View Full Version : I.D. of Body in Fayetteville Motel a Soldier
AngelsSix
06-24-2008, 20:18
Body found at motel ID'd as pregnant soldier
Posted: Today at 5:08 p.m.
Updated: Today at 7:27 p.m.
Fayetteville, N.C. — Authorities on Tuesday identified the body of a woman found Saturday in a Fayetteville motel as a Fort Bragg soldier.
Spc. Megan Touma, 24, who was assigned to the 19th Replacement Detachment, was seven months pregnant at the time of her death, police said.
Fort Bragg officials said Touma was assigned to the base earlier this month. A dental specialist from Cold Springs, Ky., who had been in the Army for five years, she previously was assigned to Army dental clinics in Germany and at Fort Drum, N.Y., officials said.
Touma's body was found Saturday morning in a room at the Fairfield Inn at 5000 Morganton Road. Police said she appeared to have been dead for about two days before she was found.
The cause of her death hasn't been determined.
Touma is the second pregnant service member to die in North Carolina this year. Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was found dead near Camp Lejeune in January. A fellow Marine, Cpl. Cesar Laurean, has been charged in her death and is awaiting extradition from Mexico.
A private memorial service for Touma will be held Friday at Hope Chapel.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Fayetteville Police Department at 910-433-1856.
The Story was in the Fayetteville observer this AM.
Staying there while looking for a place to live?
Sad end for a young soldier. SPC Touma, you and your little one rest in peace.
Rest easy, Specialist.
On another note, the Fairfield Inn doesn't clean their rooms daily?
The Reaper
06-25-2008, 09:32
Rest easy, Specialist.
On another note, the Fairfield Inn doesn't clean their rooms daily?
RIP.
On your other note, I have a story to tell about that same motel.
Several years ago, I was staying there TDY with a room booked for four nights. There were very few guests, maybe ten cars in the lot for the entire motel. I had moved some of my luggage into the room and had gone to a friends' house for dinner. I had a couple of beers and decide to crash at the house for the night.
I went straight to work the next morning, and went by to grab a quick shower and change at lunchtime.
I swipe my keycard and open the door to find a man and woman going at it on my bed.
I mumbled sorry, closed the door, rechecked the room number and went to the front desk.
Suspecting that this will exceed the clerk's ability to resolve the issue, I ask for the manager. He arrives and asks what he can do for me. I ask him how many different people the same room can be rented to simultaneously. He does not get it, so I explain the situation. The manager informs me that the staff did not notice my garment bag or shaving kit there, and "assumed" that I had departed without checking out. I ask why they had to reuse the same room a guest might be returning to (and that they had a credit card charge going against), and there was no good answer there either. I also asked why they had not changed the programming on the key card for the new guests. Frankly, it looked like he had loaned the room out for a nooner, but it made me wonder enough about their policies that I never stayed there again, after that trip. And yes, I did ask them to give me another room, with clean sheets.
Strange goings on, but not the conspiracy the media seems to be making it out to be.
TR
Roguish Lawyer
06-25-2008, 11:19
LOL TR, I'm tempted to chop that story out and put it in Briefback!
The Reaper
06-25-2008, 11:39
LOL TR, I'm tempted to chop that story out and put it in Briefback!
Makes me wonder if they were still issuing the same sort of keys and not changing the encoding between guests.
TR
82ndtrooper
06-25-2008, 13:24
I personally know her family and knew her. Coldspring, Kentucky is literally about 200 yards from where I'm typing this.
They where members of our Church, the 1st Baptist Church of Coldspring. Megan graduated from same highschool, Cambell County High.
RIP Megan. This is truely sad news and it's just now circulating through out the cummunity today and late yesterday.
Edit to add. They lived on Uhl Road, just 5 minutes from the church. The parents are now in Kansas. Didn't know that, but since they've not been around church it now makes sense.
RIP Megan.
82ndtrooper
06-25-2008, 13:47
Makes me wonder if they were still issuing the same sort of keys and not changing the encoding between guests.
TR
Never mind, it was a Fairfield Inn.
Red Flag 1
06-25-2008, 14:34
Rest In Peace!
Makes me wonder if they were still issuing the same sort of keys and not changing the encoding between guests.
TRMost "modern" hotels nowadays, can tell when ever you (customer) use a key to enter a room.
If it was up to me...I'd use the same system in the barracks for soldiers.;)
Stay safe.
More from today's Fayetteville Observer.
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297734
Somebody at the Repo Company tried to cut her some slack, not knowing she was dead, and is going to get spanked.
The Reaper
06-26-2008, 07:57
More from today's Fayetteville Observer.
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297734
Somebody at the Repo Company tried to cut her some slack, not knowing she was dead, and is going to get spanked.
She reported in last Thursday, and made formations. She was released Thursday at 1500 and had Friday off. She failed to make the Monday morning formations, and her body was discovered Tuesday.
So someone in the unit carried her for 24 hours or so after a three day weeeknd, without reporting her AWOL after 24 hours. That would have only been a few hours before her body was found.
She was provided a barracks room, and elected to stay in the hotel at her own expense. Not sure if she provided her CoC her off-post contact info.
Did someone fail to follow the regs. Yes. Was this a particularly egregious act? I do not think so. The report was that she had been dead for several days, so declaring her missing at Monday morning PT formation, and listing her as AWOL Tuesday would have accomplished nothing other than to find her body a day earlier, IF they knew where she was staying. How many of us have covered for someone who was not where they were supposed to be? Yet we risk this every time we do so.
TR
Did someone fail to follow the regs. Yes. Was this a particularly egregious act? I do not think so......... How many of us have covered for someone who was not where they were supposed to be? Yet we risk this every time we do so.
TR
What you say is true. But with us if somebody is missing at 0630 somebody, the SGM, is going to want to know the status of the individual by 0900.
The true point of this is for the younger guys. When you are not in the proper place at the appointed time your superior, the Team Sergeant, is on the hook to the SGM.
Getting a call at 0300 that one of the young studs was doing 100 in a 55 200 miles from post and is now locked up and needs to make bail does not put a SGM in a good mood. He might just want to let the TS stew a bit after the TS reports "All present" and the SGM asks the TS to report to his office with the young lad after the formation.
Must be a universal code because everybody in the formation starts to smile as they know whats coming "Ah, well, SGM, he's not here right now, he's running a bit late." "Oh, so he'll be here in a few minutes?" "Ah, ah...."
The Reaper
06-26-2008, 10:00
Not saying that it is right.
I had the same thing happen at a course I was attending.
The CoC was covering for him for four days, reporting him as PFD. They finally found him dead in his BOQ room. All of the leaders who had been covering were burned.
Had a brain damaged medic on my team missing for three days. Turns out that he had decided to move, and not let anyone know what he was doing, where he went, or what his new phone number was. We had covered for him till we found him. Then he paid the price.
Just saying that people missing formation, especially in a Repple Depple, would not be unusual. There was probably more than one missing. Bet there won't be again for quite a while though.
Really no excuse, with cell phones these days. I might give you an hour of slack, if I knew you. If you had not checked in by then (even a voicemail saying that you are running late and will be there by X hours), I am going to have to report it.
TR
AngelsSix
06-26-2008, 13:58
Frankly, it looked like he had loaned the room out for a nooner, but it made me wonder enough about their policies that I never stayed there again, after that trip.
They do rent the rooms out for nooners all the time, more than a few soldiers have been videotaped using that particular motel for their little lunchtime trysts. Don't piss off your wives, guys.:D
I refuse to stay in ANY motel in Fayetteville, when we came down from Va to look at houses, we stayed in a hotel in Pinehurst.
It's a shhame she had to die so early in her life.
RIP.
Here are two more updates from the local paper.
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297846
and
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297850
Being the paternal husband and father and soon to be grand father that I am, I’d have been worried about a young pregnant soldier off post who’d missed formation. Call me paranoid but Fayetteville can be a rough town. Of course, her pregnancy invites other concerns for her well being that should have been a concern for someone at the repo.
God bless you young soldier, you and your baby RIP…..jd
Getting kinda' strange
Letter from the killer?
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297965
Sent to the Newspaper Wednesday
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297964
Team Sergeant
06-28-2008, 08:36
Getting kinda' strange
Letter from the killer?
On Friday, sources requesting anonymity told The Fayetteville Observer that a symbol used in the letter is identical to one found written in lipstick on a mirror in the Fairfield Inn room where Spc. Megan Lynn Touma’s body was discovered June 21.
In fact, police are not ready to call Touma’s death a homicide. Sportsman declined to confirm whether the symbol, which resembles the cross hairs of a rifle scope, was found in the room.
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297965
I'm with the Fayetteville PD, she probably fell in the tub.:rolleyes::rolleyes:
AngelsSix
06-28-2008, 19:29
Events like this bring all the freaks and attention wanters out on force. All the BS will calm down in a few days. I am thinking that the person who typed that letter probably worked at the motel.:rolleyes:
The letter is probably a deception measure.
I think that the motive is going to be very similar to the Lauterbach case. As of the current news, the police appear to be on to it.
Prayers out to the soldiers family. RIP Specialist, and your unborn baby.
Frome today's paper
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297987
and views from town folks
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297982
Confession ??
CNN) -- Authorities identified a soldier in training as a person of interest in the death of a pregnant soldier found in a North Carolina motel room, a military official said.
Lt. Col. John Clearwater, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, told CNN affiliate WRAL that the person of interest is a training student at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School located at nearby Fort Bragg.
News of the development came Saturday as a local newspaper reported that it had received a letter from someone purporting to be Spc. Megan Lynn Touma's killer -- and claiming an infamous serial killer as a role model.
However, Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine told CNN affiliate WNCN, "I do not believe there is a serial killer on the loose in Fayetteville." Watch how the letter's author taunted police »
WNCN also reported that police had searched the home of a person who may be linked to Touma's death. Police would not divulge the home's owner or location but said officials are ready to "start the analysis of many items that were taken from the suspect's home."
Authorities discovered the body of 23-year-old Touma in a Fayetteville, North Carolina, motel room June 21 after receiving a report of a strong odor coming from one of the motel rooms. Touma was seven months pregnant.
Motel employees told the police that there was a "Do Not Disturb" sign on Touma's door for four days before she was found, according to local media reports.
According to The Fayetteville Observer, police are also investigating a letter, dated June 17, sent to the newspaper by a person claiming responsibility for Touma's death.
The letter's author included in the letter the name of the hotel, room number and date Touma was found. It also mocked Fayetteville police, saying, "I basically, sat there and watch while investigaters were on site." Investigators was misspelled in the letter.
The author also wrote, "It was a master piece. I Confess, that I have killed many times before in several states, but now I will start using my role-model's signature. There will be many more to come."
The letter has a circle with a cross in it, the same symbol used by the Zodiac Killer, who was responsible for at least five deaths in California in 1968 and 1969. The Zodiac Killer was never identified.
The Observer reported on Friday that a source close to the investigation said that the same symbol was drawn in lipstick on a mirror in Touma's motel room.
Lt. David Sportsman told the paper that the letter is valuable evidence, but that it was written in an attempt to mislead investigators.
"There is absolutely no reason to believe there have been any other killings or that any other killings have occurred related to this so-called confession," Sportsman told The Observer.
It is not known whether there is a connection between the person of interest and the author of the letter.
Touma, a dental specialist from Cold Springs, Kentucky, arrived at Fort Bragg on June 12.
CNN must be reading the Fayetteville Observer. Just about everything was in the previous linked stories. Oh, well.
From the Fayetteville Observer
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=298109
Her death is now seen as a homicide.
Christophe
07-02-2008, 13:55
RIP soldier
RIP kiddo
A sad loss...
:(
RIP young soldier.
As a side note, this story has received quite a lot of national attention which bothers me to a certain degree. Not that her death is not important or inconsequential, but it seems any story involving the military where there could be a negative slant or view somehow becomes national news. Next thing you know the whole thing will be linked to stress caused by deployments, etc. Invariably it will be Bush's fault, and McCain could have prevented it if he were younger and thinner.
AngelsSix
07-31-2008, 18:35
Seems like one minute she was saying her daughter was a problem child, the next she is blaming the system.....:rolleyes:
From: http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2008/01/11/858721.html&cookieattempt=1
According to court documents filed this week, Lauterbach's mother told investigators that her daughter was bipolar and had a history of compulsive lying.
From: http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/3310799/
Washington — The mother of a slain Camp Lejeune Marine on Thursday called for more protection for servicemen and women who have been sexually assaulted.
"I'm here to ask you to do what you can to help change how the military treats victims of crime," Mary Lauterbach told members of a congressional oversight committee.
Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was beaten to death in December, and her charred remains were found a month later in a shallow grave behind the home of a fellow Marine. She was seven months pregnant at the time of her death.
Cpl. Cesar Laurean has been charged with murder in the case. He was arrested in Mexico after a three-month manhunt and is awaiting extradition to North Carolina.
A year ago, Maria Lauterbach accused Laurean of rape, a charge he denied. Camp Lejeune officials changed her job so the two would no longer work together, and they investigated her claims.
Mary Lauterbach said her daughter was repeatedly harassed on base after she became pregnant.
"She became pregnant – she became aware of it at the end of June, beginning of July (2007) – and shortly thereafter her car was vandalized," Mary Lauterbach said. "She reported it, and the Marines dismissed it. (Later,) she was getting something out of her trunk at twilight, they yelled her name (and) she turned around and got punched in the face.
"She was very afraid at this point," her mother testified. "She once again went and reported it. They said, 'Can you identify the voice?' She said, 'No, I'm not certain who it is.' They said, 'Well, we can't link this to your sexual assault allegations, so too bad.'"
Maria Lauterbach asked for a transfer but was denied, her mother said.
"They said, 'Don't bother. It's not going to happen,'" she said.
Camp Lejeune spokesman Lt. Col. Curtis Hill said in a statement Thursday afternoon that Maria Lauterbach told her superior officer that Laurean wasn't the person who attacked her in the parking lot. She also failed to report the incident to the Provost Marshal's Office so an investigation could be initiated, the statement said.
Mary Lauterbach insisted Thursday that her daughter and unborn grandchild might not have died If the Marines had paid more attention to her daughter's complaints and had handled the situation better.
"I believe that Maria would be alive today if the Marines had provided a more effective system to protect the victims of sexual assault," she said.
The military needs to investigate and prosecute cases more quickly and needs to provide more victim advocacy and more security, including transfers and protective orders, she said.
"A victim should not have to connect the dots between incidents of harassment and a rape claim," she said. "Victims of sexual assault should not be left to twist and turn while their claim is being prosecuted or dismissed."