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.
I just can't bear the thought.
I hope they are wrong.
Please, Lord, let them be wrong about his surviving the crash.
fyi -- from first coast news -- "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." -- no details about why but they're thinking this might be Scott.
I think she was TRYING to say that his wife was told he was dead, thus she remarried. If there were any chance he were alive, she wouldn't have remarried.
Elementary.
Never forget.
I'm sorry but the administration officials who knew he survived and changed his status should be charged with war crimes.
That, alone, would have justified an invasion.
We don't leave anybody behind.
It's common for a widow to marry (relatively soon) another pilot, usually one close to her late husband. Personally, I see nothing wrong in it at all. Can't speak for the others...
Bump to the top.... this American Hero!
Yeah, that jumped out at me, too.
Why the hell wasn't this bit of information given to Americans???
Poor, poor Saddam!
F Saddam!
Tariq Aziz did flip and couple of monther ago....maybe he gave us the details..
Well stated, skipper. God bless this fine officer....
Yes, that makes sense.
There were also mass graves all over Iraq.
Saddam may have said he was alive to torment America - he knew how important Scott was to us, so he went out of his way to taunt the widow and her family, as well as Administration. He forced them to have to ask the children for DNA samples. Evil doesn't appropriately describe him.
Your explanation is far more plausible.
AC, are you saying that the fact that Scott's wife remarried indicates that there was strong evidence presented to her that he had died? Are you saying that it's unlikely she would have remarried if she had any doubts?
PD, do you think AC was making a negative judgement about Scott's wife remarrying? I've seen others make that judgement, but I don't think AC meant that. Quite the contrary, I think AC meant quite the opposite.
I suspect what we have here is a classic misunderstanding. I hope I'm right. There's enough pain involved here, no one should add to it by making harsh judgements against those who have already been hurt so deeply.
If your question in that post had any basis in fact, then I'd dignify it with a straight answer. Go back and look over my numerous posts here on FR before you ever associate me with MurryMom. LOL.
Damn this is so sad! Prayers for the Speicher family! Finally they may get some closure!
This is nothing more than a misunderstanding. I had always been under the impression that the questions surrounding Speicher's fate dated as far back as the weeks and months after his disappearance. I simply pointed out that his wife seemed sufficiently convinced of his death that she moved on with her life -- which would have made much of the speculation over the last 14 years not much different than questions about the fate of people like Jim Morrison, Elvis, etc.
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