Posted on 08/20/2009 4:28:45 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
VILSECK, Germany — A manhunt is under way for a U.S. Special Forces soldier who fled after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a German woman.
Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart — who was found guilty of multiple charges including kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a woman in an August 2008 incident — was last seen early Thursday morning by his escort at an on-post hotel.
Stewart, 36, is an Iraq war veteran who trains fellow Special Forces soldiers at the International Special Training Center in Pfullendorf.
“He’s an angry animal and not a human,” said the 29-year-old victim, standing outside the Vilseck courthouse Thursday morning after learning he had disappeared. “I know how dangerous he is. It’s impossible to believe that they left him alone last night.”
Sgt. 1st Class Detrick Hampton, a member of Stewart’s unit, was sharing a room with Stewart at the Kristall Inn, Vilseck’s on-post hotel.
At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Hampton told the military judge that he last saw Stewart before drifting off to sleep early in the morning. When he awoke around 7:30 a.m., Stewart was missing, along with his Class A uniform, wallet, two cell phones and a rented black Audi Q5 SUV, Hampton said.
It was not clear whether Stewart had a weapon.
The U.S. military and German police are coordinating the search for the missing soldier.
A “Be On the Lookout” poster shows Stewart’s mugshot and advises anyone who comes in contact with the soldier to approach him with caution. It says Stewart has visible tattoos, speaks near-perfect German and may attempt to pass himself off as a German.
(read more at source)
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
No. That’s not a typo. The article says he was found guilty of kidnapping and sexual assault. He was found Not Guilty of the other charges. I can’t see how he was found guilty of anything.
It conveyed a theme straight out of "The Fugitive" in that he grabbed onto a very ostentatious Class A Uniform and then ran out the door.
It's just an interpretation of his behavior, nothing more.
Yep, that’s right, it was the A Team. The Equalizer’s card read “Got a problem? Odds against you? Need help? Call - The Equalizer”.
She left her phone number??? That’s insane. Very fishy. I wonder how he was found guilty other than they just took her word for the events over his.
Ok. I’m going to let you off this time ;-)
The Class A uniform probably would have helped him get out of the gate and through the city and surrounding towns since the natives are used to a U.S. military presence in the area.
The cell phones and car tags are instant magnets for attention (Tri-angulation of cellphone use, and vehicle plates will be easily tracked).
Plus he has the Polizei and a litany of other German government folks looking for him, and none of these folks are the types to mess around with.
I give him maybe 24-48 hours before he is nailed.
A lot depends on how much of a head start he had.
A lot of the countries in Europe are relatively small. When I visited Belgium I quickly learned that a 45 to 60 minute drive in any one of three directions put me in another country. (Germany is bigger obviously.)
But his US passport is probably red-flagged (if he still has one), and he will need money to buy gas, food and train tickets.
His credit card and banking systems are all probably being monitored as well, in addition to the license plates and cell phones.
I just don't see how far this guy can actually go with so many traceable items, and an ostentatious Class A uniform to boot.
Plus the guy is probably a real lunatic if people are describing him as "an angry animal."
Whether there is any truth to that description or not, he probably won't get too far.
I give him maybe 24-48 hours before he is nailed.
And he just happens to be better trained in weapons, escape/evasion and guerilla operations than 99% of his opponents. This is the German government's nightmare criminal. He'll vanish (and the Germans will effectively let him go/run) because if he's caught it's likely to be a bloodbath.
Outside of Germany this guy becomes "America's problem".
You know, the problem with your scenario is it depends on him staying in Germany. Why would he? You can be out of Germany in six hours from anywhere in Germany by auto. And he had several hours head start.
The polizei or the ‘litany of German government folks’ can’t follow him into Czech Republic or Poland.
And this is getting back to your earlier post. It’s like you assume he is a complete idiot. What makes you think he would keep the phones when even YOU can realise it’s not wise to do so?
Maybe she was and maybe she wasn’t.
That sounds “ordinary” to you??????? oh dear.
There are no border controls in the EU.
And again, we already discussed the Class A uniform. If YOU a regular guy on a computer can see the need to ditch the Class A's, I'm sure a Special Forces guy is going to ditch them. He had plenty of time to make a cash withdrawal. This would get him started. He was probably out of Germany before the alarm was ever raised.
You're assuming the guy has no brain, no resources. Why?
Plus the guy is probably a real lunatic if people are describing him as "an angry animal."
The victim described him as such. This does not make him stupid. And it doesn't mean he's a lunatic. Special Forces medic is a hard course to get through. You won't get through that course if you're stupid.
We shall see.
He is a professor of advanced particle physics, and I am so glad that I have you to lecture me about his options while running from authorities.
The guy is going to get nailed.
You really think he could make it into Czech Republic or Poland without a passport?
I'm interested in learning if the posecutor or some person in the chain of command who ordered the prosecution is a woman.
Maybe he did what the 'victim' claimed, but I would have never voted guilty based on the article.
But not just anyone gets to go through Special Forces training. It's not like you think 'I'm really gung ho!' and go tell your platoon seargent and he sends you away to Special Forces school. It's a bitch just to get to the assessment phase- which is not even the Q course- just a 'weed out the weak ones' phase. And 18D- the medic course- is very hard- mentally & physically- and it's the longest one. You're basically a physician's assistant when you get through with that course. You're not just trained in human medicine but also veterinary medicine because you're meant to be able to provide care for villagers AND their livestock.
The US gov't has invested quite a bit of money and hi-quality training in this soldier. I don't understand why you want to devalue all that and just assume the guy is a dumbass who will get picked up shortly.
The fact is, none of us know what is motivating the guy at the moment. We don't know if he actually wants to get away for an extended time or just for a day or two. Maybe he wants to go somewhere and kill himself. Who knows? But I think he has the training to stay pretty well hidden if he wants.
-------------------------------------------
... The U.S. military and German police are trying to track down Stewart. And Stars and Stripes is trying to track down just how the military could let something like this happen. Some initial snooping suggests it's not a completely isolated incident.
Check back to see where this story goes.
In the newsroom: Escape shines light on military policies
Have you been to Europe lately?
In answer to your question- yes. Easily. You just drive over. Did you not realise that there are no border controls in the EU? From Germany he can exit at many national borders without a passport.
And it doesn't have to be Poland or Czech. He could go to France. Italy. Netherlands. Belgium. Getting on a plane and flying would be a problem but crossing borders on the ground in the EU is no problem at all.
I, personally, would head to Eastern Europe because things are still a little bit backwards and more corrupt there. It would be easy to get lost and find fake ID.
And look guy. I don't care if I'm upsetting you or not. You can piss off for all I care. But you don't get a free pass to just slag off the SF without somebody saying something.
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