Marine's Family Sues Greek Entities for Lost Heart

The parents of a Marine whose body came back from Greece missing his heart amended their federal lawsuit Wednesday to add the Greek government and an Athens hospital as defendants.

Craig and Beverly LaLoup, of Coatesville, are also suing the U.S. Department of Defense over the remains of 21-year-old Sgt. Brian LaLoup.

Read the entire story here.

Four Marines killed in Camp Pendleton maintenance accident

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Four Camp Pendleton-based Marines were killed Wednesday in an accident during regularly scheduled maintenance at one of the base’s artillery impact areas, Marine officials said.

The incident happened around 11 a.m. at the Zulu Impact Area during upkeep of the range meant to keep the areas safe and remove obstructions, a Marine official said. Impact areas are where Marines fire artillery and drop bombs from aircraft.

The names and ranks of the Marines killed are being held while their families are notified.

Read the entire story here.

Death Memorial

Daniel Ruf with his mother, Audrey

Daniel Ruf died at age 22 on July 21, 2009 in San Francisco’s Pacific Medical Center after working out with Marine Corps recruiters at In-Shape Gym on Tracy Boulevard to lose weight.

I was truly happy for the first time in my life at the age of 19, the day Danny was born. I raised Danny on my own. I guess in many ways we grew up together. We went through our share of life’s ups and downs but together we always could make it to the other end no matter what the struggle and we even managed to come out stronger and closer.

 The 22 years we had together were the best days of my life. He was so much fun. He grew up to be an amazing young man, a best friend to all who knew him and even those who did not… He truly cared about people and wanted to do what he could to help anyone who needed it. Danny was an amazing young man and the best kid a mom could wish for.

 Danny put himself through college by working 2 jobs; he even took the bus to college an hour away until we could get him a car. Danny never complained.  He made the most of every situation by enjoying the moment and time with friends. By the time Danny was 21 he was a GM Certified Mechanic and had his Associates Degree. This is quite an achievement for a boy raised by a single mom who can barely figure out where to put the oil. The economy caused the dealership to close down and Danny became unemployed for the first time, he was scared and not sure what to do. I pushed him to find work and I regret it with all my heart because he met a marine recruiter and was dead in 3 months at the age of 22.

 Danny signed up for the marines on May 1, 2009 with a boot camp date of July 13. Danny was a very muscular man weighing 215 pounds at 5ft9. The marines wanted him to weigh 190. They suggested water pills, laxatives, sauna suit in the sauna and while exercising under a sweat suit and a water only diet. He tried but 190 was an unachievable weight for Danny’s body type. If they had used the neck waist ratio to determine if he was over-weight Danny would not have been required to lose any weight. I found a receipt dated 3/7/09 filled out by the tailor at Jims Formal Wear’s for a tux showing Danny was 5 ft 9 with a weight of 220 over-arm of 57 inches, a waist of 36 inches and a 17 inch neck. This was at his heaviest weight…

 Danny became frustrated because he could not get his weight down even though he was dieting and working out and decided not to join the marines but did not want to let the recruiter down. Finally on July 6, 2009 Danny went in and told them he could not lose the weight and wanted to quit. They were angry and they told him that he had a tremendous opportunity to be “recon” which Danny loved …. and they gave him a new weight requirement of 199 and said they would check into an opening for July 27. So Danny said he would give it one more try.

 The next day they told Danny the 27th was full so he would need to be the 199lbs by July 20th (16lbs in 13 days). On July 14, Danny was 211lbs and the recruiter said that was not good enough and instructed Danny to report the next morning to the recruiter’s gym as his guest for one-on- one training and time in the sauna with the sauna suit under a sweat suit. The day before Danny and a friend had gone to buy movie tickets and the friend wanted to buy Danny a Subway sandwich. Danny did not want to eat but finally agreed and the recruiter actually came out of the recruiting office to the Subway and demanded to know what Danny was doing, reminding him he is on a no food water only diet until he makes weight.

 Danny came in my room on July 14 2009 and said, “Mom I don’t want to wear the sauna suit.”  I told him if the recruiter told him to do it he should listen because they know what will be best for him. I will never ever forget my words. I could have saved my son. He said, “Okay, mom,” and went to bed.

 The next morning we texted back and forth because he said he was not sure if the marines were right for him. He did not know if he could lose the weight and was worried about the 4 year commitment. He told me he was going to try his hardest and if he makes weight he will go and if not then we would just make a new plan, but he hates to fail. Danny said he was at 209lbs after breakfast that morning.
 I texted him, ”How was the sauna?” but never heard back.  The next call I received was from the local hospital telling me they found my number in his phone under “mom” and needed to know if I was Danny’s mom.  They said there was an accident and I needed to get there. I said I was coming from a city away. The lady said, “You need to leave right now.”  I knew then it was bad. I got to the hospital and they would not let me see Danny.  I had to go into a room and they explained that Danny was brain damaged but they did not know the extent because he was unconscious and on life support. I prayed, “Please God, I don’t care how brain damaged he is; please don’t take him from me. “  I know that was selfish but he was the best thing that ever happened to me and I could not imagine life without him.

 Danny had followed the recruiter’s instructions. They told Danny to go into the dry sauna then exercise. After about 40 minutes Danny told the recruiter he did not feel well and they told him to sit down and drink some water. Danny slipped into a coma and when the EMT’s arrived Danny’s temperature was 108 degrees.

 Danny had a heavy sweat suit complete with zip up hoody  jacket with the sauna suit underneath and the only thing the recruiters did was throw water on Danny… they did not remove or unzip any of Danny’s clothes. The recruiter later admitted he had no medical training yet he instructed my son to follow these radical weight loss methods. They should have told my son the loss was impossible and instead of pushing,  ultimately killing my son to make their numbers. The recruiter knew he was wrong, he disposed of the sauna suit and Danny’s pants rather than returning them with Danny’s other things. The other missing item was the guest day pass from the gym. The EMT report did state that they removed a non breathable sauna suit.

 Each day Danny got more and more yellow and swollen. Danny was transported to another hospital in San Francisco where he was to have better care and we were hoping to get him a liver transplant. I have never known anyone who died so I had no idea that he was not going home with me. On the 6th day they came and told me that his organs are all shutting down and there is nothing further they could do. I called my parents and they told me “Well,  why would you care?  You were going to let him go to Afghanistan.”  He never regained consciousness.  I asked that he have pain medicine so he would not feel the life support stopping they said he did and we stopped the blood pressure first and he kept it beating and then after about 2 hours I said, “Okay, stop the breathing machine,” which was the only other life support and he continued for a total of 6 hours. He lived until I called my parents and put the phone to his ear and he heard them and then died seconds after the phone was hung up on July 21, 2009. The cause of death was multi-organ system failure, hyperthermia with dehydration, exercise with occlusive gear, mild cardiomegaly with myocycte hypertrophy.

 When I left the hospital it was all surreal. I still sometimes can’t believe this is my life now.  I wish I could be with him. I find it so hard to find reason to go on with my life. It is so empty. I know we will be together again one day so I try to focus on helping people and making sure to remind people to enjoy what they have because no one knows what the future holds.

 My son was not only strong physically but also had strength of mind. He had the determination, persistence and loyalty to his instructing recruiter to continue to working out as he was instructed by that recruiter (even after telling me the night before he was uncomfortable wearing the sauna suit the recruiter instructed him to wear) all the way to the point of collapse. Danny felt confident that the recruiter was committed to helping him succeed safely by passing on his knowledge and training one-on-one so in return Danny gave him every bit of strength he had.

 The reward for Danny’s devotion was a marine recruiter who came to the hospital to accuse Danny of taking drugs.  He wanted me to know that they may be called for court martial.  Meanwhile, I was at the hospital with my son on life support, who had not come out of a coma for days and had an unspecified amount of definite brain damage. The ultimate betrayal was when the recruiter denied everything under oath. What happened to the few, the proud, the marines?   I guess Danny was not a marine yet so they did not have to show him honor, truthfulness or respect. They did a toxicology test for 150 drugs using the blood from his first day in the hospital and there were no drugs or alcohol in his system other than what they EMT’s gave him. I knew he was not on any drugs. Danny hated drugs and did not want to be around anyone who did them.

 The other recruiter did return to the hospital ICU and told two of my friends that he was sorry for what happened to Danny and that he believed that the marines and Danny were both responsible for pushing too hard. He said Danny was a great kid and that he wanted to take them all out on his quad. I do respect that he had the integrity to come and own up to what happened.  Although later he could not recall making that statement.

 My life is forever changed. Now my days just change one to the next with no real anticipation or happiness. Danny meant everything, to me he was my reason to live. He was my whole world. He truly was my best friend and my family all rolled in one.

 Danny was not the kid who decided to use unsafe methods to quickly lose weight and join the marines like they would like people to believe.  Danny is another recruit killed by military negligence.  I want to make sure that no other mother ever has to go through what I have been through.  I want everyone to know that the recruiters are not all honest and they are not all trained to give the advice they give and you can die from extreme dieting, sauna suits, saunas and exercise.

Audrey Ruf

Marine Corps studying spike in suicides

Fond du Lac - A few years ago as the war in Iraq was winding down and fighting continued in Afghanistan, the number of Marines killing themselves spiked.

The U.S. Marine Corps wants to know why.

Though the Corps has previously studied suicides and attempted suicides by Marines, the military branch is launching a project this year to examine the complex reasons that Marines are dying by their own hand.

A team of researchers, including a professor at Marian University in Fond du Lac, will interview relatives and friends of active-duty Marines who died by suicide between 2010 and 2012. Their reports for the Marine Corps Suicide Prevention Psychological Autopsy Project will be used to identify suicide risk factors or trends that might be unique to Marines.

Read the entire article here.

Head of Marine Corps Officer Candidates School relieved of command

WASHINGTON — The commander of the Marine Corps’ Officer Candidates School has been relieved in the wake of the murder-suicide there that left three Marines dead.

Commandant Gen. James Amos told the Marine Corps Times that he lost confidence in Col. Kris J. Stillings’ ability to command the school after the shootings last month.

Read the entire story here.

Marines release new plan to prevent sexual assault

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps on Monday released a plan aimed at preventing sexual assault and holding offenders and commanders accountable, noting that “despite our efforts, we have been ineffective at addressing and eliminating sexual assault.”

The plan, signed by Commandant Gen. James Amos, addresses many of the issues that victims and victim advocates frequently highlight — including an undue focus on victims’ personal life and command climates that foster sexual harassment and discourage reporting. It outlines a three-part campaign plan with a goal of “true zero tolerance, effective sustainment, empowered reporting, effective deterrence, engaged leadership and evolved culture.”

Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine officer and current executive director of Service Women’s Action Network, said the plan shows that the Marine Corps “has finally caught up to where the rest of the DOD leadership is, which isn’t saying that much.”

Read the entire story here.

4 Marines in Afghanistan electrocuted in separate incidents

At least four Marines have been electrocuted in separate incidents since November while serving in Afghanistan, according to the Marine Corps Times.

Their deaths were caused by low-hanging power lines that touched radio antenna and problems stemming from an electric generator, the Times reported, citing documents the paper obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Marine Corps Times reported those electrocuted in Afghanistan recently are Cpls. Adam Buyes, Connor Lowry and Jon-Luke Bateman and Lance Cpl. Kenneth Cochran.

Source: Marine Corps Times

ABC7Chicago.com Military death investigation focuses on role as gunner

Semper Fi Airs Tonight on MSNBC

Tonight at 10 PM EST, Our documentary will air on MSNBC for the first time on network TV. It will not be the full version of the film, as it had to be shortened to fit the one hour time slot allowed by the Lawerence O'Donnell show. The CBS Evening news is planning to run a story tonight about Camp Lejeune as well. Please take the time to thank Lawrence O'Donnell on his Facebook Page at the end of the showing tonight.
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http://www.facebook.com/thelastword

Information about Semper Fi Documentary on MSNBC

Marine’s suicide is only start of family’s struggle

For most of his 26 years in the military, Maj. Jeff Hackett was a standout Marine. Two tours in Iraq destroyed him.

Home from combat, he drank too much, suffered public breakdowns and was hospitalized for panic attacks. In June 2010, he killed himself.

Hackett’s suicide deeply troubled Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps. Hackett had been plucked from the enlisted ranks to lead Marines as an officer. He left behind a widow, four sons and more than $460,000 in debts. To Amos, Hackett was a casualty of war — surely the family deserved some compensation from the federal government.

Read the entire story here.

Widow of Marine Corps Launches Campaign to Prove Her Husband Was Murdered

Widow of Marine Corps Colonel Involded in Haditha Trials Launches Campaign to Prove Her Husband Was Murdered

Military widows join forces to raise awareness of non-hostile military deaths.

Marine Corps Colonel Michael Stahlman was an investigating officer in the case against Lt. Andrew Grayson, an intelligence officer charged with making false statements, attempting fraudulent discharge, and obstructing justice, in connection to the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha.

Colonel Stahlman was vocal in his disappointment with the manner in which the entire Haditha matter was handled by the Marine Corps hierarchy and recommended that charges against Grayson be dropped. The recommendation was rejected by prosecutors and Grayson eventually was cleared of all charges in June 2008.

At the time of Grayson’s acquittal, Colonel Stahlman was serving as the Rule of Law Coordinator at Camp Ramadi Iraq, where he was found unconscious with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head on July 31, 2008. Never regaining consciousness, he died months later on October 5, 2008 at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

His shooting was immediately suspicious to his widow Kimberly. Despite the fact that Colonel Stahlman was right-handed and had no history of depression, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology apparently labeled his shooting a suicide within hours of the incident without performing all available evidence testing.

Read the entire story here.

Bizarre, Unexplained Marine Colonel 'Suicides'
What the Hell's Going on?

Take the case of Marine Colonel Michael Stahlman who you might say was the ultimate Marine officer. Enrolled in Marine military school from the age of 14, Col Stahlman's father was one of the founding members of President Kennedy's Peace Corps. After becoming an officer in 1985, Michael Stahlman went to flight school and became qualified to fly the F-4 Phantom jet fighter. Then his career took a turn and he became increasingly involved in the legal aspects of the United States Marines. Along the way he became parachute qualified and as a result, his uniform bears both the wings of a Naval Aviator, and the jump wings synonymous with the legendary Marine Corps Force Recon Battalions. Those two areas, aviation and infantry, could not be any farther apart in the Corps.

At the age of 45, this Marine Colonel was about to begin a new life as a civilian with his wife and daughters who he always stayed in touch with via email and phone, according to Cilla McCain, author of Murder in Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One of Their Own. She's researching the story behind Col Stahlman's death and talked about her work in a recent interview with an Encino, California radio station.

This Marine officer was preparing to head home on leave, and he was close to retiring from his career in the military, according to author Celia McCain, when his untimely death came out of nowhere on 31 July 2008. Oh, and it was also a 'suicide' the Marines said. It happened at Camp Ramadi in Iraq's Anbar province, a place I flew into as a reporter covering the Iraq war about a month after the Colonel's death.

McCain explains that right-handed Stahlman suffered a gunshot wound to left side of head. His wife just never believed that it was suicide, and she was given the standard regard, and treated as a 'widow in denial' by a government content to view this warrior's death simply as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His wife and McCain both seem to believe there is quite a bit more to it.

Read the entire story here.

--submitted by Cilla McCain

Semper Fi Screenings in North Carolina

This weekend there will be two screenings of the Camp Lejeune Documentary, "Semper Fi: Always Faithful" in North Carolina. This is the first time the film has been seen in the state.

The first screening will be held Saturday, November 12th at 4PM in Wilmington NC. This screening is part of the Cucalorus Film Festival. For tickets and more information, please visit the film's website. www.semperfialwaysfaithful.com.

The second screening will be held on Sunday, November 13th in Jacksonville. NC at 3PM. This screening is free to the public and will be held at the Jacksonville Northside High School.

Jerry Ensminger and the film's producers will attend both screenings and participate in a post viewing question and answer session. This is your opportunity to see for yourselves how this fight has evolved and support our cause.

Mike Partain

This is a link to a radio discussion about the movie, "Semper Fi -- Always Faithful" with Jerry Ensminger and Pam Baragona. The movie is a documentary about the problem of contaminated water at Ft. LeJeune, North Carolina.

3 Hawaii Marines charged in Afghanistan hazing case

By William Cole

Three Hawaii Marines have been charged with multiple offenses ranging from assault and maltreatment to violation of orders and dereliction of duty for alleged hazing leading up to the April 3 death of fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew in Afghanistan, officials said today.

Lew, 21, committed suicide April 3 after being hazed by two other Marine lance corporals, the Marine Corps Times said, citing an investigation into the death.

Read the entire story here.
Marine suicide tied to hazing in Afghanistan

Marine charged with killing fellow corporal

by Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 6, 2011 16:28:48 EDT

A Marine corporal accused of stabbing another corporal to death in Afghanistan last summer has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, Marine officials said.

Cpl. William C. Dalton will face general a court-martial at Camp Lejeune, N.C., beginning June 16, said 2nd Lt. D. Oliver David, a spokesman with 2nd Marine Division. Dalton, a field wireman, is accused of killing Cpl. Dave Santos, 21, a fellow member of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, on July 16 at Forward Operating Base Marjah, the unit’s headquarters in Afghanistan last year.

Read the rest of the story here.

Civilian Police and Non-combat Death Investigations, Part Two

What Would Dr. Quincy Do?

The first TV series about the use of forensics to solve crimes by scientific methods was Quincy, M.E, which aired from 1976 – 1983.  It was a huge hit.  Jack Klugman played the crusading forensic pathologist, who had a tendency to perseverate (and make idealistic speeches) when working on finding cause of death.  The police were usually a few ticks behind in the investigations.  They tended to jump to false conclusions.  It was Quincy’s job to use the available technology to prove or disprove the theories of the police as to cause of death.  The public was persuaded that this was the proper and prevalent practice in the United States whenever someone died of suspicious or unknown causes.  Dr. Quincy was the symbol of integrity and justice.

Currently, the general popularity of the new TV series like CSI, NCIS, Crossing Jordan, Body of Proof, etc. brings gory pseudo realistic forensics into the homes of the American Public.  Again, these are very big television programs which lead us all to believe that whiz bang technology can pinpoint cause of death as well as circumstances and place of death.  We all believe, from watching these series, that each and every suspicious death that occurs in the US is thoroughly investigated with the very newest technology.

We are SO wrong about that.  In most of the cases I’ll talk about here nothing as basic as fingerprints were taken from the crime scenes, let alone other types of forensic evidence.  The recent PBS Frontline program, Postmortem showed that most elected rural coroners in the US are not forensic pathologists or doctors of any kind and that facilities for the examination and storage of bodies is often non-existent.

Our current fascination with forensics in the US is ironic in that large political factions of our country have expressed a distrust and a rejection of science.  I can only wonder if this is the basis for the dichotomy between our entertainment choices and the reality of crime detection in the US.

Stephen Killian

MSSR Stephen Killian was in the Navy.  His 1999 death occurred, ironically, in the home of the original CSI series:  Las Vegas, Nevada.  He was in the Navy, so you’d think that NCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, would also be involved in his death investigation.  That proved not to be true.

NCIS is the primary law enforcement and counter-intelligence arm of the US Department of the Navy.  “Types of crimes investigated by NCIS include rape, child physical and sexual abuse, burglary and robbery, theft of government and personal property, and homicide. NCIS also has responsibility for investigating any non-combat death involving a naval service member where the cause of death cannot be medically attributable to disease or natural causes. “ 

Furthermore, according to their website:  “NCIS special agents, intelligence analysts and security specialists routinely work with local, state, federal and foreign law enforcement to address criminal incidents, identify and mitigate threats to U.S. and forces and assets, and pursue joint proactive operations.”

 If you’ve ever watched the TV series, you may believe that NCIS has access to advanced technology comparable to that showcased in the CSI series.  Yet, in reality, neither the Las Vegas police nor NCIS did much in the way of investigation.

In fact, in the three cases I’ll profile in this part of my discussion of Civilian Police and Non-combat Death Investigations, you will see that NCIS plays a decidedly secondary role in the death investigations of two members of the US Navy and one member of the US Marine Corps.  They each died outside of their assigned military bases, and were, therefore considered the responsibility of civilian police where investigation was concerned.

In Stephen’s case, according to his mother, Sonya, the civilian police did a cursory investigation of his death by hanging, immediately labeling it a suicide, despite some very suspicious circumstances.   There was no spectacular CSI investigation and no “Dr. Quincy” to insist on proper assessment of the body to make sure that Stephen wasn’t murdered.

Sonya was denied copies of the crime scene photos by the Las Vegas police.   They said that they destroyed investigation files, including the evidence, in July 1999, two months after Stephen died, as they considered the case closed.

Thomas Traylor

AOC Thomas Traylor was a Navy Aviation Ordinance Chief on active duty stationed at the Weapons Testing Squadron, Naval Station, China Lake, CA.   On December 6th 1998, he was found dead, in rural Inyokern, CA, from a gunshot wound to the chest. The cause of death was listed as suicide.

Thomas Traylor was a kind-hearted, soft-spoken career Navy man who joined up in 1983.  He was scheduled to retire in five years.

The Navy pretty much left Traylor’s death investigation to the Kern County, California, police.  The immediate conclusion was suicide.  Motivation was assigned to various rumors concerning his marriage.  This is usually the tack taken by NCIS in any investigations of non-combat deaths:  find a motive to shore up the initial “cause of death” and that’s the end of it.  

Charolette Traylor, who had been away tending to an elderly relative, was not immediately informed of Traylor’s death.  Her pleas for information were ignored for long periods of time.  Like many military family members, she eventually started her own investigation, employing investigators and having a second autopsy done.

If you click on the link to AOC Traylor above and read her account, you will see that private forensics investigators concluded that Traylor could not have shot himself in his vehicle.  There are many intriguing clues which were left at the scene.  The crime scene photos, which are usually difficult for the family to obtain, were key in making forensics findings.

It is truly unfortunate that “Dr. Quincy” wasn’t in Kern County, California to use the forensic clues left behind to do a thorough investigation.  It is also sad that the Navy had so little regard for one of their own.

Kirk Vanderbur

If any case would give cause to skepticism about “official” cause of death, it would be that of Kirk Vanderbur.

2^nd Lt. Kirk Charles Vanderbur was found dead February 17, 1992 at a private gun range in Hubert, NC, near Camp Lejeune.  The Sheriff of Onslow County, NC, Ed Brown was the civilian police authority responsible for investigating Kirk’s death.  He is the current Sheriff of Onslow County, North Carolina.

Onslow County has been the setting for other less than straight forward non-combat deaths of Marines, including LCpl. Maria Lauterbach, and LCpl. Jonathan M. Outz, among others.

Kirk had gone to the shooting range on the afternoon of February 16^th.  Marines and soldiers who are serious about maintaining their shooting skills practice periodically, so this was not an unusual situation.  It is believed that there were actually two more individuals at the range that afternoon.  The manager was also on duty, but said that she did not see Kirk’s car in the parking lot when she left that evening.  His body wasn’t found until the next day.

Kirk’s parents, Lois and Gene Vanderbur, were told that Kirk accidentally blasted himself in the chest with birdshot, and then crawled 8 ½ to 10 feet to shoot himself in the head right between the eyes with a semiautomatic rifle.  The rifle was in contact with his hand when his body was found, although Lois stated that this weapon had quite a “kick” when fired and would likely have been thrust away from the body if events happened the way the police theorized.  Furthermore, the range provided waist-high tables on which weapons were placed, so she asks how the rifle got on the ground.  Where is Dr. Quincy when you need him?  Surely not in Onslow County, NC.

As the responders loaded Kirk’s body into the ambulance they noticed the abdominal wound and pulled up his sweatshirt, which pulled his internal organs out. Two days later, without even testing Vanderbur’s hands for gunshot residue, Sheriff Ed Brown decided the death was a suicide and the NCIS agreed.

Lois Vanderbur said “I think the sheriff botched the investigation, didn’t do a homicide investigation and I don’t think the Marine Corps cared”.

Gene Vanderbur wrote: “my son was murdered. I concluded this after a long search for information dealing with a conspiracy of combinations of silence, endless and continuous obfuscation by people in authority, denial of access to evidence, data and photographs, obvious lying, neglect in performance of minimum reasonable investigation, misdirection, shameless displays of arrogance, ignorance and/or more malfeasant actions.”

Kirk’s family has requested copies of the crime scene photos taken by NCIS, which were never delivered.

On February 14, 2011, I spoke on the phone with Major Frank Terwilliger of the Onslow Co., NC Sheriff's Department.  He said that they do not share investigation material because "they are not public records."   He said that a private investigator and NCIS investigators "came to the same conclusion" about Kirk's death being a suicide.  He did not want to say any more.

Lois says that the extent of NCIS’ investigation was to question people as to possible motivations for committing suicide.  No one was theorizing that being shot with two separate guns ten feet apart could have been homicide. 

Dr. Quincy would, at least, have used some science to rule out murder before suggesting suicide.

Donna Janeczko

MILITARY: Two Marines commit suicide in January, rate slows

Two active-duty Marines killed themselves in January, the service's Suicide Prevention Program reported Monday.

Despite those incidents, the rate of Marine Corps suicides continues to slow after reaching a peak in 2009.

A record 52 suicides were recorded that year. Last year, the number fell to 37, including five recorded "in theater," the military's reference to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read the entire story here.

-- Submitted by Liz Sweet

Initial data show Marine suicides declined in 2010

Read the entire story by clicking here.

Former Marine convicted in North Carolina of killing female colleague

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 23, 2010 6:47 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Former U.S. Marine Cesar Laurean was convicted in North Carolina on Monday of first degree murder in the 2007 death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant when she died.

An autopsy showed that Lauterbach, 20, died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police unearthed her charred body from beneath a barbecue pit in Laurean's backyard in January 2008. She had disappeared the month before.

Laurean, who was dressed in black slacks and wore a white shirt and black tie, did not show any emotion as the judge read his sentence. He either said or mouthed something to someone in the audience of the courtroom before he was led out in handcuffs, video showed.

Laurean and Lauterbach were stationed together at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

North Carolina prosecutors alleged Laurean killed Lauterbach on December 14 and used her ATM card 10 days later before fleeing to Mexico.Laurean was arrested there in April 2008. He holds dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico.

Before her death, Lauterbach told the Marines that Laurean had raped her. Laurean denied it, and disappeared just a few weeks before a scheduled rape hearing at Camp LeJeune.

The DNA of Lauterbach's unborn child did not match that of Laurean, according to law enforcement personnel.

Authorities found Lauterbach's body after Laurean's wife, Christina, produced a note her husband had written claiming the 20-year-old woman slit her own throat during an argument, according to officials.

Although a gaping 4-inch wound was found on the left side of Lauterbach's neck, autopsy results indicated that the wound itself would not have been fatal and may have occurred after death.

Asked by a Mexican reporter at the time of his arrest whether he killed Lauterbach, Laurean replied, "I loved her."

Laurean's lawyer said his client would appeal the decision

Nothing is Too Good For Our Boys So That’s What We'll Give Them: Nothing: Part 3

This is a link to an article about suicide which mentions the problem with Marine suicides. Marine suicides and other non-combat deaths are not categorized as such in the current Department of Defense announcements.

article submitted by Pamela Baragona Robinson

More:
Bragg Steps Up Suicide Intervention Program