In 1985, a young military officer’s wife and two of her three little girls were viciously murdered in their Fayetteville, North Carolina home. Kathryn Eastburn was also raped. The crime occurred six miles from the location of where Jeffrey MacDonald was accused of killing his wife and two children on the base at Fort Bragg. Army sergeant Timothy Hennis became a suspect from the beginning because a day or so earlier, he bought the Eastburn’s family dog. In a background check, they found that he had 3 convictions for writing bad checks and a witness identified him as the same person leaving the Eastburn home during the time in question. Eventually he was charged and found guilty of the murders of Kathryn, Cara, and Erin Eastburn; he was sentenced to death by the civilian authorities in North Carolina. But he appealed, was granted a new trial and at his second death penalty trial, he was found not guilty.
After his acquittal, he joined the Army again for two more tours, worked his way up to E-8, and retired as a MSG from Fort Lewis, Washington. Twenty years later, DNA evidence from a vaginal swab taken from Kathryn Eastburn linked Hennis to the crimes. Civilian prosecutors could not charge Hennis due to double jeopardy; but the US military did claiming they have federal jurisdiction because Hennis is a retiree. As a result, he was ordered back into service due to his retirement status. Hennis tried to claim consensual sex which contradicted original testimony. In 2010, a military jury found him guilty of three counts of murder and he was sentenced to death again. Hennis sits on death row at Fort Leavenworth with three other service members: Ronald Gray, Hasan Akbar, and Nidal Hasan.
In 1985, a young military wife and two of her three little girls are viciously murdered in their home. In a twisted case filled with unusual suspects, the man who gets convicted goes free. But nothing is what it seems. -Discovery ID
3 People on Death Row Who May Be Innocent | Criminally Listed
A man tried three times for his life but is he a killer? Find out! Death Row Stories.
While on death row, Tim Hennis received an anonymous letter confessing to the murders. The note didn’t produce any leads. -Death Row Stories
The star witness in Tim Hennis’ trial had doubts about whether Hennis committed the murders. -Death Row Stories
Timothy Hennis Double Jeopardy | Death Row Stories | CNN
Air Force spouse Kathryn Eastburn was found brutally raped and murdered on May 9, 1985 in her Fayetteville, North Carolina home. Two of her three children, Cara and Erin, were also murdered in the same vicious way. All three were stabbed and their throats were slashed. Kathryn and her three children were home alone while Gary Eastburn was on temporary duty at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. The youngest daughter Jana was found dehydrated but otherwise unharmed. The crime occurred six miles from the location of where Jeffrey MacDonald was accused of killing his wife and two children at Fort Bragg. Army Sergeant Timothy Hennis was a suspect from the beginning because he had visited the Eastburn home a couple days earlier to buy the family dog.
Kathryn placed a dog for sale ad in the local post paper. Investigators sent out a press release looking for the person who bought the dog. In the meantime, a neighbor reported seeing someone leaving the Eastburn residence at the time in question. The neighbor provided details for a composite drawing; the suspect drove a white Chevy Chevette. At the urging of his wife, Hennis contacted the police station and investigators were stunned at how much he looked like the composite drawing. He also drove a white Chevy Chevette. In a background check, they found that Hennis had three convictions for writing bad checks. This was significant because the perpetrator stole Kathryn’s ATM card and used it on one occasion. Another witness identified Hennis as the person who used the ATM at the time in question.
In 1986, the State of North Carolina tried Hennis for the triple murders. Hennis was found guilty and sentenced to death. But he appealed and was found not guilty in the second death penalty trial. After his ‘exoneration’ Hennis was the subject of a book and an ABC made for television movie “Innocent Victims”. Meanwhile, against lawyers advice, Hennis enlisted in the Army again for two more tours, worked his way up to E-8, and retired as a MSG outside of Fort Lewis, Washington. Cold case investigators took a second look at the cold case and because of the advances in DNA technology, they retrieved a vaginal swab from the rape kit test and submitted it to the lab. DNA evidence linked Timothy Hennis to Kathryn Eastburn.The State of North Carolina prosecutors could not charge Hennis a third time because he was found ‘not guilty’ of the triple homicides in the second death penalty trial.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: “[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb…” [wikipedia]. The civilians couldn’t try him in State court but the Army could because of federal jurisdiction; Hennis was an Army retiree therefore still under their jurisdiction. As a result, Hennis was activated and order to report to Fort Bragg for his third death penalty trial. The defense attempted to justify the DNA match to consensual sex but it contradicted his original testimony. The defense also called into question the ethics of the lab who made the DNA match. A military jury found Timothy Hennis guilty of three counts of murder and sentenced him to death. He awaits his execution date at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
Source: Unusual Suspects ‘Mother’s Day Murders’
In 1985, a young military wife and two of her three little girls are viciously murdered in their home. In a twisted case filled with unusual suspects, the man who gets convicted goes free. But nothing is what it seems. -Discovery ID
This Is An Open Investigation That Has Gotten No Major Publicity And Your Help Is Needed
The day before Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on a rampage at Ft. Hood and allegedly shot 43 military personnel, wounding 31 and killing 12, there was another “shooting” at an American military base in Iraq which has been treated far differently by the military: the “execution-style” murder of Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador, 29, of Albany, N.Y. at the U.S. military base near Kirkush.
On November 6, 2009 the Department of Defense issued a press release on the death of Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador, 29, of Albany, N.Y., who, according to the DOD, “died Nov. 4 in Kirkush, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a “non-combat related incident”: Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador, 29, of Albany, N.Y., died Nov. 4 in Kirkush, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. She was assigned to the 209th Military Intelligence Company, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. For more information media may contact the Fort Lewis public affairs office at (253)-967-0152, (253)-967-0147.
Army Sgt. Aaron Arthur, 25, died of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over on March 8th, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq. He was one of two soldiers who lost their lives in the vehicle accident; Army SSG Lakeshia Bailey was also listed as a casualty. They were both supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Army Captain Marcus Alford, 28, died of a non combat related accident on February 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq. Captain Alford was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee Army National Guard in Louisville, Tennessee. Captain Alford died from wounds suffered when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing as a result of a helicopter systems failure. His family sued the makers of the helicopter and settled.
“One of the U.S. Army’s most advanced helicopters is unsafe and responsible for the deaths of two Tennessee troops, a lawsuit filed in Knox County Circuit Court claims. The suit alleges the failure of the Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system in a Kiowa OH-58D Warrior helicopter was a direct and proximate cause in the deaths of troops Marcus R. Alford Sr. and Billie Jean Grinder.” -Knoxville News Sentinel
In March 2006, John Needham joined the Army making him the fifth generation in his family to serve in the Armed Forces. In the fall of 2006, John deployed with his team from Fort Carson, Colorado to fight the war in Iraq during some of the most intense combat in the war. Army private John Needham began to downward spiral about eleven months into a deployment to Iraq after surviving multiple IED and grenade attacks. He was injured both mentally and physically. John claims that when he reached out for help his Army command told him to tell the medical personnel that he was fine so he wouldn’t be sent home. John did what he was asked to do. Soon thereafter John began sending alarming e-mails to his family and learned that his deployment was going to be extended beyond the twelve months he was originally tasked with. In September 2007, John contemplated suicide and one of his fellow comrades stopped him but in the struggle the gun discharged. It was at this time that John’s leadership began to shame him and isolate him. They also assigned two soldiers to watch over him twenty-four seven. John felt that eventually his team turned on him as did his command, who recommended him for courts martial because of the incident with the gun.
John’s father became concerned about John’s health and after making numerous phone calls was able to get him sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. John spent one month in psychiatric treatment before the Army pulled him from Walter Reed and sent him back to Fort Carson, Colorado where he was facing punishment. John continued to abuse pills, drugs, and alcohol and as a result was getting in trouble. John’s parents were concerned about his health again and fought for him to get transferred to San Diego for help and to be closer to them. John was prescribed a myriad of drugs to help him cope with the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. During this time, John sent a letter to the Army command at Fort Carson to report that he witnessed war atrocities while fighting in Iraq. An investigation was launched into the allegations yet the Army would determine that war crimes did not occur. Although John’s courts martial quietly went away and John was medically retired and discharged from the US Army. It would only be a few days later on September 1, 2008 that he would be accused of beating his girlfriend Jacqwelyn Villagomez to death with his bare hands. He was arrested for her murder, let out on bail, and awaiting trial for her murder when he learned that PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury may be what led him to overreact and snap during the argument with Jacqwelyn.
In July 2009, ten months after Jacqwelyn’s death, John learned from the Department of Veterans Affairs that he did in fact have a Traumatic Brain Injury. John learned that the TBI can impact brain functioning including memory, speech, and hearing. He came to realize that combat changes who you are and that he may have suffered from a flashback when he attacked his girlfriend. According to witnesses Jacqwelyn became upset after she was asked to leave John’s home. As she was leaving one of John’s female friends stopped by which enraged Jacqwelyn. Jacqwelyn began beating the female friend who was able to escape and flee from the situation. While the friend was on the phone with the police reporting the incident, John was inside arguing and fighting with Jacqwelyn who herself was volatile. It was at this time that John snapped and beat Jacqwelyn to death with his own hands. He was discovered with swollen hands and bloodied after the vicious attack. The prosecution hoped to prove that John got drunk and killed Jacqwelyn in a drunken rage but John and his defense team hoped to prove that he suffered from a flashback, therefore he blamed both the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Traumatic Brain Injury for the frenzied, animalistic attack. John was facing twenty-five years to life in prison for the murder.
In early 2010, as John’s trial got closer, John had another surgery to repair his back injuries from an IED explosion in Iraq. It failed and John continued to suffer with a high intensity of pain. According to his family, John could barely walk. John moved to Arizona for another surgery and to spend some time with his mom. He appeared happy to be back in the desert again. John’s brother drove from California to Arizona to spend some time with John. The next day, February 19, 2010, John’s brother discovered him clinging to life in his room. John’s brother attempted to save his life but John took his last breath in his brother’s arms and died at the age of 26. They would later learn that John died of an apparent overdose on painkillers. The autopsy was considered undetermined yet medical experts believe that the unusually high dosage of painkillers in John’s system could lead one to believe that John committed suicide. To this day it is unclear if John’s death was accidental or a suicide. John’s brother noted that it was ironic that he would make it through months of intense, deadly combat yet die once he gets home. There was no military funeral held for John but he was remembered for both the lives he saved in Iraq and the life he took when he got back home.
On this edition of DTRH Popeye covers the eleven year anniversary of the illegal, and immoral invasion of Iraq. He starts off by getting into the story of PFC John Needham, who witnessed war crimes being committed, and was locked up and tortured by his own command for not partaking in them himself. His story is an example of what happens when we “embrace the dark-side” as Dick Cheney put it in the push for the invasion. -DTHR
Sgt Carlos Gill, 25, US Army, died of a non combat related illness at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on January 26, 2010 after being evacuated from Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan. Sgt. Gill was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom on behalf of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Washington.
SSG Thaddeus Montgomery II, 29, US Army, died of a non combat related incident on January 20, 2010 at Korengal Outpost, Afghanistan. SSG Montgomery was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom on behalf of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division in Fort Carson, Colorado. According to the Department of Defense, the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.
“Killed in what Army officials have said was a noncombat-related shooting in Afghanistan. Exactly how former Decatur, Ala., resident Thaddeus S. Montgomery was shot to death in Afghanistan remains unclear, with the Army saying it is continuing to investigate and classifying Montgomery’s death as a noncombat-related incident.” -AL.com
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 