'These Kids Are Dying' Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg Tier 1 operators have ascended so high in the lethal bureaucracy that they no longer exist. 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. When I ask if his best friend ever took LSD, Romero says, Yeah. 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. Though the offense was a felony, he was not charged. Ultimately, he concluded in his March 11th, 2019, report, I determined that [Lavigne] was NOT credible.. Here are some of the tragic deaths that have plagued the base in recent months: Pvt. But he scared me., a copy of which was first obtained by Jack Murphy of. On March 28th, the Fayetteville police responded to an incident in which he was suspected of shooting into an occupied dwelling. We lost our friend, he told the dispatcher. He kind of represented himself as an SF operator, she says, though he was just a logistics guy. 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. Rachael Riley. There was never no mention of this Dumas. Nicole and Laura say the same. The base so far this year has seen five homicides, seven suicides, eight accidents, two illnesses and five deaths that are still under investigation. 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. In just 18 months, Fort Bragg lost over 80 soldiers from sudden and unexplained causes. In the few photos of Delta Force that exist in the public domain, their faces are blurred or blacked out, their identities classified. He confessed that he had once killed a child soldier. 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. There were two people that my brother insisted that I meet, she says, and Billy was one of them., Nicole, a spiritual life coach and Reiki energy teacher, says Lavigne was different from the other off-duty operators her brother hung around. Hughes was an unmanned aerial vehicle operator assigned to the A Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. 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.The Master Sgt. 18h ago. She and her husband, a Navy submariner, were moving to North Carolina, and stayed for a time at Leshikars apartment. Did he struggle with drugs, alcohol, cocaine, tramadol? 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 Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. She used to rent a house from him in Carthage, another little town on the periphery of Fort Bragg. In March 2018, Mark and Laura Leshikar took their daughter to Disney World to celebrate her fifth birthday. 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. 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.. Lavigne, too, managed to escape prosecution on multiple occasions, though he had been suspected of felonies that included harboring an escapee, maintaining a vehicle or dwelling to manufacture a controlled substance, and even murder. 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. No screwdriver was found anywhere near Leshikars body. He repaired construction equipment and was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, a Fort Bragg news release said. Estella called the Fayetteville police, who filed an incident report. Zygarowski, who enlisted in the Army in 2018, was a mechanic assigned to 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. We dont know where he has gone. He added, When we woke up he was not here. Master Sgt. 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. A burial was held on Monday, April 24th 2023 at the Rose Memorial Park (760 N Franklin St, Fort Bragg, CA 95437). Uh-huh., CID is aware of the deceaseds alleged drug activities, Grey, the CID spokesman, says. The vacation lasted nearly a week. It makes me feel great, said Carole De Nola, when she learned of the letter. He was deadly serious., She pretended to laugh it off, and when Dumas left to get a part from the hardware store, she called her neighbors to come over and sit with her. 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. 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. He called me and said, Mom, Ive got a gun to my head. Theyve done coke in front of me, she says. He changed dramatically in a short period of time, says his father, who came from Michigan to stay with him after the shooting. There had to have been at least one. 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.. Goodman completed four deployments to Afghanistan, one to Iraq, two to Africa, and one to Kyrgyzstan, the statement said. Command Sgt. 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. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and this time, for whatever reason, the charge was not dropped. 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. To hear that such a high-powered group of senators had taken up the cause was very encouraging. Ballard, the only full-time detective in Vass, didnt know Billy Lavigne. What is known is that on December 22nd, Sarah dialed 911 and fled to a neighbors house. Sens. 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. Multiple people who knew Lavigne tell me that he regularly snorted cocaine, took MDMA, popped pills, and drank heavily. 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. Rachael Riley. Just not very well. In July 2018, around the time he and his dad had to flee from that Independence Day fireworks show, he called Mabey to beg her forgiveness for killing her son. Everybody seemed to know the same people. Terrance Salazar, 24, of Pleasanton, Texas, was found unresponsive in his room Nov. 11 and could not be revived, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division said. A soulless expression would come over him, like he was looking through you, when he got to drinking, Nicole says. Their brains bounced against their skulls a dozen times on that tour, in addition to calling in airstrikes, or being in an armored vehicle that gets rocked by an IED. Daddy was mad at Uncle Billy for locking the door, Leshikars daughter told her mother and grandmother. The 26 deaths so far this year, nears 2018 and 2017 full 12 month numbers of 28 and 29 respectively. Only his severed head had been found. 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. His dream was to go to pharmacy school. 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. His care-free, easygoing personality made him approachable and well-loved, Moro said. 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. June 23, 2021. You can clearly see the moment a small black hole appears in the sheetrock, blowing out a cone of gypsum powder. Editors Note: This report is limited to the latest information obtained by SOFREP about the death of MSG Lavigne and Timothy Dumas. 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. Salazar was an infantryman assigned to 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Lewis followed her outside, holding their three-year-old daughter on one hip and a gun in the other hand. Its just like taking an antidepressant, he would say. He sped off from the scene and was charged with a hit-and-run. Its a horrible photo, Nicole says, like hes already dead. In real life, she says, he was more handsome: tall and bald, with a neatly trimmed beard. They were identified as Master Sgt. 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. 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. 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. Macho as Leshikar might have been, when his little girl told him that he had to wear a dress to attend her tea party, he didnt argue. July 3, 2022 (91 years old) View obituary. Its a lot of TBI, or traumatic brain injury. He was promoted to master sergeant in July, becoming an operations team sergeant for a Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha, officials said. This data emerged amid increasing awareness of rising rates of drug use notably of cocaine and steroids in the Special Operations Forces. Lois Ruth Collins. His death was ruled a homicide. He tells me I should go smoke in the back because theres going to be a shooting.. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. What is the protocol for informing family in the event of an overdose, including non-fatal overdoses. 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. 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. He was getting clean.. Joshua Diamond, 35, of Plymouth, Mass. He was taken home that same night by some of his Delta Force teammates. He didnt respond, she says. WebFort Bragg Advocate-News obituaries and Death Notices for Fort Bragg California area . This led to a physical fight, a wrestling match on the driveway. LaVigne died of multiple gunshot wounds and was shot by (an) unknown person, his death certificate states. In the bed of the truck and on the ground beside it were two dead men. Through the intercom she says that she is just as clueless as anyone else and that she and Dumas led separate lives.. Lavignes death.. He also deployed with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team in 2017 during Iraqs liberation of Mosul from the Islamic State. 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. It was a story he would later repeat to Leshikars mother, sister, and wife. He was participating in an airborne training operation at Fort Stewart, Georgia. 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. He was strung out and weeping over Leshikar. Did he have demons? Inside the Rash of Unexplained Deaths at Fort Hood | Vanity Fair These incidents, the letter read, indicate a problem that may be underreported, and are a call for urgent action. Nathan Goodman, 36, of Hope Mills, died Jan. 14, 2020, in a free-fall training exercise near Eloy, Arizona. CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report 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. 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. It was his last hoorah, says Nicole, who spoke to her brother for a final time on St. Patricks Day. It was out of control, says his best friends wife, Laura Leshikar. Both girls witnessed what happened next. Joseph Zygarowski who died during a training exercise at Fort Bragg on April 19. 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. 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. Anthony Whitten. Four Fort Bragg soldiers died while deployed in 2019. Maybe drugs could have been a reason why this happened, he speculates, without elaborating. FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- A soldier at Fort Bragg died April 19 during a training exercise. Succession Recap: Logan Roy Makes Shock Return, Shiv and Tom Get Kinky A 24-year-old military mechanic died Wednesday at Fort Bragg during a traffic accident at Fort Bragg, officials announced Friday. Just a while ago the FBI went and dived in the area, and didnt find anything. Billy joined Special Forces in 2006, became a Green Beret, and over the next decade averaged about one deployment a year. According to officials, 33 of the fatalities are of undetermined causes. And when my daddy looked up, I could see he wasnt there anymore.. Enrique Roman-Martinez, 21, of Chino, California, was last seen May 22 while camping with fellow soldiers near Mile Marker 46 on South Core Banks. In late May, a 21-year-old enlisted man from California was killed beheaded, in fact while on a camping trip with six of his fellow paratroopers; once again, no arrests have been made in the case. He was a sweet, animal-loving kid who went to Afghanistan at the age of 19 and came back a different person, she says. The same is true in the case of a young Ohioan, a Green Beret candidate, who in March was found unresponsive in his barracks. Click the "subscribe'' link at the top of this article. All of that has a cumulative effect., A damaged soul plagued by mental torment, and also more thoughtful, more introverted than his Delta Force teammates, is how Nicole describes Lavigne. His longtime partner died. Trending CID rejects any notion that anything but a complete and unbiased investigation was conducted, Grey says. She claims to have known Lavigne well, and to have seen him do cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin. WebThey are: Master Sgt. Have a nice day. , I go to the location listed on the incident report to learn more, and find four people, two men and two women, living in a one-bedroom apartment in a drab complex near Cross Creek. According to Stars & Stripes, more than 30 soldiers working at Fort Bragg have died so far in 2020. 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. 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. Related Leshikars killing was ruled a justifiable homicide, but Swain declines to say on what grounds investigators came to that conclusion. People not inclined to be team players, he explained, somewhat paradoxically. Most recent obituaries in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Lavigne was entitled to a variety of due process protections. George Allen taught Villalon at East Aurora High School. User may use CAC to register and log in. As she lay dying, her baby girl was born; she was going to be named Isabella, but she did not live. On several occasions, various people at Fort Bragg have offered to sell him tabs, Romero says, including the soldier from the camping trip. Lavigne was transported downtown, but did not remain long in the police station. As soon as the rockets began to burst, We had to get out of there. You would not believe how many people I have reached out to. David Bragg. July 15, 2021 (24 years old) View obituary. The man on the ground, who had been dropped by a single bullet to the right temple, was 44-year-old Timothy Dumas. These are highlights of a significantly lengthier list. 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. I dont know any soldier who has done the tours he had done that doesnt., That was certainly the case with Lavigne. 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. Lt. Col. Val Moro, commander of 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, said those who served with Mount will mourn his loss. He was in an IED blast. You always got the sense from him that he was involved in something illegal, like some kind of crime ring. Fort Bragg paratroopers killed in Afghanistan remembered for their sacrifice, Fort Bragg paratrooper dies following accident in Syria, 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, Myron B. Pitts: Fort Bragg name to become a thing of the past good, Death of Special Forces soldier found on Fort Bragg ruled as homicide, , died Jan. 28, 2020, in his barracks room, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Around 4 p.m., they arrived at Lavignes house, a cookie-cutter tract home at the end of a blank cul-de-sac. In response to these and other embarrassments, including President Trumps pardon of former SEAL Eddie Freaking Evil Gallagher, the commander of all special-operations forces, Gen. Richard Clarke, ordered a comprehensive ethics review in August 2019. 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. 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 island is small, with few trees and a thick crowd of people that weekend. 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. On June 20th, in Carthage, he was arrested at a McDonalds for striking a woman with a bag of food. The remaining three are still at large from incidents in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Queens, N.Y., and Detroit, Mich. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. As Sarah pounded on the neighbors door, he opened fire on her. In this one, he is sitting in what looks to be a restaurant booth, dressed in a gray vest and a purple dress shirt. The Fort Bragg soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan and Syria in support of Operations Freedoms Sentinel and Inherent Resolve. Fort Bragg cannot explain why dozens of soldiers are dying in their own bunks. Joseph Zygarowski, 25. MILITARY. July 10, 2022 (65 years old) View obituary. Nicole and her husband also had small children. Words his sister uses to describe him include gentle, spiritual, and feminist. He was a hippie, a believer in crystals, she says. Leshikar was a native of rural Idaho and had lived in Washington state, near the Canadian border. The camera flash has rendered his retinas red. On Friday night, there was a thunderstorm. Three Fort Bragg soldiers died while deployed overseas in 2020, according to the Department of Defense. He didnt spend a single night in jail. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Why did it take them till December?. I have to prove that he was not in his right mind, she says. Finally, one womans face lights up. We want to hear it. He sounded somewhat normal, but anxious and preoccupied. Only two months remained before he would become eligible for retirement. He was a three-time volunteer who enlisted in the Army in May 2019 and reported to his first duty assignment at Fort Bragg in October. 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. Cumberland County sheriffs deputies responded to the scene. Joseph Zygarowski who died during a training exercise at Fort Bragg on April 19. It was much easier, ironically, to get information on Fort Bragg-based personnel who died in foreign countries. A 24-year-old military mechanic died Wednesday at Fort Bragg during a traffic accident at Fort Bragg, officials announced Friday. He had a strong personality. The cause of death was homicide. They were joined by Lavigne, the girls godfather, whom she called Uncle Billy, and his daughter, who was like a younger cousin to her. 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. Boger was a student of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Here's who they are. So does his best friend, 21-year-old Christian Romero, who is also a paratrooper stationed at Fort Bragg, but in a different unit. Spc. 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. Mount was assigned to 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Hes one of those guys whos into nature. That was the only drug he was for; everything else he was against. The modus operandi that investigators have shown in these cases is to shut out the public, decline to answer questions, apprehend no perpetrators. The three-year-old was either let go by Keith or slipped free, and went running into the arms of one of the officers who responded to the scene. The militarys overdose crisis, though most severe at Fort Bragg, affects the entire Army and every other service branch, too.