Maybe I wasnt clear enough, she texted a girlfriend at 8:59 a.m. on Sept. 12. I held really, really tightly to my [family members] hands and stared straight ahead, she says. It was not a decision to try to sneak it out of Cumberland County. The only purpose of convening the meeting with the DA, Col. Kazin says, was to make sure that the JAG prosecutors understood whether Scanlon preferred to have a military or civilian trial. Since he was tried by the military, a branch of the federal government, the double-jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution would not bar the state from prosecuting him all over again. Rick described her brother's friend as a good and honorable man, although she is concerned with some of his actions that day. On the way to the staff sergeants house, where shed spend the night, she looked at her phone and saw that Vallejo had sent her a text: How are you? I think Ian, he said Will shot at him. Erin Scanlon wants to go on the record again so that her alleged attacker is identified as Delta Force. Years of proximity to military violence, as well as a culture of functional alcoholism and casual sex, left Jane feeling unworthy, damaged, and lost. Jane has dated multiple men on Delta Force at various times in her life. The certificates dont indicate how long the bodies were in the woods. Once at Lavigne's residence, Leshikar's family say the friend took Leshikar's phone. Master Sgt. He took that and he always was the one who would protect people who were being bullied in school because he was a big man.. The LaVigne and Leshikar familes had just returned from a trip to Disneyland. His spiral into drugs and paranoia culminated in him shooting at a man on the streets of Fayetteville in July 2020. I had to get shots and blood drawn to get tested for STDs so many horrible times. Constant appointments with lawyers, detectives, investigators, and advocates had disrupted her military career, and caused her to miss out on her units 2017 deployment to Iraq. He was fatally shot in March 2018 by Army Delta Force member William J. Lavigne, his best friend, who was known as "Billy" to Leshikar's family. Scanlon claims that Vallejo raped her that night, and says that the trauma still haunts her to this day. The person who seems to be in charge is a tall, barrel-chested man of about 40, whose long, scraggly beard is streaked with gray. Green Beret death raises questions, 1st Special Forces Command Line of Duty Memorandum. The Coast x Coast Foundation raised $450,943 in tax-free contributions from 2016 to 2020, according to IRS records. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Four .45-caliber shell casings were found at the scene. William Lavigne was the sixth witness for the defense, the trial rec-ord shows. I followed her, the detectives notes of the conversation read. . It didnt necessarily mean they didnt believe me. Unfortunately, her experience with the military-justice system greatly set back her career, and would overshadow her whole time in the Army. Connecting Vets contacted Cumberland County Sheriff's Office to obtain a copy of the full incident report, but was told that it will only be released with a court order from a judge. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. In 2020, she sued the Army in civil court for allegedly mishandling her case, but the lawsuit was blocked by the so-called Feres doctrine, established in 1950 by a Supreme Court decision that a broad range of legal scholars variously describe as archaic, unfair, irrational, unconscionable, and immoral. 2023 Audacy, Inc. All rights reserved. Each year, they hold a string of events in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia, where they sell merchandise, take donations, and raffle off items such as bottles of wine printed with portraits of fallen Delta Force soldiers, concealed-carry holsters, and pistols painted in the colors of the American flag. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was. (Phyllis B. Dooney for Rolling Stone). The following year, the legal travails of ex-SEAL Eddie Gallagher would make national headlines for months on end. Sgt Lavigne was a Green Beret and Delta Force member. She yelled something unintelligible before disappearing. The body of Master Sgt. All rights reserved. In fact, studies show that the conviction rate on penetrative-rape and forcible-sodomy charges is generally lower in military courts than civilian ones. Fort Bragg officials announced that the Master Sgt. Like Gallagher, Anayat was an ordinary Tier 2 special operator, of whom there are as many as 10,000. It was the last conversation he would have with his mother. There were three Delta Force soldiers, plus a retired bomb technician, in addition to Vallejo who went back to the warehouse that night, all of whom were Coast x Coast members. Both men were on active duty in Delta Force at the time. Leshikar's daughter said that, Uncle Billy was acting strange and that's why I let my daddy in, to the house. SUBSCRIBE Today!Also available everywhere you listen to podcasts!The recent deaths of Army Delta Force member William J. Lavigne and Army Veteran Timothy Dum. I only recently learned about Lavignes July 2020 arrest from a police report that the sheriffs office initially withheld. Whether the friend also secured Lavigne's phone is unknown. I represented him in Cumberland County.. Death. A Delta Force operator known to be good friends with both Lavigne and Leshikar was allegedly the first person Lavigne called as things deteriorated with Leshikar the day he died. She felt the implication was clear: Obviously youre a liar.. But it was a disheartening conclusion, she says, to a difficult and drawn-out ordeal that she insists was not my fault.. A toxicology report revealed trace amounts of Tramadol and Valium in Leshikar's system. On the afternoon of March 21, they arrived at Lavigne's home in the 1300 block of Anhinga Court in Fayetteville. Next came back-to-back tours in Iraq. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The other person killed in the apparently professional hit, a 44-year-old ex-soldier named Timothy Dumas, was an Afghanistan vet who had served in the 7th Special Forces Group before being separated from the Army for unspecified unacceptable conduct. Like Lavigne, Dumas had a long record of being arrested but not prosecuted in Cumberland County, for crimes including assault on a female, impersonating a police officer, making terroristic threats, and shooting into an occupied dwelling place. Whoever they are, they were capable of taking out one of the worlds most skilled and experienced gunfighters, without leaving any apparent clue for the FBI or CID to follow. According to a 2014 ATF report leaked to The Intercept, outlaw motorcycle gangs are proliferating in the military in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but aside from their vests and patches, the present-day Coast x Coast club looks more like customers in a Bass Pro Shop than Hells Angels. Subsequently, the Army swapped out her SVC four separate times. The mystery around the deaths of Master Sgt. According to Vallejos enlistment-record brief, obtained by Rolling Stone, he was born in California and joined the Army shortly before 9/11, when he was 19. Sketchy-looking, Scanlon describes it, comparing it to a rundown CrossFit gym, with a roll-up garage door, by a railroad track and a junkyard.. Scanlon and Tina arrived at Macs shortly before 10 p.m. A number of motorcycles were parked out front. On the point of leaving, Scanlon says she asked Vallejo where she could find the restroom. Together they make up the core of JSOC, the black ops component of the military. For good reason: The person or persons who killed Lavigne and Dumas remain at large. Spokeswoman Christina Howell said she could not elaborate on the specifics of what happened because stories of individuals at the scene appeared to differ about why they were there and how they know each other, but that it did not appear to be a random incident. But the warehouse had no plumbing; there was only a portable toilet out back. The death certificates say the two men were found about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 2, in the woods on Fort Bragg. A review of his uniform and decorations shows he was likely assigned to. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was one of two men found dead Dec. 2, in a training area on Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army said. LaVigne was supposed to be in Cumberland County District Court on Jan. 15 for a Feb. 17, 2020, hit-and-run charge, court documents say. There is zero respect for women in that community, she says. Meanwhile, Lavigne's career continued unabated at USASOC. In August 2016 just two weeks before he met Scanlon he threw out the first pitch at a Padres game in San Diego. He was taught how to survive behind enemy lines, resist interrogation, and escape from POW camps. He denies that Lavigne was ever into dealing any sort of narcotics. It was shocking, Scanlon told The Fayetteville Observer in 2019, and honestly a little bit unbelievable. (Attempts to reach Matrafailo by phone were unsuccessful.). She says that she was excluded from hearing the testimony of the other witnesses, that her military-appointed attorney was swapped out five separate times, and that one of them was called to provide testimony against her. The three Delta operators who had been at the warehouse that night took the stand, as did the retired bomb technician, the two civil-affairs officers, and the dancing bartender, as well as the red-haired widow. The trial began on a Monday morning. Over the course of 18 months between 2020 and 2021, more than 80 military members stationed at the base died from "sudden" and. She said that when she opened the door, and her daddy was mad and walking towards uncle Billy and uncle Billy came around and shot him, and then my daddy did this, her family described. As reported in the Army Times, MSG William J. Lavigne was found dead in the training area of Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. Starting in 2019, victims who testify get a copy of the court-martial record, including audio, whether it was an acquittal or conviction.. She passed a covered motorcycle trailer with a looming portrait of a slain Delta Force soldier printed on the side. Finally, the trial was set to begin in late-February 2018. Scanlon says the detail initially slipped her memory. We are not granting interviews at this time., If you murder a guy who is one of your most elite soldiers in the world and no one gives a shit, it is bothersome, Ciolino said. The detective told me, This guys active-duty, she recalls. 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. No unit patch. For reasons that remain a mystery, Lavigne had pulled out the .40-caliber sidearm he carried and double-tapped his best buddy right in front of two horrified little girls, his daughter and Leshikars. Mostly doing the talking, that I remember, was Capt. Because otherwise I would not be using a port-a-potty., She went outside and crossed the blacktop to where the toilet was set up against the exterior wall of a metal building. RIP, bro., One year later, the authorities have identified no suspects, arrested no perpetrators, and disclosed nothing about the evidence theyve gathered to date. When her contract was up in 2019, she resigned from the Army. Fort Bragg Delta Force Master Sgt. Scanlon and Vallejo both continued to live in Fayetteville and work on Fort Bragg. How did the Uber driver react to the distress shown by 1LT Scanlon? a juror asked Tina. The trial record shows that the prosecution called only four more witnesses, half as many as the defense. Both Vallejo and Lavigne were exonerated. Lavigne then went into the home, and locked himself inside with both of their daughters, who were around five years old at the time. I also recently reported on a very dark story, about a Delta Force operator named William Lavigne shot and killed his best friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar. We are only assisting. But Chris Grey, spokesman for CID, tells me, FBI is leading that investigation., On the third and final day of Vallejos court-martial, June 27, the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments. In September 2021, I visit the crack house where the incident occurred, a run-down home on Enloe Street accessible by a dirt road that a spokeswoman for the sheriff describes as a known drug house. Seven or eight people are sitting on the stoop or standing around the driveway. The Army never made a transcript of the court-martial, and destroyed the audio recordings as soon as it concluded, leaving no record of the testimony the witnesses gave, the arguments the lawyers made, or the judges oral rulings. He was originally set to be tried in civilian court, but Army prosecutors assigned to Special Forces swooped in at the last minute and caused the Cumberland County district attorney to drop the charges so that Vallejo could be tried by the military. First Class Mark Leshikar . His truck, a black quad-cab Dodge Ram, was found some 40 miles away, in Scotland County, burned to a fucking crisp, according to his 24-year-old son. Scanlon previously told her story to Ella Torres of ABC News, who published a thorough report on her case in 2020, and The Fayetteville Observer covered aspects of it in 2019. On Sept. 8, 2021, the Coast x Coast club holds a public event in Fayetteville, at their usual haunt, Macs Speed Shop. The staff sergeant had invited her over to his house earlier in the evening, but she and Tina hadnt wanted to leave the party. "Mark and Billy had a brotherly relationship and (the second Delta operator) was the papa bear that put them in line, Leshikar's sister described. . The warehouse is three blocks from police headquarters, but a spokesman for the Fayetteville PD denies knowing anything about the place, and had no relevant incident reports pertaining to the address. As I wrote in The Fort Bragg Murders, Lavignes dozen-plus deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere had left him addled with trauma and addicted to hard drugs and alcohol.
Ridgefield Press Property Transfers August 2020,
Xs Power Battery Delete Empty Cases,
Articles W
