Ft. Bragg, North Carolina--It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes--or even the fat and lethargic Mycroft--to understand the meaning of the symbol enclosed in a letter claiming responsibility for the murder of Ms. Touma. Whomever sent it is taunting the authorities, society, and maybe even the decedent's family.
The letter itself is likely dated on the same day that Touma was murdered--the sender notes that it is his "role model's" symbol (it comes from ZODIAC), and it was sent to a Fayetteville newspaper (The Observer), not the police.
The authorities are telling us that they don't know what caused the death of Ms. Touma, but it appears that a murder has occurred. An autopsy has been completed, but remains unreleased. Touma had only been in country from her station in Germany as a dental specialist for a mere two weeks.
The decedent was not reported AWOL when she should have been under United States Army procedure. This suggests that someone with intimate knowledge of Touma and details of her life killed her. They might have even written the letter. In tandem with all of this, we might be seeing a social trend in this and another murder.
In January of this year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was also murdered while pregnant. It is assumed that she was brutally murdered by Corporal Cesar Laurean for reasons that remain unknown, but could be guessed with reasonable accuracy. Laurean is presumed to have assassinated Lauterbach and burned her body in a pit in his backyard so as to dispose of the evidence of his crime. This suggests panic with very little premeditation, something done on-the-fly.
Laurean was captured in Mexico around April 10th of this year, thanks to his constant logging online to communicate with his wife and to access their bank account. The actual wife cooperated with Mexican authorities and helped them bag Laurean. We could be witnessing a very peculiar sociological phenomena that has its roots in our current embattled male-identity.
Are we seeing the rise of the military serial killer, or is that an oxymoron? Are our military installations and their environs becoming a stand-in for the streets of Whitechapel? After all, assassination is what the military does best, and soldiers murdering each other is not a very long walk from warfare.
Rape of female enlisted personel was common when I fulfilled my duty to the U.S. Army. No one ever did a rape kit, or even mentioned it. We were lucky if we were left alive. Most of the rapists and some of the murderers were our own soldiers, and higher ranking enlisted men. We were just whores. It seems that things haven't changed much in 30 years.
ReplyDeleteStill hating those murderers and rapists, with a VA system that refuses to help.
Until it happens to you, and even afterwards, you aren't even a name. Just junk on the bottom of their jackboots.
Victoria
Victoria:
ReplyDeleteI'm very sorry to read of your experiences, and you have my sympathy and empathy, as do all of the victims. Military culture has its obvious demons, and brutal misogyny is one of them from time immemorial. I welcome all victims of these actions to share their stories.
It's a shame that I'm reading this blog 4 yrs. later. What's interesting to me is the fact that you were right on about her killer. Unfortunantly NO ONE reported her missing was due to her unpopularity and how "wrong" it would have been to report that the pregnant Ms Megan had been fucking people's husbands for a long time... It may be wrong to speak ill of the dead, but this is just one case where my personal experience with this individual, her ex husband, her ex boyfriend, and my ex husband has done nothing but reinforce my belief in Karma. The REAL victims here are the unborn, yet viable son that she was pregnant with, her boyfriends wife, and the many people that she deceived.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why Edgar (aka: babies daddy), didn't get charged for a double murder!!----ok maybe I do since there was no "breath of life"... but a fetus is viable at 24 wks... and this guy gets away with pleading to 2nd degree and sentenced 16-20yrs??---- there's no justice!
Thank you. For some reason I notice things everyone else misses with some of these tales of murder, I don't get it. What are they thinking about when they analyze the information, their nails? Their mortgage? What's for dinner tonight? No idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's horrible she was murdered, and I agree: why no double murder charge? I had to wonder about her sleeping with others, and sure, we do reap what we sow, but he was nuts. What I find weird is that he's not the only to do this in the military, then to go and burn the body, very strange parallels there, odd, probably some primeval behavior pattern, very animal-like.
I agree, the babies are the real victims of their parents' stupidity. People are too often assholes...