THE TWO MEN who carried out apparent terror attacks on New Year’s Day — killing 15 people by plowing a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, and detonating a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas — both had U.S. military backgrounds, according to the Pentagon.
From 1990 to 2010, about seven persons per year with U.S. military backgrounds committed extremist crimes. Since 2011, that number has jumped to almost 45 per year, according to data from a new, unreleased report shared with The Intercept by Michael Jensen, the research director at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, at the University of Maryland.
Military service is also the single strongest individual predictor of becoming a “mass casualty offender,” far outpacing mental health issues, according to a separate study of extremist mass casualty violence by the researchers.
From 1990 through 2023, 730 individuals with U.S. military backgrounds committed criminal acts that were motivated by their political, economic, social, or religious goals, according to data from the new START report. From 1990 to 2022, successful violent plots that included perpetrators with a connection to the U.S. military resulted in 314 deaths and 1,978 injuries — a significant number of which came from the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Army Major Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death by a military court for killing thirteen people and wounding 30 others at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009. Major Hasan was a military officer employed as a psychiatrist and nearly all of the victims of his crimes were unarmed soldiers. This was the worst mass murder at a U.S. military installation. Hasan was armed with a semi-automatic pistol, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), and then opened fire at a crowd inside a Fort Hood deployment and medical screening processing center. The massacre lasted about 10 minutes before Hasan was shot by civilian police and taken into custody. The shooting spree left 12 service members and one Department of Defense employee dead. Reviews by the Pentagon and a U.S. Senate panel found Hasan’s superiors had continued to promote him despite the fact that concerns had been raised over his behavior. His behavior suggested that he had become a radical and potentially violent Islamic extremist. On August 23, 2013, a jury found Hasan guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death for his crimes and sits on death row at Fort Leavenworth with three other service members: Timothy Hennis, Ronald Gray, and Hasan Akbar.
The victims of the 2009 Fort Hood Mass Shooting Spree. [Photo: Yahoo]
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In the News:
An Army major goes on a murderous rampage at Fort Hood. -ABC News (November 5, 2009)
Army Psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is suspected of killing 13 and wounding 30 in a rampage shooting in Fort Hood, Texas on the largest military base in the U.S. -CBS News (November 6, 2009)
David Martin reports on new details of suspected Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army Psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress. -CBS News (November 6, 2009)
Nidal Malik Hasan is an army psychiatrist, deeply opposed to America’s wars, and now accused of committing one of the worst attacks ever at a U.S. military base. -CBS (November 6, 2009)
Details of what happened during the massacre at Fort Hood. -ABC News (November 7, 2009)
Soldier shot tells of chaos and how a friend pulled the bullet from her back. -ABC News (November 7, 2009)
New information continues to emerge on the background of Major Nidal Hasan, the U.S. Army psychiatrist who allegedly opened fire on soldiers at Fort Hood in (the U.S. state of) Texas. A 2007 U.S. Army memo speaks of his poor performance treating soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. His Palestinian relatives in the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, speak of his sudden turn to a strict adherence to Islam. -VOA News (November 24, 2009)
Interview with Nader Hasan -ABC News (September 4, 2011)
Victims have been neglected, says hero cop Kimberly Munley. -ABC News (February 13, 2013)
A military jury recommended Major Nidal Hasan be executed for killing 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. -CNN (August 28, 2013)
“For The Record” examines the Fort Hood Shooting, talking to survivors, in its premiere episode of the 2nd season. -Blaze TV (March 13, 2014)
CNN’s John Berman takes a look at the lives lost in the shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. -CNN (April 4, 2014)
Fort Hood’s base commander eulogized his men, and President Barack Obama delivered a speech at a memorial service for soldiers killed in a shooting last week at Fort Hood Army post in Texas. It marked the second time the president had to come to Fort Hood after a mass shooting. -CBS Evening News (April 9, 2014)
On November 5, 2009, a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 people dead; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. -AP Archive (November 5, 2016)
Retired staff sergeant Alonzo Lunsford shares his thoughts on ‘Fox & Friends.’ -Fox News (November 5, 2017)
Date: October 30, 1985 Victims: Recife Cosmen, 2, Ernest Trout, 67, and Augusto Ferrara, 64 (she also injured 7 others in the shooting incident) Location: Springfield Mall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Circumstances: Sylvia dressed in fatigues began shooting at people in the Springfield Mall with a 22 caliber rifle; victims were diving behind racks of clothing and hiding in the backs of stores; store owners realized that it was a familiar face; Sylvia would go into the Springfield Mall and complain to store owners that the bright lights bothered her; she would also march up and down the hall in the mall; Sylvia was obsessed with the military and the Army discharged her early; the Army recognized that Sylvia was not right in her mind; she muttered to herself and used obscenities because Sylvia had schizophrenia; she couldn’t perceive reality for what it was; she responded to the negative voices in her head; she was diagnosed 10 years earlier but refused to take her medication; Sylvia’s mother tried to get her to take the medication but she wouldn’t; her delusional system involved military power and control over people; her history revealed the potential for violence; she had been working up to the violence at the mall for a long time; Sylvia was driven by paranoid schizophrenia, the delusions centered around the fact that one is being persecuted and people are after them; she was in and out of mental institutions for years and feared her mother wanted to send her back; she refused to take medication and was suspicious of the medication and anyone who wanted her to take it; she thought her family wanted to hurt her and was out to get her, she was fearful that they wanted to send her back to the hospital; to Sylvia, the shooting was a ticket to a better life in prison; for some reason she decided that the hospital was worse than prison and she would do something to get her to prison instead; thankfully someone in the mall walked up to her and took the gun from her thinking it was a prank; John Loufer was an accidental hero; once medicated again, Sylvia displayed remorse for her actions; she was angry that she was free to buy a gun despite her mental illness; but she checked “no” on the form and was able to purchase a gun with no problems whatsoever; Sylvia criticized her ability to buy a weapon and wrote to Congress, the President, etc telling them she should not have been allowed to buy the gun Motive: Mental Illness (paranoid schizophrenia) Disposition: Sylvia Seegrist, 24, was found guilty but mentally ill of 3 counts of murder and 7 counts of attempted murder; she received 3 life sentences
Date: November 4, 1997 Victims: Justin Thomas, 5, and Shelby Alexis Riggs, 2 Location: Sherwood, Arkansas Circumstances: Single mother Christina Riggs killed her own children; something snapped in her mind because she killed two defenseless children that didn’t know what was coming; Christina was going to kill her children with potassium chloride which she thought would stop their heart; what she didn’t understand is that a diluted form through IV would burn the skin and destroy the vein in the process; the potassium chloride binds and burns all of the blood vessels on the way to the heart; trouble followed Christina through her entire life; Christina was separated from her siblings and raised alone by her mother; in her diary, she wrote of sexual abuse by a neighbor and a family member; by 13, she was desperately unhappy and overweight; it was a psychological barrier for offenders; if I look unattractive, they won’t be interested in me; when she got older, she turned to sex because that’s all she knew; she got pregnant at 20 with her son Justin and his father skipped town; she married John Riggs and had another child Shelby but the marriage didn’t last; she was alone and raising the children by herself; she lost a cousin to suicide, her mother made a suicide attempt when she was growing up, and she had a grandmother who was institutionalized; potassium chloride is often used in prison executions; she thought she would give the children a quick and painless death but Justin was in pain and agony; she reached for another injection and tried to give him morphine; he was in so much pain and wiggling about that it was impossible for Christina to get the needle in the vein; Christina was a nurse known for always helping people; her sister wanted to know why she did this (filicide); her sister said she was great with her kids and worked long hours at the hospital to provide for her kids; after her divorce, she started another relationship but this guy broke her heart and stole her credit card; he left her broke and destitute; she told a doctor she was depressed and was prescribed Prozac; it was unclear if she was taking meds at the time of the homicide; the combination of mood swings, irritability and depression was the perfect storm; her plan to poison her two children failed so she resorted to suffocation and smothered both the children; she carefully laid their bodies on her bed and then tried to take her own life; she took 28 anti-depressants and injected herself with potassium chloride but it burned a hole and collapsed the vein; she decided to kill her children 2 days before she did it; she was afraid if she died, the children would be separated and go with their respective fathers, she thought she would prevent future sadness; 19 hours after the suicide attempt, Christina’s mom found her shortly before she died; Christina was demonized once the community learned what she had done; if she had died, nobody would have cared and would have wrote this off as another horrible tragedy; her sister hopes to shed light on the issue to help others learn from their experience; at trial, many discounted Christina’s state of mind and thought she wanted to rid herself of the children; in the end, the State of Arkansas finished what she started; Christina was obsessed with a black depression and didn’t want her children to live the same way Motive: Mental Illness (depression) Disposition: Christina Riggs, 26, was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas; she was executed by lethal injection (potassium chloride) on May 2, 2000
“There is no way words can express how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies. Now I can be with my babies, as I always intended.” -Christina Marie Riggs (last words before execution)
Date: November 1984 Victims: Aggie Marsh, 97, Stella Bradham, 85, Leathy McKnight, 85, and Mary Rae Carter, 79 (Anna Larsen, 94, was injected with insulin but rushed to the hospital and saved) Location: North Horizon, St. Petersburg, Florida Circumstances: In a 50 bed nursing facility, 12 people died in 13 days; Bobbie was an angel of death and killed her patients; she had an intense compulsion to murder because of what it did for her; Bobbie Sue had deep rooted psychological issues that surfaced after the investigation began; she used to mutilate herself to attract attention; she had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy; she had a long history of self-harm; she had her ovaries removed, stomach tumors, a broken arm that wouldn’t heal, hysterectomy, gall bladder problems, ulcers and pneumonia; it brought her the attention she craved; she would faint in between surgeries; she craved attention so she hurt herself to get it; her mind was twisted at an early age because four of her siblings had muscular dystrophy so she didn’t get the attention she wanted; at a young age, she learned the way to get love and attention was to be sick; her life revolved around sickness; it lead her to a career in nursing; she saw the power her mother had taking care of sick children and she wanted that; her desire switched from harming herself to harming others; detectives found a common thread with each death; Bobbie Sue was working when they died; they learned she had a long history of harming herself for attention; somehow she got a license in nursing in 1975 despite being in and out of institutions for years in Illinois prior to her move to Florida; the victims in the nursing facility showed no signs of injury; the cops needed to substantiate their gut feelings; one of the individuals who died had several injection points and there seemed to be a trace of zync, maybe possible use of insulin; it’s used to help diabetic patients from becoming hypoglycemic; the use of insulin overdose would cause blood sugars to drop, stop the heart, and cause insulin death; Anna Larsen was sent to the hospital with insulin shock but she wasn’t a diabetic; someone injected the insulin and staffing records revealed Bobbie Sue was the common theme; cops investigated records and exhumed the bodies; they finally had enough to charge Bobbie Sue; they not only proved that she committed murder but they got a conviction; detectives believe that she probably has more victims that we don’t know about; Bobbie Sue died of an infection in prison on August 27, 2007 Motive: Mental Illness (Munchausen syndrome by proxy) Disposition: Prosecutors wanted first degree murder charges for Bobbie Sue Dudley, 35, but she plead guilty to second degree murder in a plea bargain and was sentenced to 65 years in prison for 4 homicides; she also received 30 years for the attempted murder of Anna Larsen to be served concurrently with the 65 year sentence; the plea bargain locked her away for the rest of her life; she died of an infection in 2007
HISTORY – Twisted Philly – Episode 14: PART 1 – Ms. Rambo
To recap part one, Sylvia Seegrist was a resident of Springfield, Pennsylvania, a suburb about 10 miles outside the city… -Ms. Rambo, Twisted Philly
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
On October 30, 1985, Sylvia Seegrist, 25, dressed in Army fatigues and black boots, parked her car in front of the Springfield Mall in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, stepped out, and started shooting. She killed three people and injured seven more in the mass shooting before she was stopped by an on-looker in the mall who didn’t realize she was not in a Halloween costume. Killed in the incident was a young child and two men: Recife Cosmen, 2, Dr. Ernest Trout, 67, and Augusto Ferrara, 64. As a result, Seegrist was arrested and indicted for three first degree murders. Investigators would learn that Sylvia Seegrist was discharged from the military after a year of serving because she wasn’t “right in the head” according to Army officials. Sylvia’s mother shared that she tried to get help for her daughter and tried to get her to take medication, but no one would hear her pleas for help. Prior to and after her trial in 1986, Seegrist was held at a Pennsylvania State Hospital.
Sylvia downward spiraled after her discharge from the Army and used the military training she learned to kill innocent civilians. After Sylvia was found guilty of three first degree murders and given three life sentences, she was transferred to the women’s Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution where she still resides. The 1985 incident highlighted the fine line between an individual’s rights and the state’s authority to commit potentially dangerous people. Seegrist interviewed in 1991 said, “daily doses of anti-psychotic medication had curtailed her delusions, paranoia and explosive anger.” Why wasn’t the mental illness picked up by recruiting and instead only recognized after she joined the military? Sylvia Seegrist had paranoid schizophrenia which is a serious mental illness that requires the use of medication to manage symptomology. Sylvia Seegrist needed follow on treatment after her discharge from the Army in an effort to prevent a predictable downward spiral.
Manley Hotsprings, Alaska is in the middle of nowhere and at the end of the road. In 1984, Manley had a population of maybe 50. Fairbanks was the closest city and roughly a five hour drive or 150 miles away. In the spring of 1984, the residents of Manley were anxiously awaiting for spring. When the rivers start flowing, transportation on the river became available and that’s important to the Manley Springs community. On May 17, 1984, Vietnam veteran Larry Joe McVey, 37, and Dale Madajski, 24, went to the boat landing about a quarter mile out of town. Later that afternoon when the men failed to return, the wives began to wonder what was keeping them. They drove to the landing and found Joe’s boat still on the trailer. They knew something was wrong because the pair left their beer in the truck. One of the wives also noticed another local’s car at the landing. Albert Hagen Jr., 27, was visiting his parents in Manley and went to the river that morning after he cleared out some brush from their land. Given the unusually warm weather, maybe the three of them went somewhere together…
But by noon the next day, there was no sign of the three men. That afternoon friends and family of the missing gathered together out of concern. They were terrified something horrible happened to their loved ones. They realized others in Manley had vanished too. The families were worried about the Kleins because no one had heard from them. They were last seen riding their four wheeler to the landing. Their four-wheeler was parked at the landing but they were not there. Community members assumed they went to their property up river. The family left town on occasion but always asked someone to take care of their dog while they were gone. Frantic, several of the towns people went to the Kleins to check in on them, and they found the dog. They knocked on their door and nobody answered. Meanwhile, others headed to the boat launch in hopes the missing had returned. And while there, they noticed an unattended vehicle, that of a stranger who had arrived in Manley Springs only a few days earlier.
The stranger had been in town for a few days so everyone got used to him; he set up camp at the landing. It wasn’t unusual to see him at the landing or in town. But the newcomer was among the many who were missing. Six people were missing, nearly 1/10 of the town was unaccounted for, and the alarm bells were going off. Meanwhile, folks in Manley had no idea what happened down river in the tiny town of Hopkinsville. Roger Culp had called the place home for years but no one had seen or heard from Roger in more than a week. Roger’s neighbor also noticed their moose hide was missing from the line at her cabin. She was immediately suspicious that Michael Silka had taken it. She went to his cabin to confront him. While she was there, she noticed a funny mound of snow at his place. She found another mound of fresh snow behind the cabin too. Silka was nowhere to be found. She questioned neighbors about his whereabouts but nobody saw him. The neighbor left and returned to the cabin again and this time she saw blood.
The neighbor ran back to her cabin to get her husband because she knew something was wrong. When they arrived at Silka’s cabin, their first thought was he probably killed an animal but they were uneasy about why he would hide it. They took another look in Michael’s cabin; this time he answered the door. He said he took the moose hide with the understanding that they gave it to him and he said he would return it. Later that day, authorities checked out Silka’s cabin but there was no response. They found blood and fresh mounds of snow too, When they investigated the mounds, they found the moose hide. They knocked on Silka’s door once more and this time he answered; he had been there all along. Silka said he shot a moose and the hide dripped blood. The police didn’t find anything suspicious and assumed the case was closed and left. It was not uncommon for people to go missing in Alaska but this many missing in one little Alaska town was alarming. Six people disappeared in Manley and residents were going to look for them.
They found Michael Silka’s vehicle at the landing and turned his license number over to police; they thought he was suspect. The police learned Silka, 25, was the same man who raised eyebrows in nearby Hopkinsville. In Hopkinsville, Roger Culp was missing. Police searched the community after a resident saw blood in the snow. A week later, another resident told the police about a scary incident they had with Michael Silka. Roger and Michael had words and Roger followed Silka back to his cabin, then the resident heard gun shots. There was no 911 where she lived so she locked herself in her cabin. Armed with the new information, police wanted to talk to Michael Silka again. When the police arrived at his cabin, he was gone and his car was gone. The police spent two days combing the area around Silka’s cabin and found patches of blood. A lab confirmed it was human blood. The police didn’t have a body but they wanted to speak with Silka. They were going to start with a conversation with him about the missing Roger Culp.
State of Alaska Map
The community suspected Michael Silka had evil intentions and it was going to be hours before a team of Alaska State Troopers would show up. In the early morning hours of May 19, 1984, Alaska State Troopers arrive at Manley by helicopter and auto. The troopers set up a roadblock at the only road that left town. When the helicopter took off and landed, it stirred up the snow and pools of blood began to emerge. They also found some 44 caliber shells. They knew this was the crime scene. Near the river bank troopers found the Klein’s four wheeler hidden in the brush and Joe’s hat. They also found drag marks to the water’s edge. At this point, they don’t know if the missing are dead or if Silka was holding them hostage. They took to the sky and ground to search for Silka. Shortly after they started searching, the troopers unexpectedly stumbled upon a woman at the river’s edge waving for help. She told them her husband had gone to town and didn’t return home; she last saw her husband Fred Burk, 27, two days ago.
Over a dozen Alaska State Troopers armed with weapons and combat gear converged on Manley Hot Springs. But they had no idea the suspected killer they were seeking was a former military man. After running his plates, they learned Michael Silka joined the Army after he graduated from high school in Illinois. He did a tour of duty at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. Before making his way to Manley, he spent a few months holed up in a remote Canadian town. He lived in a hotel room, used cash for everything, and stayed to himself. People noticed he carried a number of shotguns in his vehicle. Silka had minor criminal offenses for fire arms in his past. He loved fire arms but came from a place guns were frowned upon. His dream was to move to Manley Hot Springs to live off the land. The troopers learned he had trouble with law enforcement all the way from Illinois, to Canada, and in Alaska. As troopers set out to find Michael Silka, they were keenly aware they were up against a dangerous set of circumstances. They were dealing with a dangerous suspect who used the brush as cover.
The troopers scour the area and suddenly the pilot spotted a man in a flat bottom boat towing a canoe. The pilot recognized Michael Silka. He also observed an arsenal of weapons in the boat. Armed with M-16s, the troopers orchestrated a plan. They used two helicopters to keep him surrounded but Silka got out of the boat on the edge of the river bank. He immediately picked up a weapon and began shooting at the troopers. Silka had the upper hand so the helicopter pulled back. He shot at the helicopter quite a few times and positioned himself for a gun battle. The troopers were not going to act unless acted upon. But Silka strategically positioned himself by taking cover in the thick brush as he shot at the helicopter again. As the helicopter was backing away, they realized they had been hit and that Trooper Troy Duncan, 34, was shot. Seconds later, another trooper started shooting back with a M-16 in fully auto. Silka was hit five times and died instantly. They then turned their attention to their comrade but he was already gone.
Trooper Duncan was the fourth trooper to die in the line of duty in Alaska. In the days after the carnage, the residents set out to find the missing. Divers attempted to look in the river but the silt pulled them down to the bottom. It was impossible to find them if they were in the river. Investigators contended that Silka got in an argument with Joe and Dale down at the boat dock and the argument most likely led to Silka using his gun to settle the score. He lost his temper and shot them. The other residents showed up when he was dragging the bodies to the river. He had to keep killing people to get rid of the evidence. Fred Burk had the unfortunate experience of running into Silka too. Michael shot him so he could take his boat. Thankfully by the end of the summer, the river had given up the bodies of Joe, Dale, Lyman Klein, 31, and Fred Burk. All of them had been shot in the head. Lyman’s pregnant wife Joyce and their son Marshall were never found and the bodies of Albert Hagan Jr. and Roger Culp never surfaced either.
The total number of Silka’s victims may never be known. In the days before Silka was making his way to Manley, Fred Burk and his mother-in-law saw the drifter’s vehicle parked some 30 miles outside of town. They noticed three people in the front seat, one they later identified as Silka. They observed that the two people with him look petrified. To this day, no one knows what happened to those two people or who they were. At the request of his father, Michael Silka was buried in the National Cemetery in Sitka, Alaska. He was an honorably discharged soldier and had that right. But what’s even more ironic about that is the State Trooper Training Academy is right next door to the cemetery. A retired Alaska State Trooper said they had to unmark the grave for whatever reason.
This week we focus on a heinous & horrific crime as well as the killing spree committed by a wandering “mountain man”. Get ready for scary mysteries Twisted Two’s. -Michael Silka, Scary Mysteries Podcast (July 4, 2018)
Investigation Discovery:
Manley Hot Springs, Alaska is a remote mountain hide-a-way known for simplicity and solitude. But, that innocent existence is shattered when a newcomer goes on rampage and guns down residents one by one, ultimately taking out one tenth of the town. -Frozen Carnage, Ice Cold Killers (S1,E5)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 