(2003) Fort Benning soldiers arrested (3 soldiers arrested for murder of another soldier)

Athens Banner Herald ^ | 11/10/03 | Athens Banner Herald

[honeygrl]

COLUMBUS - Three Fort Benning soldiers have been arrested in the death of a man whose skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded area.

Douglas Woodcoff, 24; Mario Navarrette, 24; and Jacob Burgoyne, 24 were arrested late Friday and charged in the death.

The man, whose identity, which is being withheld until authorities can reach family members, is believed to be a soldier in his 20s.

[kalmt]

I do understand what your saying, BUT, I know one of these killers and he should have never been sent to war. He had already done enough damage in the US before ever going to war and the army knew this and still sent him. I'm sure in the end it will all come out. There's just so much that all of you don't know. There's no excuse for this killing. Just take another real good look at the eyes of these killers.

[epluribus unum1]

Published today, Nov. 19:

Parents of accused soldier say war affected their son mentally|
|
MIDDLEBURG, Fla. — The parents of Army Pvt. Jacob Burgoyne, who is charged in the death of a fellow soldier killed shortly after returning from Iraq, said their son displayed violent tendencies and had been taking anti-depressants since a previous deployment in Kosovo.
Aubrey ‘‘Butch’’ Healy and Billie Urban said they are convinced Burgoyne suffered trauma from his experiences in Kosovo and Iraq.
‘‘People don’t realize how war affects people,’’ Healy, Burgoyne’s stepfather and a Navy veteran, told the Florida Times-Union on Monday. ‘‘You teach somebody how to kill someone else, that’s got to affect them mentally.’’
Burgoyne and two other soldiers, Pfc. Mario Navarrete and Pfc. Douglas Woodcoff, are being held at the Muscogee County Jail in Columbus, Ga., charged with concealing the death of 24-year-old Spc. Richard Davis. The fourth suspect, former Pfc. Alberto Martinez, is awaiting extradition from California on murder charges.
Police said the group went to a topless bar to celebrate their homecoming from Iraq in mid-July. Davis apparently insulted one of the dancers and got them kicked out of the bar, according to police reports. The soldiers began fighting, and Martinez allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Davis to death.
‘‘They had all been drinking and raising hell, and as far as I know Jake didn’t do anything to stop it,’’ Healy said. ‘‘But he should’ve known better.’’
The four soldiers then drove to a convenience store and bought lighter fluid, police reports said. They returned to the bloodied corpse, tried to burn it and left it in the woods, where Davis’ body was discovered earlier this month.
Since returning home from combat duty, Burgoyne wasn’t acting like himself — he smiled less, slept less and seemed anxious and irritated at times, his parents said.
Healy said Burgoyne always had been a ‘‘happy-go-lucky kind of kid,’’ who joined the military shortly after graduating from Middleburg High School in the summer of 1998.
After witnessing strife and bloodshed on his first deployment in Kosovo, Burguyne was never the same, Healy said. He began taking anti-depressants.
A few months before he was ordered to go to Kuwait this year, Burgoyne also received disciplinary action for punching another soldier on base and putting him in a coma for about a month, Healy said.
Fort Benning spokesman Rich McDowell said Tuesday he didn’t have information about the incident.
Urban blamed her son’s violent behavior on the battles he fought in the war. The guns, the deaths, the bloodshed, she said, were what made him mentally unstable.
‘‘If I went through that, I don’t think my mind would be right either,’’ she said.

[eastforker]

What you just told me exemplifies what I said earlier.This murderer was a guy that we trained how to murder well.He carried it from the battlefield back here at home.He may very well have been a killer before he went to the battlefield.Understand my original comment,someone asked why Ft. Benning has so many stories of GI's killing people.My answer was that we train them to do that and if he was a killer before we trained him,he is now a better and more trained killer.You are right,he should have never been sent off to war,but he was and now we have to prosecute the bastard for killing a buddy who trusted him.I have known guys like this who will kill in a heartbeat,with or without training.Our armed services needs to do a better job of rehabilitating our combat vets when they come home.

[cousinrose]

I found this site looking for more information about what happened to my cousin. This is an awesome site, and I am grateful for all of the articles that have been posted. I have been able to vent and express my emotions, and to also see views of others. I just wanted to everyone who stumbles on this that this is really helping me through this all, with all the bad or good comments. It's strange to me how truly "what a small world" this is.

[epluribus unum1]

Posted on Sun, Nov. 16, 2003



Struggling for answers
BY MURIEL TAN
Staff Writer

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The card with the floral bouquet on its cover is postmarked July
3, 2003.

Dear Rich,

How are you? Iraq is dominating the news... the government realizes you guys need to
come home. The military analysts say, 'The military is undermanned and over
committed.' Please be patient and take care. Never let your guard down. We are looking
forward to your safe return.

Much love and prayers, Mom, Dad, and Lisa.

(P.S.) I'm sorry to see you in this position. I wish you will have children and
grandchildren to tell your war stories to some day and to bake some 'wartime' cookies
with. Stay strong for mom, OK?

A little more than a week after that postmark, having returned from Iraq, 25-year-old
Army Spc. Richard T. Davis would be lying dead in a wooded area, 40 yards off a busy
commercial strip in Columbus, killed not by the Iraqi enemy, but by his fellow soldiers,
police and military investigators allege.

He had been stabbed multiple times, his body doused with lighter fluid, then set on fire.

Nearly four months later, on the afternoon of Nov. 7, investigators found his remains
beneath a piece of blackened log scattered among some leaves. Davis was later positively
identified by his dental records.

Three of his fellow soldiers, all originally charged with murder, remain jailed on $25,000
bond each on charges of concealing the death of another. They may still face indictment
on murder charges, according to the district attorney's office. A fourth soldier, who is
being extradited from California, awaits a preliminary hearing on a murder charge.

The Army brat

On Thursday, at her home in St. Charles, Mo., Remy Davis' hands shook as she tried to
stuff that card, the one postmarked July 3 and returned unopened, back into its
envelope.

He was her baby, her only son.

A child of military parents -- his mother a medic at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
in Washington, D.C.; his father a retired military police sergeant and 20-year veteran --
Rich Davis wound up carrying the "Army brat" mantle.

Born in Germany where his father, Lanny Davis, was stationed at the time, Rich Davis
would attend schools in Kansas, Missouri and California before settling in the early '90s
with his parents in the city of St. Charles, Mo., population of about 200,000 at that
time. The family bought a three-bedroom, ranch-style brick home in the oldest city along
the Missouri River.

Though he didn't especially like school, he excelled in reading and painting. Photo
albums showcase his accomplishments: the "Junior Author" blue ribbon from sixth
grade, for example, and the A+ he got for a drawing project at Francis Howell Central
High. He was suspended for a day after some classmates scribbled obscenities on that
drawing project, said his mother.

"Back then, there weren't many kids like him in town," said Remy Davis, 53, who is of
Filipino-Chinese descent. "He looked different."

In high school, Rich Davis went through the normal rebellion period, spending his
after-school hours with the skateboarding crowd and his cousins. Dyeing his hair with
blond streaks, wearing pants that swept the floor. Racking up speeding tickets in his
pride and joy -- the electric-blue Honda Civic that still sits in the driveway of the
family's home.

At 16 he joined Weekend Warrior, a reserve program that entailed training a few
weekends during the year. He also worked part-time. Remy Davis remembers when he
came home one afternoon, ecstatic over a promotion he got at the Gingham Restaurant, a
family diner nearby.

"Mom, Mom, guess what!" he screamed to her. "I got promoted!" The raise was from
dishwasher to busboy, Remy Davis recalled last week, sighing.

Upon high school graduation, Rich Davis joined the Army. After training at Fort
Jackson, S.C., he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, in a field artillery unit. In the late
'90s, he served in wartime Bosnia as a driver for the battalion commander and as a
machine gunner.

Rich's entry into the Army brought pride to the family, relatives said. "Richard knew it
pleased his dad, and knowing that it did made him happy," said Martha Green, Rich's
aunt. Green recalled a visit home after he'd been in Bosnia, when Rich arrived at his
Uncle Tom's home and introduced his father.

"They came in together, with their arms on each other's shoulder," Green said. "You
know, my brother Lanny is not the affectionate type. And then Rich, holding his dad's
shoulder, announces, 'This is my best friend.' Lanny just smiled and said, 'We've been
talking.' "

When his son came home from Bosnia, Lanny Davis, 54, says, he noticed a change in
him. There was hurt in his son's eyes.

"Dad, how can people treat people like that -- babies, women and children -- and just
throw them in graves," Lanny Davis remembers his son asking. A veteran of three tours
in Korea and a year in Vietnam, Lanny Davis said he tried to sympathize with his son.

By Sept. 11, 2001, Rich Davis had decided to leave the Army. He went home, but it
didn't take long before he got restless. He rejoined the Army and by January 2002 had
arrived at Fort Benning.

Last year, as the United States prepared for war with Iraq, he was sent to Kuwait. His
unit -- the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment --
returned home in the fall of 2002. Rich returned to Kuwait in November 2002. During
the next several months his unit would engage in some of the bloodiest battles in the Iraq
war.

'Mom... Mom... Mom'

In February 2003, the Davises received a card from Rich. It would be the last they
received from him. On the cover of it was a cartoon of a smiling camel with a holiday
recipe inside, titled "How to Stuff a Camel."

Inside, Rich wrote:

"I live in a 60-man tent with no heat or electricity... get to take a cold shower every 4
days. It is only going to get worse from here. They don't know when we're coming
home. Rumor is we're moving north on Feb. 12. All I'm doing now is training, that is all
we do. The only thing keeping me going is watching all the REMFs complain about the
living conditions. You can send me a package no bigger than a shoebox. Well that's all for
now."

His parents got no more mail from Rich, but they did get three phone calls.

The first one, on May 5, lasted a few minutes, Remy Davis recalled. It was 12:49 p.m.
in St. Charles and she was home taking care of Lisa, Richard's 21-year-old sister who has
Down syndrome. "They had just reached Baghdad," Remy Davis recalled. She
remembers doing most of the talking, but Rich talked about coming home in 10 to 15
days.

Two days later, on May 7 at 2:23 p.m., another call came. Her son seemed more
talkative, Remy Davis said. "He was talking about his car, about his trip from Kuwait to
Baghdad, that he was wearing the same clothes and had not taken a bath from the
beginning of his trip from Kuwait to Baghdad and to the end of the war," his mother
said. "I think it was something like 25 days. They just got used to each other's smell."

Morale, he told her, was very low. They were still eating MREs and sleeping in the dirt.

"He said that when he got home all he wanted to do was work on his car," Remy Davis
said. When she told her son she would meet him at Fort Benning, Rich said that
wouldn't be necessary.

"He said he'd just fly home and then I could bring him anywhere I wanted," Remy Davis
said. She planned on a trip to her native Philippines, where Rich had expressed a desire
to visit.

The lengthiest call came May 20, around 6 p.m. This time Lanny Davis was home and
able to talk with his son for about 30 minutes while his wife listened in on another line
in the bedroom. The call was markedly different from the first two, each parent said.
Richard sounded "in distress" and was talking "irrationally," they said.

They were now going to be in Iraq indefinitely, Rich told his parents. He talked about
holes in his boots, said he could no longer stand the MREs and that they were waiting
for drinking water. His rucksack, which had been hanging outside a Bradley Fighting
Vehicle, was blown up by a rocket propelled grenade. Rich mentioned seeing a lot of
dead bodies, his father said.

"Everyone was quiet and keeping to themselves," Lanny Davis recalled his son saying.
"He said he didn't trust friendly people -- I didn't know if he was talking about Iraqis or
his fellow soldiers."

When the Davises told their son that Saddam Hussein still hadn't been found, he was in
disbelief. At one point during that third phone call he cried, pleading with his father to
"get me outta here."

A brief exchange of goodbyes and I-love-yous followed. It was the last time Lanny and
Remy Davis would speak to their son.

On May 23, the couple got a letter from MCI threatening to disconnect their
long-distance service. Lanny Davis did not understand. They had not been late on any
bills and had received only a handful of calls from overseas. A few days later, their
long-distance service was interrupted. It took a week before MCI restored the service.

In the meantime, two more calls came -- they believe were from their son -- but the
connection was cut, Remy Davis said. During the last call she picked up, she heard a
voice saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom," before the line went dead.

After that, there were no more calls from Rich.

Despite their son's wishes, the Davises planned for a surprise visit to Fort Benning for
Rich's homecoming. They continued to follow national coverage of the war, scanning the
news ticker on CNN for news of the 3rd Brigade's return home.

'It's about Richard'

On July 14 or July 15 -- they aren't certain -- the Davises got a call that was noteworthy
only for its brevity and for the unknown person on the other end. It was a woman's
voice. She called in the morning, sometime between 9 and 10 a.m.

"Hello, is this Mrs. Remedios Davis?" the woman asked.

Thinking it was a telemarketer, Remy Davis answered with a curt "yes."

"It's about Richard," the woman began. She sounded anxious and nervous, Remy Davis
recalled.

"I said well, 'What about Richard?' " Remy Davis said. "Richard is not here."

Annoyed at what she thought was a sales call, Remy Davis then hung up, believing that
her son was still in Iraq with the rest of his unit.

In fact, he had returned to Fort Benning a couple of days earlier, and may already have
been dead.

A diary begins

It was July 21 before the Davises heard any more about their son. That's when Remy
Davis started a diary. Inside a green notebook, she began making daily entries of times,
dates, names and phone numbers. All of it documenting the Davises' effort to find
Richard.

It was around 9 a.m. that day when a sergeant from Fort Benning called their Missouri
home.

"Where's Richard?" he asked Lanny Davis.

"Richard?" Davis responded. "He's in Baghdad Airport. That's the last we've heard from
him." Lanny Davis explained he knew this with some certainty since his son had called
on May 20 after borrowing a phone from a group of reservists guarding a water
purification plant in Baghdad.

It was then that the Davises learned their son had already returned to the United States.
The sergeant told them the group had returned July 13 and that their son was last seen
on July 14.

As of July 16, he was listed as AWOL, absent without leave, they were told.

"I thought he probably went and blew some steam off, called a girlfriend or whatever,"
Lanny Davis said. "They had just come back from a war, so that wouldn't be that
surprising. I've done it myself."

It wasn't until the next day, July 22, that Lanny Davis began to feel uneasy. During a
conversation with another sergeant, he learned that his son was last seen on July 14,
shopping at the PX on post. His clothes, his toothbrush, his shoes -- all remained
untouched inside his room. His father wondered, why would he go AWOL without all
these things and the stuff he had just bought?

He wasn't the type to leave the military, his father reasoned. Plus, he hadn't called home,
hadn't asked about his car or his mother, with whom he was extremely close.

"He would've called or contacted us in some way, even if it was just a card," Lanny
Davis said. It was beginning to look like a missing person situation, he thought to
himself.

The Davises made a slew of calls to Fort Benning, then to the Veterans Administration.
Lanny Davis asked if anyone had checked the hospital, the morgue, the police station,
the airports and bus stations. He asked if anyone had filled out a missing person's
report.

On July 30, one sergeant promised him he would file a missing person report with the
Columbus Police Department.

"I don't know if he ever did," Lanny Davis said.

Contacted by phone Thursday, Columbus Police Maj. Russell Traino said he believed
no report had been made with the department's investigative unit, though any soldier
listed as AWOL would have been automatically entered into a national crime database.

The Davises' calls in search of their son stretched into August. Fort Benning officials
continued to tell them that Rich Davis was AWOL, and that they had no news of him.

On Aug. 19, a frustrated and very worried Lanny Davis got into his 2000 Silverado
pickup truck and drove 700 miles until he reached Fort Benning. There he would spend
two days and two nights in search of answers.

Two days, two nights at Benning

Upon arriving on post, Lanny Davis met with a sergeant he had spoken to during
previous phone conversations.

"Really nice man," Lanny Davis said. "They were all very nice, very polite fellows."

But the sergeant could offer him nothing new. Rich was a good soldier, he explained, but
no one really knew anything about him.

When Lanny Davis asked to meet or talk with anyone who might have known his son,
he was told that his son was "a loner." During the two-day visit, everyone he asked to
see -- any squad leaders, a captain, an executive officer, a platoon sergeant, assorted
squadmates or roommates -- seemed to have been unavailable or busy. "So they're going
to tell me that he's been there since last year, with them in Kuwait then in battle in Iraq,
and no one knows him?" Lanny Davis said. "You don't go through combat with people
and not become close if you're under life-and-death situations. It's just part of human
nature."

Though the sergeant said he would try to find someone Lanny Davis could speak with,
no one in a position of authority ever materialized.

"I guess it didn't matter that I was retired military and a concerned parent who drove
700 miles to find out about my son," Lanny Davis said. "Maybe they thought I just fell
off a turnip truck and didn't understand."

One conversation stood out, Lanny Davis said.

Spotting a corporal standing near a row of offices on the first day of his visit, Lanny
Davis approached.

"Do you know my son, Specialist Davis?" he asked.

"You mean Richard?" the corporal asked. "Well, yes of course, sure." The corporal
began to tell Lanny Davis what a good man his son was when a voice from the first
sergeant's office rang out.

"I need to see you in here," the voice urged.

"Then the corporal double-times it over there and the door is closed behind him," Lanny
Davis said. "Just like that."

The exchange only reinforced the uneasy reception Lanny Davis felt he was receiving at
this point.

On the second day of his visit, Lanny Davis stopped by the military police unit, then
placed a call to the Army's Criminal Investigations Division from the station. On both
counts, he said, he was told that no investigation had been started. According to a
computer check, his son was still listed as AWOL. Furthermore, no one was available at
CID to talk to him.

Because of privacy rules, Fort Benning officials could not release his son's personal
effects for Lanny Davis to inspect. A sergeant instead promised to re-check the items
and look into whether there was any activity on his son's bank account.

Appeals for assistance

On Aug. 23, Lanny Davis was back at home in Missouri. A couple of weeks later, after
driving 127 miles to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for legal assistance, and after contacting a
local congressman, he appealed to a friend in the FBI.

From him, Lanny Davis learned a bit of worrisome information: His son's bank account
had remained untouched in recent weeks.

On Sept. 16, the congressman's secretary placed a call to the Davis family, informing
them that the case had been reported to the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
That same day, Lanny Davis received a call from a CID agent at Fort Benning. After
hearing the family's story, the agent told Lanny Davis, "that definitely sounds like a
missing person."

Weeks later, on Oct. 29, a second CID agent assigned to the case informed the family
that Rich had been placed on a national missing persons' list.

A tip, then a discovery

On Nov. 7, acting on what they learned from an informant, CID investigators called
Columbus Police to a wooded area along the 4400 block of Milgen Road.

There they discovered skeletal remains of a young white male in his 20s, believed to
have been in the woods for at least a month. He had been stabbed multiple times, said
Muscogee County Coroner James Dunnavant. Court testimony would later indicate that
his body was set on fire.

Within hours of the discovery, three soldiers were transported from military police
headquarters at Fort Benning to the Columbus Police Department. The men -- Jacob
Burgoyne, Mario Naverette and Douglas Woodcoff, all 24 -- were from Rich Davis' unit
and were the last men he had been seen with.

The knock on the Davis family's door came the following day, Nov. 8. Silver oak leaves
on his jacket sleeves indicated the man was an Army lieutenant colonel.

Lanny Davis answered the door. "Is this bad news or good news?" he asked. "They said
it was bad news."

The lieutenant colonel told the family he had been contacted by the Secretary of
Defense's office and asked to come to their home. Their son was dead, and his body had
been found.

The accused

Burgoyne, Naverette and Woodcoff were initially charged with murder. In their first
hearing, police detectives said the three men, in addition to a fourth, later identified as
Alberto Martinez, had gone with Rich Davis to a Columbus strip club one day in
mid-July. All the soldiers were kicked out, detectives testified, after Davis allegedly
insulted a dancer. The soldiers fought. Davis was stabbed and died.

Recorder's Court Judge Michael Cielinski reduced the murder charge, but found probable
cause to bind Burgoyne, Naverette and Woodcoff over to Superior Court on charges of
concealing the death of another. Martinez is in California, and has waived extradition to
Columbus, where he's expected to appear in court on a murder charge.

The Army addressed Davis' murder in a news conference Thursday. Col. Steven Salazar,
3rd Brigade commander, expressed "deepest sorrow and condolences" over Davis' death,
saying it had a "profound effect" on the 3rd Brigades' 4,000 soldiers. Salazar said
unnamed members of the 1-15 "went above and beyond those required by Army
regulations" in assisting investigators on the case.

At home, grief

Back in St. Charles, Mo., Lanny and Remy Davis are grieving. They've each lost 30
pounds. Relatives tell them they're loved, but their loss is devastating. They talk of a
future without their son, a future without grandchildren. A few days ago, a relative took
Remy to a shoe store to distract her. After a few minutes browsing in the store, the
relative heard Remy screaming, "My son, my son."

Lanny Davis doesn't know why his son died, but he doesn't believe it was because of an
insult in a strip club.

"He wasn't even afforded an honorable death, after going through all that anguish,"
Lanny Davis said. "Instead, he comes home and is killed like an animal."

[epluribus unum1]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/7273129.htm

[kalmt]

Thanks for the up date info. To All, please keep posting any new info that you come across. Thank You

[BESTFRIEND of cousinrose]

I just wanted you to know I love you and I wish I could be there for you! I will see you soon. <3 you

[verity]

Your #43.

Amateur psychology.
This type of mayhem occurs in big cities on a daily basis.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Guys who have their head shaved and glare at the camera do tend to look like Satan.

Means nothing

[lilairhead]

You know what is so f***ed up about all this?? My boyfriend is a Ranger 3D Bn, and I stay in Fort Benning with him alot, I thought that was like one of the safest places to be, but this just proved me wrong!! This more less just let me know that no matter where you go, you are not safe at all.. And it is very sad.. Why are we against our ppl?? Hell don't make me sign up and show ya'll how it should be.. (lol, i am so joking) Anyway, can't we all just get alone??

[cousinrose]

Just wanted to say that my cousin will finally be put to rest on December 13th in California. They say he's in a better place, but I think that "better place" is here on earth with his family.

[cousinrose]

---

Posted on Thu, Nov. 27, 2003

Suspect pleads not guilty to murder
Martinez remains held without bond after extradition from California jail
BY MEG PIRNIE
Staff Writer

A former U.S. Army private, charged with murdering a fellow soldier days after they returned from Iraq, pleaded not guilty Wednesday during a preliminary hearing in Columbus Recorder's Court. Alberto Martinez of Oceanside, Calif., 23, will remain held without bond in the Muscogee County Jail.

Martinez is accused of stabbing to death 24-year-old Spc. Richard Thomas Davis of St. Charles, Mo.

Army investigators, following leads from an informant, found Davis' charred remains Nov. 7 in a wooded area off Milgen Road. Columbus police officers responded and processed the scene for evidence.

Police officers talked to the informant and several additional witnesses, Detective Andrew Tyner said Wednesday. They then arrested on murder charges Pvt. Jacob Burgoyne of Middleburg, Fla., Pfc. Mario Naverette of San Juan, Texas, and Pfc. Douglas Woodcoff of San Antonio, Texas, all 24.

During a hearing Nov. 10, Recorder's Court Judge Michael Cielinski reduced murder charges against the three men to concealing a death.

Based on information from witnesses and two of the suspects, police took out an arrest warrant for Martinez on murder charges, Tyner said.

Martinez, whose Army enlistment ended Oct. 31, returned home to California. He was arrested by Oceanside, Calif., police, and Columbus officers retrieved him from a San Diego County jail. He arrived Tuesday afternoon after a four-day cross-country trip by car.

Martinez has not made any statements to police, Tyner said.

Burgoyne and Naverette each made official statements to officers, Detective Tony Culverson said. Naverette implicated Martinez in the crime.

"Mr. Naverette stated that (Martinez) stabbed the young man in the rib area and there was frothy blood," Culverson said.

Tyner said police had not received Davis' autopsy report and did not know his official cause of death. A knife from the area where Davis' body was found is still being processed for evidence.

Army investigators have not released additional information to local police, Tyner said.

Attorney Richard Zimmerman, Martinez's representative during the hearing, stated that Martinez said his family has hired an Atlanta defense attorney. Martinez does not know the attorney's name and has not spoken with him, Zimmerman said.

Martinez, Burgoyne, Naverette, Woodcoff and Davis all were part of the same infantry unit within the Fort Benning-based 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division that fought in Iraq.

The Army has said Davis returned to Fort Benning from Iraq on July 12. A Columbus police detective testified in a Columbus Recorder's Court hearing Nov. 10 that Davis returned July 13.

Soldiers reported last seeing Davis at the Fort Benning PX buying clothes July 14. On July 16 he was listed as absent without leave.

[giovanna]

A horrible tragedy. The loss to his parents, sister, extended family, and friends is immeasurable but, nothing compared to the injustice he suffered.

[nenny]

Our dear cousin Richard was laid to rest today, December 13, 2003. Sixteen men came from Fort Benning to commerate the memory of our dear cousin. I would like to thank each and every one of them for coming out to California to represent for Richard. Thank you for sharing your dear memories of my dear cousin. It meant so much to our family. It is still very hard for me to deal with such a loss of someone so full of life. I was his older cousin so I felt like I lost my little brother. I watched him grow up to became a man who was so respectable and humble. A generous man who would give up whatever he had to someone less fortunate. I feel like he will just pop up and tell us his stories of all that he went through. But that won't happen. He is gone. And I truly miss him. I love you, Richard.

[tinacart]

My prayers go out to the family. I was at Fort Benning in the late 70s - high crime area even then - we rented a motel room when we got into town (from Fort Jackson) and the room was "rented out" to the "local girls" when we left to get something to eat, and besides "soiling" the room, they robbed us of most of our items - clothes, coffee pot, stereo, etc. The motel wouldn't reimburse us until the Army became involved, then they coughed up what they owed us real quick! It was a nasty place to be...

[kalmt]

Army knew Fort Benning GI was homicidal



WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army soldier, believed to be homicidal after intense combat in Iraq, was released just days before he allegedly got involved in a violent death.

Army medical records reviewed by United Press International show the Army knew Pvt. Jacob Burgoyne was having "homicidal/suicidal" thoughts in the days before a killing at Fort Benning, Ga.

That death occurred at Fort Benning, Ga., in July, and charges were filed after police discovered the skeletal remains of Spc. Richard Davis on Nov. 7.

Burgoyne made an apparent suicide attempt on his way home from war 10 days before the incident, records show.

The problem could be broader: Soldiers at several Army bases told UPI they fear that a shortage of counselors and cursory attention to mental problems after combat might lead to more deaths as tens of thousands of troops return from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[nenny]

Please visit http://memoriesofrichard.tripod.com

[kalmt]

Army knew Fort Benning GI was homicidal



WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army soldier, believed to be homicidal after intense combat in Iraq, was released just days before he allegedly got involved in a violent death.

Army medical records reviewed by United Press International show the Army knew Pvt. Jacob Burgoyne was having "homicidal/suicidal" thoughts in the days before a killing at Fort Benning, Ga.

That death occurred at Fort Benning, Ga., in July, and charges were filed after police discovered the skeletal remains of Spc. Richard Davis on Nov. 7.

Burgoyne made an apparent suicide attempt on his way home from war 10 days before the incident, records show.

The problem could be broader: Soldiers at several Army bases told UPI they fear that a shortage of counselors and cursory attention to mental problems after combat might lead to more deaths as tens of thousands of troops return from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[eastforker]

I see you are back. You FReepmailed me instead of reviving the thread. I just revived it, have a good day.