But she was acquainted with Timothy Dumas, the 44-year-old veteran who was found dead alongside him. A particular area of concern is U.S. Army Alaska, USA TODAY has found. Everything thats happening at Fort Bragg is horrible, says Lynda Lewis, mother of the Special Forces medic who murdered his pregnant wife. 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. 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. And Rolling Stone covers a "staggering" number of soldier overdose deaths in Fort Bragg. The DAs office did not respond to multiple requests for more information. Absolutely. As the madness of 2020 settled over the country, bringing with it a nationwide wave of drug abuse and violent crime, Lavigne was also spinning out of control. Five were murdered. He finally put the gun down. In the aftermath, Lynda says, There were no real repercussions.. Lavignes death.. The role of fentanyl in opioid-related deaths and substance-involved deaths as-a-whole continues to be a primary concern. Even if Leshikar had come at him with a screwdriver, Billy wouldnt just forget how to disarm somebody, Nicole says. Out of the 83 "sudden and unexpected" fatalities, eleven of them were determined to be from natural causes. Finally, on December 4th, authorities released the autopsy report, and it left no doubt of foul play. He . Out of nowhere, she says, this tall, baldheaded black dude comes up with a skinny black guy with dreads. Lavigne then grabbed the girls, took them inside of the house, and locked out Leshikar. He tells me I should go smoke in the back because theres going to be a shooting.. We lost our friend, he told the dispatcher. 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. A pixelated face is the apogee of the operator aesthetic, which begins with long hair, a bushy beard, and a checkered keffiyeh worn around the neck. Theyve done coke in front of me, she says. Thats the way I feel about it.. Tom Sizemore, Heat and Saving Private Ryan Actor, Dead at 61 But when she called her husband on FaceTime, he seemed perfectly normal, leading her to conclude that they were playing a joke on her. Theyll show up in their Class A uniforms looking all distinguished and get sympathy: OK, dismissed. Thomas Renz reveals the DoD whistleblowers during a Senate hearing. Fort Bragg Advocate-News obituaries and Death Notices for Fort Bragg California area . Fort Bragg paratroopers Spc. 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. She and her husband, a Navy submariner, were moving to North Carolina, and stayed for a time at Leshikars apartment. 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. I killed my best friend, he said, according to Patino. You got 42 confirmed kills? she says, imitating a mans deep voice. The Armys Criminal Investigative Command, or CID, also concluded that the homicide was justified, likewise for reasons that it refuses to make public. Enjoy. Hearing her father call her name, she went and let him inside. 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. The FBI is also investigating the deaths of Dumas and Lavigne, and has taken the lead in the case, according to CID. . 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. He called me and said, Mom, Ive got a gun to my head. The militarys overdose crisis, though most severe at Fort Bragg, affects the entire Army and every other service branch, too. After the COVID-19 vaccine protocol was mandated on the military, the number of medical issues spiked to 22 million in the first 10 months of 2021 a 1,000 percent increase! Billy joined Special Forces in 2006, became a Green Beret, and over the next decade averaged about one deployment a year. 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. (Natural News) 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. This data emerged amid increasing awareness of rising rates of drug use notably of cocaine and steroids in the Special Operations Forces. In just18 months, Fort Bragg lost over 80 soldiers from sudden and unexplained causes. He wore camouflage but sat in a cubicle. The Army is failing to keep soldiers combat-ready, and this is evidenced by the militarys own medical surveillance system. But the Army isnt giving any, Illustration by Mike McQuade for Rolling Stone. 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. 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. 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.. The young soldier who called 911 also told the dispatcher, unprompted, that Roman-Martinez had suicidal tendencies, which his sister strenuously disputes. I hurt Sarah, and my career is ruined. I talked to him for a long time. We were always poor growing up, his sister Griselda says. December 31, 2022 (85 years old) View obituary Wayne Richard Swanson December 25, 2022 (78 years old) View obituary William Schroeder Mertle December 23, 2022 (80 years old) View obituary Patricia Ann Menzies October 26, 2022 (82 years old) View obituary Peter Charles Paskos November 20, 2022 (87 years old) View obituary Norma Edith Wright Greene As Sarah pounded on the neighbors door, he opened fire on her. Sens. June 23, 2022 (83 years old) View obituary. Appropriate adverse action, which was previously initiated in response to substantiated misconduct, was being finalized at the time of Master Sgt. 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.. It included Dumas name and the type of handgun he used, but its not clear if he was taken into custody. An investigative reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, Seth Harp, has been looking into this medical anomaly. How they knew each other, the nature of their connection, remains a mystery. He would leave his phone and wallet for sure, but not his glasses. Virtually everything to do with this organization is classified, says Sean Naylor, author of Relentless Strike, a history of JSOC. Fort Bragg stopped reporting the fatalities after June 2021, but the bodies continue to pile up. I would rather see peace than war. Daddy was mad at Uncle Billy for locking the door, Leshikars daughter told her mother and grandmother. Fort Bragg stops reporting soldier deaths after dozens found dead in their bunks An investigative reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, Seth Harp, has been looking into this medical anomaly. Did he struggle with drugs, alcohol, cocaine, tramadol? Congress, on the hand, is concerned with renaming Fort Bragg. According to the medical examiner, Roman-Martinez had been decapitated. Its not just combat trauma and moral injury, says Naylor. 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. The problems persisted. 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. It makes me feel great, said Carole De Nola, when she learned of the letter. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Estella thought he was joking. When he came home, notably, you could see a droopiness in his eye, she tells me. Im a monster. After the COVID-19 vaccine protocol was mandated on the military, the number of medical issues spiked to 22 million in the first 10 months of 2021 a 1,000 percent increase! Her son, Spc. Exclusive: Army Files Charges in Mysterious Fort Bragg Beheading Case, Bereaved family members welcomed the senators efforts towards reform. Some of them are really great. Nine US soldiers, all stationed at Fort Bragg, all in their 20s or 30s, recently died at from "undetermined" causes, or after being discovered "unresponsive" in their bunks. 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. 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.. He was a sweet, animal-loving kid who went to Afghanistan at the age of 19 and came back a different person, she says. 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. He was getting clean.. He didnt spend a single night in jail. Sparks, Ruth Fort Bragg, CA . Her husband and Lavigne remained with the other car, bound for Fayetteville, with the girls in the backseat. Her brother was the same way. There is no record of an indictment for either offense. What is the protocol for informing family in the event of an overdose, including non-fatal overdoses. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time The Military Health System began administering the spike protein mRNA vaccine to military service members on December 14, 2020. He was in an IED blast. The recent reports of fatal drug overdoses out of military installations like Fort Bragg are alarming, Sen. Markey said in a statement to Rolling Stone. Lewis followed her outside, holding their three-year-old daughter on one hip and a gun in the other hand. Both had been killed by gunshots, and according to news reports, shell casings were scattered on the ground. Drugs were in involved in the deaths of Joshua Diamon and Matthew Disney. 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. We dont know where he has gone. He added, When we woke up he was not here. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Thomas Renz reveals the DoD whistleblowers. 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. The modus operandi that investigators have shown in these cases is to shut out the public, decline to answer questions, apprehend no perpetrators. An orange sun is setting behind row upon row of monotonous pines. He was planning on coming home and building a log cabin on our property, says his dad. Dumas and his dreadlocked sidekick went into the apartment across the corridor, and she went into hers. Just a while ago the FBI went and dived in the area, and didnt find anything. One of the largest military installations in the world, Fort Bragg is home to approximately 54,000 military personnel and includes the Special Forces, the Airborne Corps, and the Joint Special Operations Command. Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, and three other senators are demanding answers from Defense Sec. Harpwrote: Fort Bragg soldiers have been turning up unresponsive in their barracks on a disturbingly regular basis since the beginning of 2020, including Caleb Smither, Terrance Salazar, Jamie Boger, Joshua Diamond, Matthew Disney, Mikel Rubino, Michael Hamilton, and numerous others who have not been named.. On March 28th, the Fayetteville police responded to an incident in which he was suspected of shooting into an occupied dwelling. 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.. The . According to the data, the five-year average for medical issues in the military was 1.7 million codes. But he scared me., a copy of which was first obtained by Jack Murphy of. At least 44 Fort Bragg soldiers died stateside in 2020 several of them were homicides. Only his severed head had been found. Over the past 20 years of continuous war, from the snowy passes of the Hindu Kush to the desert scrublands of Somalia, JSOCs budget and autonomy have continuously grown, and so has the scope of its mission. Fort Bragg stops reporting soldier deaths after dozens found dead in their bunks An investigative reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, Seth Harp, has been looking into this medical anomaly. On February 9, 2022, Seth reported the death of 83 soldiers at Fort Bragg in the 18 months ending in June 2021. According to officials, 33 of the fatalities are of undetermined causes. He was taken home that same night by some of his Delta Force teammates. 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. What substances were involved in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses? 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. 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. The next day around 7 p.m., one of the campers called 911. Send us a message on Facebook. 150 Studies Proving the Ineffectiveness and Harm of Wearing Masks, read them HERE. How To Get Back 100% Vision At Any Age? 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. For the latest update on stopping the mandates in the military, read Liberty Councils updates on the Navy SEAL 1 v. Austin case. Image in illustration by Alamy. I dont know any soldier who has done the tours he had done that doesnt., That was certainly the case with Lavigne. In January of 2021, Army captain Robert Latham died suddenly of an apparent heart attack. The 32-year-old was previously in top physical condition. When they found my brothers remains, he didnt have eyes. He was never booked, photographed, or taken before a magistrate for a bond hearing. Search Fort Bragg obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. Its not even clear exactly how many soldiers died at Fort Bragg in 2020. Lavigne himself turned up dead a few years later, shot in the chest and left in the back of his own truck. Their deaths came despite an effort that spent. He was seeing bad things.. Leshikar opened the hood of the car, a Honda Accord, and with the engine still hot, began to disassemble it. Uh-huh., CID is aware of the deceaseds alleged drug activities, Grey, the CID spokesman, says. More Biden corruption. by: Ashley Anderson. And he fell down on the ground and Uncle Billy kept shooting him. 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. Over the next year, Leshikar moved on to benzodiazepines, then MDMA, then cocaine. But neither JSOC nor USASOC responded to repeated requests for comment. Could there be a serious drug problem going on at Fort Bragg? Five senators are calling on the Department of Defense to investigate overdose deaths at Fort Bragg, reports Rolling Stone.
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