Posted on 11/05/2004 9:22:40 AM PST by cgk
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- First Coast News has learned a body has been found in Iraq and DNA testing is underway.
Multiple sources tell First Coast News Captain Scott Speicher's family has been notified.
They will not disclose the details of why they believe these are his remains only to say they have reason to feel confident these are his remains.
Test results are expected within weeks.
When I sat down with Buddy Harris, who was Speicher's best friend and is now married to Speicher's widow, he told me the family would never give up until they found what happened to him and brought him home.
They may be well on their way to learning the answer and putting this mystery and this man to rest.
From the deck of the USS Saratoga in the Red Sea., a husband and father of two from Jacksonville prepares to fight for the first time. 33 year old Lt. Commander Michael Scott Speicher, also known as "Spike", is ready for take off.
It's 1 a.m. January 17th, Speicher is part of the first mission flown over Iraq during the first Gulf War.
Within hours his squadron is in the heat of battle. The mission is deemed a success.
But when Speicher's unit returns He is the only one who is not accounted for.
From the first moments, fellow pilots and squadron mates believe the highly skilled Speicher ejected and survived.
But within hours the Pentagon announces Speicher is dead, killed in action in a mid-air explosion. There would be no recovery mission.
In 1993, U.S. Intelligence finds an American plane in better condition than expected in a remote desert in Iraq.
The plane's identification numbers confirm it is Speicher's plane.
The cockpit canopy was found some distance from the wreckage, raising the theory that Speicher ejected, survived and was captured.
First Coast News has learned the human remains, thought to be Speichers, were not found at the crash site.
The remains being tested were found in another part of Iraq.
After the initial discovery of the crash site, in an unprecedented move, the Pentagon changed Speicher's status from Killed in Action, to Missing in Action, and then later, Missing Captured.
The president even included Speicher and the fact that he was still in Iraq in a speech he gave to the nation.
Shortly into the second Gulf War, the initials M.S.S were found in a Baghdad prison.
Sources are now telling First Coast News they have information that indicates Speicher was captured after the crash and held as a prisoner for some time before he died.
However, DNA tests performed on the materials used to make the markings failed to confirm those initials found in a cell were made by Michael Scott Speicher.
His friends and family were not discouraged saying they knew the wall had been painted over several times and other things found in other prison cells supported their theory that Scott had been held at that prison.
We were the only local news station in country to sit down and talk with Buddy Harris, Speicher's best friend and now husband to Joanne Speicher Harris.
Buddy told us then that the family would never stop asking the question of what happened to Scott. And they were prepared no matter the answer.
"I cannot foresee a situation where we would just give up and go away.
I won't do it and I know my family backs me on his 100 percent in not giving up."
The family went through this once before.
Several years ago, then President of Iraq Saddam Hussein sent a pound of flesh to the United States claiming it was the remains of Scott Speicher.
The pilot's children at that time provided their DNA so the remains could be tested.
That test proved the remains were not their fathers.
The family has been through a roller coaster of emotions over the years.
They have learned to be very cautious about any new information they receive.
We expect they are taking the same approach with this latest news.
This remains a very big development.
If the tests indicate the remains are the missing the navy pilot Scott Spiechers', they will finally have an answer to the question they've asked for more than a decade.
We contacted the family's attorney, Cindy Laquidara, Thursday night for reaction to this new discovery. She had no comment for us at this time.
Now just two and-a-half months shy of the fourteenth anniversary of Speicher's disappearance, the answer may finally come in the form of DNA.
An American hero... A First Coast son... may finally return home after a very long mission.
© 2004 First Coast News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.
Good Lord. This is the first I have heard of anything like this. These people practically live at the Pentagon.
Would be hard to get by with a scam.
Why don't you provide a link (not from DU) that says this BS.
I don't believe you.
This certainly did turn out to be a tacky gossip fest over the back fence, didn't it? So much for showing respect for the dead.
Yes, it did. I see it as a great love story.
A love story that begins between two young men at war, and never ends, but grows.
All of the crooks who ran the government from 1992-2000 should be charged...they are directly responsible for 9-11 as well as crimes against humanity in Yugoslavia.
"A love story that begins between two young men at war, and never ends, but grows."
Um...I'm not really sure what you mean by that. Can you clarify?
that is what I thought.
I live here and was privy to some knowledge that others aren't. Once again, I feel that it was wrong to change the childrens name. I wont say anything else and please DO NOT accuse me of being a part of the DU especially after their poll that 11/3 was worse than 9/11!
Their shared love for the deceased is a strong base for a relationship.
Even if this hero were not killed, it still remained that his family deserved to be taken care of, as far as I know, there are no MIA benefits, only death benefits. Perhaps even a premature declaration of death at least relieved some of the widow's financial burden.
I have no doubt that all concerned would be joyous in the homecoming of their loved one -alive- even if it meant difficult decisions about their private lives.
Look, I don't think you are from DU, but I want to see some respectable publication that says this. I have been following this case for awhile and I have never heard of them trying to hide anything.
In fact, it is my understanding that Buddy Harris maintains a very, very high security clearance. Hard to do it you are cheating the government.
It sounds like your story is back yard gossip.
Not sexual of course. It didn't even occur to me that you would consider that.
Young men at war develop a love, respect and closeless for each other that we can't really understand, but it appears to be very strong.
Take a look at the post by Laurita. It explains a lot
***http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1271772/posts?page=109#109
That intensity being brought to the family of the deceased is what brought Buddy and Joanne together.
Sorry, I didn't think that was what you meant but I wanted to be sure. There's been so many troll posts lately I think I'm getting a little paranoid.
While "affairs of the heart" and matters of love and affection are far from being my specialized knowledge (just ask my wife), I believe you are correct. History is full of stories of soldiers, cops etc. marrying the wives of fallen comrades. I believe there were at least a couple (and maybe several) firefighters who marred the widows of 9/11 firefighters.
They did not take the father's name away. They hypenated it AND gave the Speicher name to their new children.
We had to do the same thing with my girls, with the blessing of their happily alive father.
He wanted them (my kid's dad) to have a very stable home with me. It NEVER diminished Mike's role in their lives and they still kept his name with the hypenation.
Please don't judge situations you don't understand.
Those firefighters left their own wives to marry those widows. There was a television special about it. It is some psychological phenomenon with a name I can't recall.
No problem. I can understand. Your previous posts made me certain you weren't a troll. so I gave you the short version. LOL
Yikes! All of them? Now I really wish I hadn't brought that up. I'm not sure if that proves the point or not.
I pray the family finally gets an answer to what happened.
I dont believe they should take their Fathers name from them....They should not have added Harris..thats how I feel.
Besides posting blatantly false information, insinuating that the Speicher children's name was taken away from them when it was NOT, now you're moving the goal post and saying that the Speicher kids shouldn't go by the ''Speicher Harris'' name. Yet I haven't heard a peep of protest from you about the Harris' honoring Scott by tagging the biological Harris children w/ the ''Speicher Harris'' moniker.
Furthermore, you have ignored answering my question about ''the money'', the Navy money. Was it life insurance? And would you xplain why you think Scott's sister is somehow more entitled to 'Navy money' than Scott's widow & children are?
"Your previous posts made me certain you weren't a troll."
LOL! I checked out your post history too before I made my VERY CAREFULLY WORDED request. I didn't think you were a troll either so I wanted to get clarification without offending a potentially new Freeper buddy.
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