The United States military is arguably the most powerful force in the world. But according to the FBI 15,000 men and women in uniform have ties to notorious American gangs such as MS-13, the Crips, the Bloods, and the Gangster Disciples — that’s a population that’s bigger than that of any military installation. -Part 1, RT America (December 23, 2010)
Gangs in the Military: Armed & Dangerous Forces -Part 2, RT America (December 23, 2010)
Sworn to protect us from every enemy, foreign and domestic, and every day the majority of soldiers do just that ! yet some units are being compromised and turn into street gangs. An FBI report recently showed an increased gang activity within US soldiers. -Gangs in the U.S. Army Documentary
A serial killer plagues Spokane, Washington, claiming the lives of more than a dozen victims. The reexamination of an old clue finally helps investigators zero in on the murderer. -Monster in Spokane, Unusual Suspects (S1,E6)
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.
Army CW02 Billie J. Grinder, 25, died of a non combat related accident on February 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq. CW02 Grinder was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee Army National Guard in Louisville, Tennessee. CW02 Grinder died from wounds suffered when her OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing as a result of a helicopter systems failure. Her 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
Spc. Adrian Avila, 19, US Army, died of a non combat related accident in Khabari Crossing, Kuwait on October 29, 2009. Spc. Avila was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the 1343rd Chemical Company, 151st Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Battalion, 115th Fires Brigade of the Alabama Army National Guard in Fort Payne, Alabama. According to the Department of Defense the incident is under investigation.
Critics say the military needs to do more about domestic violence against women. A CBS News investigation found more than 25,000 women have been victimized over the past decade. Katie Couric reports. -CBS
Spc. Timothy Juneman, Washington Army National Guard (Screenshot from DVIDS)
“The identity of one other veteran who killed himself this year became public when his family wrote U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in April about concerns with VA mental health care. Spc. Timothy Juneman, 25, a National Guardsman and former [Fort Lewis] Stryker Brigade soldier who was injured in a roadside explosion in Iraq, died March 5, 2008…Juneman’s body was found in his Pullman home March 25, nearly three weeks after he had hanged himself. He had missed several appointments at the Spokane VA. In records obtained by Juneman before his death, Brown wrote that imminent redeployment to Iraq with the National Guard was a ‘major stressor’ contributing to Juneman’s condition, his mother said.” Read more from The Spokesmanhere.
In the News:
CBS News first reported on the staggering number of veteran suicides in a report last year. Now, newly-released data shows that vets who get help from the VA are still at risk. -CBS News (March 20, 2008)
They served their country honorably but after risking their life in combat abroad, coping with coming home was too much. In the last three months seven servicemen being treated by Spokane’s VA Hospital have committed suicide. -4 News Now (April 29, 2008)
Despite recent efforts by the Veterans Administration to prevent veteran suicide, seven have committed suicide in the Inland Northwest in the last four months and US Senator Patty Murray is calling the situation unacceptable. -4 News Now (May 1, 2008)
Benjamin Griego, 26, was found dead in Army housing at White Sands Missile Range on July 13, 2007. He was serving our country as Cadre, on his second term enlistment, representing the New Mexico Army National Guard. His duty involved training military branches of service for transition to a Warrior Transition course previously transferred to Dona Ana Range from Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Our 26 year old son, Sgt. Benjamin Thomas Griego, was found dead in Army housing at White Sands Missile Range on July 13, 2007. He was serving our country as Cadre, on his second term enlistment, representing the New Mexico Army National Guard. His duty involved training military branches of service for transition to a Warrior Transition course previously transferred to Dona Ana Range from Ft. Knox, Kentucky.
When we first heard of our sons death, there was no official report released from the Army National Guard to his wife or to us, his parents. The information we received early that morning on July 13th, was that our son had died. The information was received from the public through their phone calls and visits of sympathy and condolences.
As we tried to make sense of this, we brushed it off as gossip since the rumor had come from a Wal-Mart employee. Later, we learned that it had been channeled down from a sergeant on post at White Sands Missile Range to a family member employed at the local Wal-Mart in Clovis, NM. That in itself was devastating and shocking to find this out in this manner. We were on the phone early that morning frantically trying to make contact with someone from the White Sands Missile Range and the Army National Guard in Santa Fe, NM who would put these rumors to rest. But to my disbelief, we were notified hours later that the worst had turned out to be true, our beloved son was gone.
Jeronimo, Bens father, was the last person to speak to Ben just hours before his death. He had made his father promise that he would call him while he was on the range the next day. We had made plans with Ben to pick up his father at the airport in El Paso, TX Monday, July 16th after duty. His itemized phone statement showed two phone calls were made to housing on base that evening. We believe that he was trying to make accommodations for his fathers visit.
Ben was 26 years old, and the youngest of my three sons. He kept close contact with us. We spoke to him every day, we knew our son, and nothing was out of the ordinary the day prior. Everything was going well for him, except for altercations he had been having with three unit members who had recently returned from Iraq. A DVD was given to us by his commander on the night of the Rosary, July 19th , which clearly demonstrates that problems existed.
My son presented a formal class on Integrity, ordered by the commander. The commander, first sergeant, and unit members were present. The class was recorded on a DVD. Some of the unit members admitted to “bum rushing” Ben before he presented the class. On the same DVD, a death threat was made. This was three weeks prior to his death. The unit members admitted to bum rushing him and the commanding officer, the highest commanding officer present, asked if it was round two”. She was well aware what was going on.
He told his mother he had been attacked by members in his unit three times in the weeks before his death, and he had a black eye the day before he died, the paper reported. He was frustrated, tired of the assaults and was resisting the urge to fight back, his father Jeronimo Griego told the News Journal. “We want them to clear his name. He did not commit suicide, we know that. We want to clear his name. Not only is that important to his name and to us, it’s important to his daughter,” Judy Griego told the News Journal. “We don’t want her growing up thinking that he did this to himself.” –ABQ Journal (December 24, 2007)
In the News:
Our 26 year old son, Sgt. Benjamin Thomas Griego, was found dead in Army housing at White Sands Missile Range on July 13, 2007. He was serving our country as Cadre, on his second term enlistment, representing the New Mexico Army National Guard. –YouTube
“More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.
A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.”
A Virginia woman, Teresa Lewis, is scheduled to be executed in on September 23, which would be the first US execution of a woman in five years and in the state of Virginia over a decade. A Virginia woman who used sex and money to persuade two men to kill her husband and her stepson, in order to collect a $250,000 life insurance policy. -RT America (July 30, 2010)
The US state of Virginia is set to execute by lethal injection a 41-year-old grandmother, the first woman to be put to death in Virginia in almost 100 years. -Al Jazeera English (September 23, 2010)
Despite Teresa Lewis’ admission of guilt, many are still coming to her defense. -ABC News (September 23, 2010)
Teresa Lewis set to die on death row – 5:30 p.m. -WAVY TV 10 (September 23, 2010)
Teresa Lewis execution – 6 p.m. -WAVY TV 10 (September 23, 2010)
Teresa Lewis, 41, became the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly a century. -CNN (September 23, 2010)
Teresa Lewis executed – 11 p.m. -WAVY TV 10 (September 24, 2010)
Woman executed in Virginia. -CNN (September 24, 2010)
Mentally Challenged Woman Executed? -The Young Turks (September 24, 2010)
Theresa Lewis before her tragic execution. -Ignored Voices (November 18, 2010)
Investigation Discovery:
Preview: Teresa Michelle Lewis used sex for currency to get what she wanted. -To Love and To Murder, Deadly Women (S5,E5)
Marriage is a lifelong commitment of love, and wedding vows. ‘To have and to hold; for better, for worse; until death do us part’. But for these monstrous wives, it was only the vow of ‘death do us part’ they upheld. -To Love and To Murder, Deadly Women (S5,E5)
While mourning the death of his wife, Julian falls hard for his much-younger coworker Teresa. For a time, her spunk lifts him out of to his sorrows until a sordid affair plunges him even deeper into the abyss. -Second Chance at Death, Fatal Vows (S5, E1)
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.
“According to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, the German federal police are looking into the deaths of 26 prostitutes with assistance from U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command.Yates, a former Navy helicopter pilot, was stationed in Goeppingen, Germany, from 1988 to 1991. The FBI has found the black van he allegedly owned in Germany and has searched it for evidence.” –Whidbey News-Times (October 18, 2000)
Number of confirmed victims: At least 15 Years and location: 1970s-1990s, Washington state Characteristics: A married father of five who flew helicopters in the Army and the National Guard, Yates predominantly preyed on prostitutes. One of the victims was buried in Yates’ yard. Arrest, conviction and sentence: Arrested on April 18, 2000. Yates was arrested after police matched fibers found on the body of a dead prostitute to Yates’ car, which also had blood on the seatbelt and seat. DNA testing and other evidence linked Yates to at least 12 murders. He later pleaded guilty to 13 killings in exchange for a life sentence (408 years) in lieu of the death penalty. In 2002, he was convicted of two additional murders in a different county and sentenced to death. Yates’ attorneys have repeatedly appealed the ruling but he remains on death row awaiting execution at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Melissa speaks with the daughters of Robert Lee Yates Jr, who murdered at least 13 people in Washington State. (2015)
Robert Lee Yates Jr’s family members share their memories of the serial killer. (2015)
Spokane Serial Killer Robert Yates will be learning Thursday whether or not his death penalty conviction for the murders of two women near Tacoma will be overturned by the Washington State Supreme Court. KXLY4’s Jeff Humphrey reports. (2007)
In a majority opinion the Washington State Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Spokane Serial Killer Robert Yates and upheld his death sentence for the murders of two women in Pierce County in the late 1990s. (2007)
Attorneys for convicted Spokane Serial Killer Robert Yates have filed their application for a stay of his execution which is scheduled for later this month. (2008)
Spokane Serial Killer Robert Yates has been transferred from death row in Walla Walla to Pierce County where he will be in court Friday as Judge John McCarthy signs his death warrant. KXLY4’s Jeff Humphrey reports. (2008)
Kathy Lloyd feared that Robert Yates would live longer than her. He killed her sister, Shawn McLenahan. Now a Tacoma judge will sign Yates’ death warrant, and Lloyd is hoping Yates will die soon. KXLY4’s Sally Showman reports. (2008)
Back in the mid 1990’s when Robert Yates was stalking Spokane prostitutes another serial killer was making regular visits to the city. A new book reveals the “Happy Face Killer” often traveled to Spokane where the long haul trucker would spend time with his children. KXLY4’s Jeff Humphrey reports. (2010)
Spokane Serial Killer Robert Yates is claiming he had ineffective legal counsel in his latest appeal of his death sentence for the killings of two women in Pierce County in the late 1990s. KXLY4’s Melissa Luck reports. (2013)
On August 26, 1997, the half-naked body of prostitute Heather Hernandez, 20 was found in an empty lot in Spokane Washington. The same day, the decomposed corpse of prostitute Jennifer Joseph, 16, was discovered in an alfalfa field. Both women had been shot in the head. The day after Christmas, four more women were found with plastic bags tied over their heads, the gruesome signature of a killer who had sexually violated each one of them, after they had died. When the killer is finally arrested he turns out to be a devoted husband, a father of five, a National Guard helicopter pilot and a Desert Storm veteran. Robert Lee Yates Jr. is charged for 13 murders. (2013)
Investigation Discovery:
A serial killer plagues Spokane, Washington, claiming the lives of more than a dozen victims. The reexamination of an old clue finally helps investigators zero in on the murderer. -Monster in Spokane, Unusual Suspects (S1,E6)
ID Go: The Yates family moves to Spokane, WA only to find it besieged by a serial killer who’s targeting young women and confounding the police. Now, the family’s never-before-aired home videos provide a chilling look of one of America’s most notorious killers. -Family Snapshot, American Monster (S2, E2)
ID Go: Tony Harris pieces together the 1990 case of three prostitutes killed in Spokane, Washington, and discovers a pattern of murders connected by twenty-two caliber bullets, a killing spree that shocked a city and a suspect with a stunning new identity. -Down by the River, Scene of the Crime with Tony Harris (S2, E1)
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.
“More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 