special-operations community. More: Fort Bragg paratroopers killed in Afghanistan remembered for their sacrifice. In 2018, Lavigne shot and killed his best friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar, in an inexplicable, drug-fueled altercation that no one witnessed but two little girls. Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. He went out and bought a dress in his size, says Laura. Posted 2023-04-21T13:30:09+00:00 - Updated 2023-04-21T23:20:10+00:00 Zygarowski, who enlisted in the Army in 2018, was a mechanic assigned to What substances were involved in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses? In early 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic descended on the United States, his run-ins with the law became more frequent. 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. Sgt. Fort Bragg soldier found dead in barracks; mother questions death 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. The man on the ground, who had been dropped by a single bullet to the right temple, was 44-year-old Timothy Dumas. Some of the tough questions he and the other four senators posed to Secretary Austin included: Fort Bragg is the Armys largest and most important facility, the home of the 82nd Airborne Division, the Special Forces, and the Joint Special Operations Command, including the covert Delta Force. The cause of death is listed as homicide and the case is being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. Salazar was an infantryman assigned to 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. In any event, there is no court record showing that he was ever prosecuted. Taking part in and witnessing violence, being away from home for long periods of time, and disillusionment with the mission can put special operators at heightened risk, Donati says, of divorce, alcoholism, substance abuse, and anger issues. Anthony Whitten. MILITARY. Nathan Goodman, 36, of Hope Mills, died Jan. 14, 2020, in a free-fall training exercise near Eloy, Arizona. One minute after midnight on February 17th, 2020, Lavigne crashed his truck into a womans vehicle in Fayetteville. Leshikar opened the hood of the car, a Honda Accord, and with the engine still hot, began to disassemble it. Ari McGuire, died of a fentanyl overdose at Fort Bragg in August 2019, after he was allegedly introduced to drugs by his platoon sergeant in Afghanistan. The militarys overdose crisis, though most severe at Fort Bragg, affects the entire Army and every other service branch, too. Special operation forces induct members into regiments at Fort Bragg. Nathan Goodman, 36, of Hope Mills, died Jan. 14, 2020, in a free-fall training exercise near Eloy, Arizona. They were identified as Master 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. William J. LaVigne II, 37, was found dead near a Fort Bragg training area close to the body of Army veteran Timothy J. Dumas, 44, Dec. 2. Dumas had been arrested numerous times in North Carolina on charges ranging from making terroristic threats to impersonating a cop, yet had never been prosecuted. Its known from postmortem toxicology that Leshikar was taking Valium, tramadol, MDMA, and cocaine. Finally, one womans face lights up. The Fayetteville Observer. He never responded again., UPDATE: After this story went to press, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesperson gave this statement to Rolling Stone regarding how the command handled Billy Lavignes legal trouble: Due to his length of service, Master Sgt. A tricked-out Chevy Colorado with matte-black wheels and racing tires was stuck in a rut on a dirt road near Lake MacArthur. According to Sarahs mother, Rhonda Phillips, on at least two occasions in 2020, the last being December 11th, Sarah reported Lewis to his unit, and informed them that she feared for her safety. 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.. On top of the sort of training that all Rangers, Green Berets, and Navy SEALs have to go through, he had been schooled in sabotage, demolition, hostage rescue, tactical driving, lockpicking, and spy-trade craft such as how to shadow people, use dead drops, and live under a cover identity. But he had a gun. There was another vivid memory that particularly bothered him: walking through the rubble of a demolished city with a Belgian Malinois, a service dog, and allowing the animal to eat the brains from a dead mans broken skull as a treat.. Thank you for your service. She fatally shot her fianc. McLaughlin joined the Army in 2012, according to the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office. Mount joined the Army in January 2016 and came to Fort Bragg in June 2016. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. In 2016, he was assigned to the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, where he served as a horizontal construction engineer and later as a squad leader. In November, yet another soldier, a 24-year-old Texan, was discovered unresponsive in his bunk, with no further details from the Army. 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. Lois Ruth Collins. In just 18 months, Fort Bragg lost over 80 soldiers from sudden and unexplained causes. Inside the Rash of Unexplained Deaths at Fort Hood | Vanity Fair Paul Allan Hartman. The Army said two soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg died Monday in unrelated deaths that shook the community at the North Carolina base. I did not get the impression that he was joking. Words his sister uses to describe him include gentle, spiritual, and feminist. He was a hippie, a believer in crystals, she says. The 9mm round, fired from a Taurus Millennium G2, missed the boy by about 18 inches. It was his last hoorah, says Nicole, who spoke to her brother for a final time on St. Patricks Day. The vacation lasted nearly a week. That number is significantly more than at any other U.S. military base, despite Fort Hood and Fort Bliss having had freakishly violent years of their own. Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told Rolling Stone that recent medical studies showed a fast and dramatic rise in the number of fatal overdoses among active-duty military men. Absolutely. It included Dumas name and the type of handgun he used, but its not clear if he was taken into custody. A 24-year-old military mechanic died Wednesday at Fort Bragg during a traffic accident at Fort Bragg, officials announced Friday. They speak Spanish with a Caribbean accent and dont know any Timothy Dumas. But he scared me.. MILITARY. The justification was unconvincing on its face. One day in late November, she says, she was working on a customers car when she turned around and there was Billy, wearing a black ski mask and carrying a crossbow. He was the rock in my life. He doesnt believe the story told by the other six campers that Roman-Martinez simply wandered off at night, leaving his phone, wallet, and glasses behind in the tent. More: Myron B. Pitts: Fort Bragg name to become a thing of the past good. More: Fort Bragg paratrooper dies following accident in Syria. Her son, Spc. They quickly became the best of friends. Sgt. As far as is known, the first time 2nd Lt. Bryant met Sgt. The sheriffs office refused to share a full investigative report on the incident with the Leshikar family, which, Swain says, is department policy. He sounded somewhat normal, but anxious and preoccupied. Only two months remained before he would become eligible for retirement. We have not ruled anything in or out as the investigation continues.. But she was acquainted with Timothy Dumas, the 44-year-old veteran who was found dead alongside him. She shows me the brief clip on her phone. Based out of a high-security compound inside Fort Bragg, it has become a covert military within the military. Virtually everything to do with this organization is classified, says Sean Naylor, author of Relentless Strike, a history of JSOC. He was repeatedly arrested for possession of untaxed liquor, failure to return rented property, and permitting a minor to consume alcohol. At the relatively young age of 37, after a full 20 years in the military, he would be entitled to a substantial pension and lifelong benefits. Hearing her father call her name, she went and let him inside. A spokesman, Chris Grey, writes in an email that Cumberland County had investigative jurisdiction over the case but that CID thoroughly reviewed all the evidence and interviewed witnesses. The remaining three are still at large from incidents in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Queens, N.Y., and Detroit, Mich. He was a very hostile individual, says a detective who used to rent a house from Dumas. Explore Life Stories, Offer Condolences & Send Flowers. Its a lot of TBI, or traumatic brain injury. Estella called the Fayetteville police, who filed an incident report. More: John Wayne helped pay for a Fort Bragg statue, theres a time capsule with JFK's letter and other tidbits about Fort Bragg's monuments. They do what they want.. Cumberland County sheriffs deputies responded to the scene. Everything thats happening at Fort Bragg is horrible, says Lynda Lewis, mother of the Special Forces medic who murdered his pregnant wife. Him and my brother had similar features., Leshikar, bearded and scowling in most photos, was six-foot-four, with a square jaw, a head of light-brown hair, and tattooed shoulders. Army authorities wont disclose the total number of soldiers stationed there who died in 2020, but Lavigne was one of a spate of homicides and suicides that brought the tally up to at least 44, pushing Fort Bragg to a decisive first-place finish in a race no one wanted to win. Master Sgt. Appropriate adverse action, which was previously initiated in response to substantiated misconduct, was being finalized at the time of Master Sgt. More generally, how many active duty service members had traces of misused prescription medication or illicit drugs in their system at the time of death? 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. He was still a very active, decorated soldier.. Barry Recap: A Tragic Death Shakes Up Bill Haders Dark Satire Im tenderhearted, she says. Did he struggle with drugs, alcohol, cocaine, tramadol? Around 4 p.m., they arrived at Lavignes house, a cookie-cutter tract home at the end of a blank cul-de-sac. On a half dozen occasions since 2014, a Navy SEAL or a Green Beret has pleaded guilty to heavy-duty narcotics charges. Most recent obituaries in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. LaVigne died of multiple gunshot wounds and was shot by (an) unknown person, his death certificate states. A memorial service today at Fort Bragg makes 25 years since the 82nd Airborne Division suffered its biggest one-day loss of life since World War II. Ian Paul McLaughlin, 29, of Newport News, Virginia, was killed Jan. 11, 2020, by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In the iconography of American militarism, in the esoteric cult of special forces, the black censor bar across the eyes confers an unmistakably dark prestige.

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