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. A soulless expression would come over him, like he was looking through you, when he got to drinking, Nicole says. 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. 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. Ruth Sparks, a native of San Jose, California, and resident of Fort Bragg, California, passed away on December 1, 2022, surrounded by her family. He had a strong personality. She has photos of a tub of used syringes found in Lewis closet, including vials of drostanalone propionate and trenbolone acetate, both of which are illicit anabolic steroids that can cause severe mood disturbances. Cumberland County spokesman Sean Swain says he has no idea if Lavigne was drug tested, but seemed to think it unlikely since Lavigne was never arrested, even though he had just used his personal firearm, a .45-caliber handgun, to kill a decorated Green Beret. JSOCs budget is classified, but it reportedly costs between $1 million and $2 million to train the average special operator, and much more has likely been invested in each soldier by the time they reach the level of whats known as a Special Mission Unit, such as Delta or SEAL Team 6. 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. She believed them to be his fellow Delta Force operators because they had been introduced to her that way, because she had seen the same men drop him off in a vehicle after a training mission, and because they talked and joked about ops they had been on and constantly tried to one-up one another. We need answers, and we need solutions., Im calling on the Department of Defense to account for these deaths, he continued, and to give us a plan of action for safeguarding the active-duty service members who keep Americans safe.. 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. They were joined by Lavigne, the girls godfather, whom she called Uncle Billy, and his daughter, who was like a younger cousin to her. 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. It's a tremendous loss for all of us,Carroll said. His longtime partner died. Fayetteville Police did not respond to multiple requests for more information. Its known from postmortem toxicology that Leshikar was taking Valium, tramadol, MDMA, and cocaine. View obituary. It was his last hoorah, says Nicole, who spoke to her brother for a final time on St. Patricks Day. 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. 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. But he scared me.. Leshikar opened the hood of the car, a Honda Accord, and with the engine still hot, began to disassemble it. Out of nowhere, she says, this tall, baldheaded black dude comes up with a skinny black guy with dreads. He told the county investigator that Leshikar had come at him with a screwdriver, leaving him no choice but to shoot in self-defense, supposedly for the protection of the children. hree weeks before Christmas, in the piney woods outside of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a deer hunter came across the fallout from a firefight that, to date, no one has been able to explain. The Army Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the death as a homicide, as an autopsy report states he was decapitated. Sgt. 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. Inside the Rash of Unexplained Deaths at Fort Hood | Vanity Fair 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. He called me and said, Mom, Ive got a gun to my head. I kill people for a living., After his dozen-plus deployments, Lavigne was no less haunted by moral injury. He changed dramatically in a short period of time, says his father, who came from Michigan to stay with him after the shooting. Maybe. Sgt. Most recent obituaries in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. At no time during that interaction did they mention a missing person, a spokesman for the National Park Service told ABC11. 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? The Fort Bragg Murders At least 44 Fort Bragg soldiers died stateside in 2020 several of them were homicides. 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. Fort Bragg needs to be blown up, that is, exposed to scrutiny, says Tammy de Mirza, Sarahs aunt. As Sarah pounded on the neighbors door, he opened fire on her. He sincerely felt it was the key to mental illness, a cure for depression, PTSD., Roman-Martinez had poor eyesight and wore thick glasses above a friendly smile. Roman-Martinez joined the Army in September 2016. Fish ate them, says his sister (above at her brothers funeral and on the beach where his remains were found). Lavignes death.. All rights reserved. He had been shot multiple times in the chest, wrapped in a type of nylon blanket that soldiers call a woobie, and placed in the back of his own truck, the gray Chevrolet. It was a story he would later repeat to Leshikars mother, sister, and wife. Lavigne was entitled to a variety of due process protections. The GAO opened its investigation in October 2019 in an attempt to understand a spate of deadly mishaps that keep occurring. 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. I hurt Sarah, and my career is ruined. I talked to him for a long time. Nobody would listen., My son was the most honest, loyal, patriotic person, she continues. Lewis followed her outside, holding their three-year-old daughter on one hip and a gun in the other hand. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, May 13th 2023 at the Veteran's Hall (360 N Harrison St, Fort Bragg, CA He was just a boy, she quotes him as saying. The modus operandi that investigators have shown in these cases is to shut out the public, decline to answer questions, apprehend no perpetrators. Thats when he made the statement that if I wanted my husband gone, he could take care of it, she says. 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. Enrique Roman-Martinez of Fort Braggs 82nd Airborne Division was beheaded during a camping trip with six other soldiers. Such a pigheaded, egotistical man was the first impression he made on his wife, Laura, a 39-year-old paralegal from Hawaii whose dad was a Marine. Everything thats happening at Fort Bragg is horrible, says Lynda Lewis, mother of the Special Forces medic who murdered his pregnant wife. 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. Officials said foul play was not suspected. Pentagon Finally Stops Hiding Military Overdose Epidemic He was a very hostile individual, says a detective who used to rent a house from Dumas. They say get a lawyer., I just dont know whats going on with our military right now, says Mabey. Two months later, someone nearly died of a heroin overdose at Lavignes house. She sent him a text message and agreed to hear him out on condition they meet at Leshikars grave site. Lavigne then grabbed the girls, took them inside of the house, and locked out Leshikar. The sheriffs office refused to share a full investigative report on the incident with the Leshikar family, which, Swain says, is department policy. Sgt. And when my daddy looked up, I could see he wasnt there anymore.. He was a sweet, animal-loving kid who went to Afghanistan at the age of 19 and came back a different person, she says. 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) He was in an IED blast. A small boy about waist high is dancing next to a laundry hamper to music from the television. Even though some people use the term interchangeably, they are Posted 2023-04-21T13:30:09+00:00 - Updated 2023-04-21T23:20:10+00:00 On May 9, 2018, roughly three months after Becky Kunzes death, Sarah Hartsfield fatally shot her onetime fianc in the large home they had moved to from Texas months before. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Carol Ann Brown to pay them a last tribute. You can clearly see the moment a small black hole appears in the sheetrock, blowing out a cone of gypsum powder. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and this time, for whatever reason, the charge was not dropped. Ive seen it. His whole world was his children and his wife.. I have to prove that he was not in his right mind, she says. The Fayetteville Observer. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. For David George and Sarah Hartsfield, the first eight months of 2018 were marked by death and destruction. Her brother enlisted for a steady paycheck and for the GI Bill. Four Fort Bragg soldiers died while deployed in 2019. This led to a physical fight, a wrestling match on the driveway. George Allen taught Villalon at East Aurora High School. She and her whole family had gone into the back bedroom to hide. The remaining three are still at large from incidents in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Queens, N.Y., and Detroit, Mich. Joseph Zygarowski, 25. He tried to rationalize it, telling his mom that he and his fellow Green Berets would snort coke to stay awake on sleepless missions. Based out of a high-security compound inside Fort Bragg, it has become a covert military within the military. I would rather see peace than war. Over the next year, Leshikar moved on to benzodiazepines, then MDMA, then cocaine. In August 2019, he reported to the Special Warfare Center and School as astudent who was part of the Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group, officials said. A 24-year-old military mechanic died Wednesday at Fort Bragg during a traffic accident at Fort Bragg, officials announced Friday. Master Sgt. A 24-year-old military mechanic died Wednesday at Fort Bragg during a traffic accident at Fort Bragg, officials announced Friday. After releasing news of his death, LaVignes unit focused on his military service, which included multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq in support of the Global War on Terrorism while assigned to U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Hes one of those guys whos into nature. Daddy was mad at Uncle Billy for locking the door, Leshikars daughter told her mother and grandmother. He would leave his phone and wallet for sure, but not his glasses. 18h ago. Image in illustration by Alamy. The same is true in the case of a young Ohioan, a Green Beret candidate, who in March was found unresponsive in his barracks. Billy joined Special Forces in 2006, became a Green Beret, and over the next decade averaged about one deployment a year. Nevertheless, local officials were satisfied by Lavignes claim of self-defense. In total, a staggering 83 active-duty soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg died in the 18 months ending June 2021, according to data obtained by Rolling Stone. Joseph Zygarowski who died during a training exercise at Fort Bragg on April 19. Mount, 25, from St. George, Utah, died July 21 as the result of a vehicle rollover accident while conducting reconnaissance operations, July 21 in Eastern Syria. In May of that year, he met Mark Leshikar, another stubborn, hardheaded country boy from way up north. These incidents, the letter read, indicate a problem that may be underreported, and are a call for urgent action. In the bed of the truck and on the ground beside it were two dead men. Then 9/11 happened, touching off the longest period of war in U.S. history. A Fort Bragg spokesperson identified the soldier as Sgt. No way., Romero knows one of the other paratroopers who was on the camping trip. FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- A soldier at Fort Bragg died April 19 during a training exercise. He didnt spend a single night in jail. Villalon is survived by his mother of Chicago and father of Brownsville, Texas. 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. FORT BRAGG A soldier is being mourned after he was killed during a training exercise at Fort Bragg, officials said Friday. 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. We have not ruled anything in or out as the investigation continues.. A few minutes later, she began to record a video of her little godson dancing on the living-room carpet. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. 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. CID rejects any notion that anything but a complete and unbiased investigation was conducted, Grey says. Her husband and Lavigne remained with the other car, bound for Fayetteville, with the girls in the backseat. 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. They quickly became the best of friends. He went out and bought a dress in his size, says Laura. That he would take care of him permanently. Half of those deaths have been ruled suicides. She claims to have known Lavigne well, and to have seen him do cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin. Pfc. The man in the bed of the truck, by contrast, didnt have to inflate his military credentials. And I said, Well, no, because its not legal, says Mabey. Law enforcement still has no known suspects in the case. Spc. 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. We lost our friend, he told the dispatcher. By the end of the year, there had been 21 suicides at Fort Bragg, more than at any other U.S. military post. El tipo que peg el tiro aqu, she says, pointing to a small black hole in the wall: The guy who fired a shot through here., The other woman, whom Ill call Estella, tells me the story in English. Three Fort Bragg soldiers died while deployed overseas in 2020, according to the Department of Defense. Command Sgt. McLaughlin is survived by his wife and four children. What substances were involved in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses? She hung up on him, but later had second thoughts. You got 42 confirmed kills? she says, imitating a mans deep voice. She had called his unit because he had been drinking real bad and using steroids, and asked that he be moved back into the barracks, says Phillips. Goodman was born in Pasadena, California, but grew up near Chicago andenlisted in July 2002 and transferred to the Army National Guard in 2005. The colonel used to be involved in selection, he said, and in addition to superlative marksmanship, he would look for introversion and artistic ability in potential recruits. Only his severed head had been found. Billy seemed to have ideals that matched mine. He was a very hostile individual. All rights reserved. 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. Even if Leshikar had come at him with a screwdriver, Billy wouldnt just forget how to disarm somebody, Nicole says. 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. recruits that occurred from January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2019.1 We obtained and reviewed documents related to the recruit deaths from the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner and the Military Services, including death certificates, electronic medical records, and command and medical investigations and reviews. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History As far as is known, the first time 2nd Lt. Bryant met Sgt. That last part wasnt true, it later emerged. Paul Allan Hartman. This data emerged amid increasing awareness of rising rates of drug use notably of cocaine and steroids in the Special Operations Forces. 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. The Army said two soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg died Monday in unrelated deaths that shook the community at the North Carolina base. Around 4 p.m., they arrived at Lavignes house, a cookie-cutter tract home at the end of a blank cul-de-sac. 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. WebDeath notices in Fort Bragg are another source of valuable information for discovering those elusive ancestors. Nathan Goodman, 36, of Hope Mills, died Jan. 14, 2020, in a free-fall training exercise near Eloy, Arizona. 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. Through the intercom she says that she is just as clueless as anyone else and that she and Dumas led separate lives.. Who Where Receive obituaries Bessie Carine March 25, 2023 (90 years old) View obituary Robert Ingram March 8, 2023 (53 years old) View obituary The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Lavignes death., Pentagon Finally Stops Hiding Military Overdose Epidemic, Senators Press Pentagon for Answers on Rash of Overdose Deaths, These Kids Are Dying Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg. Spc. 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? 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. Col. Kara Soules, a press officer for JSOC, also did not respond to questions. 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. He kind of represented himself as an SF operator, she says, though he was just a logistics guy. The FBI is also investigating the deaths of Dumas and Lavigne, and has taken the lead in the case, according to CID. Lois Ruth Collins. Ultimately, he concluded in his March 11th, 2019, report, I determined that [Lavigne] was NOT credible.. Words his sister uses to describe him include gentle, spiritual, and feminist. He was a hippie, a believer in crystals, she says. Mount was assigned to 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. I called every day for a month. The last time his father spoke to him was Thanksgiving. Other operators that were there. I did not get the impression that he was joking. Nathan Goodman, 36, of Hope Mills, died Jan. 14, 2020, in a free-fall training exercise near Eloy, Arizona. Smither enlisted in the Army in May 2019 and was stationed at Fort Bragg in December 2019. One minute after midnight on February 17th, 2020, Lavigne crashed his truck into a womans vehicle in Fayetteville. At age 37, William Billy Lavigne II was a true Tier 1 operator, a master sergeant on the Armys most selective and clandestine task force. Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528. So does his best friend, 21-year-old Christian Romero, who is also a paratrooper stationed at Fort Bragg, but in a different unit. The identity of a soldier struck and killed by a vehicle on Fort Bragg last week was released Monday. 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. - Page 2. 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. Lavigne, who was divorced and had a succession of girlfriends, loved being a dad, Nicole says. Aint got much faith in CID.. Dec. 7, 2020. Her brother was the same way. Not only was he a decorated Green Beret with dozens of badges and patches and medals from 14 different deployments, he was also a member of Delta Force, the most elite military unit in the United States. Enrique was blind as fuck without his glasses, Romero says. When they found my brothers remains, he didnt even have eyes. Related McLaughlin joined the Army in 2012, according to the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office. Jean Cruz De Leon , 20, of Marrero, Louisiana, was killed in a Sept. 9 training accident when his parachute Sgt. .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 Spc. June 23, 2021. Sometimes when I would walk into Billys house, it was just everywhere., She personally observed, on two or three occasions, the same four guys cutting up and snorting lines of white powder. We are far from the flagpole and are expected to be incorruptible.. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History It was late at night and she was out front smoking a cigarette. Three unnamed Navy SEALs told CBS in 2017 that various teammates of theirs had tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and heroin, and that the substance-abuse problem was growing. In 2014, a Navy SEAL named Angel Martinez-Ramos pleaded guilty after being arrested at Miamis airport with 10 kilos of cocaine in his carry-on. Its the last thing we spoke about.. He was trying to get into Buddhism. He was a human resource specialist in the 82nd Airborne Divisions 37th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.