Army Pfc. Brian Odiorne, 21, died from a non-combat related incident in Al Anbar Province, Iraq on February 20, 2017. Pfc. Odiorne’s home of record is listed as Ware, Massachusetts and he joined the Army in October 2015. Pfc. Odiorne was a cannon crewmember supporting Operation Inherent Resolve and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. After an investigation was concluded, the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) ruled the death a suicide.
Fort Hood Soldier Pvt. Michael Garcia, 29, died of injuries suffered during a vehicle training incident at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California on February 17, 2017. Pvt. Garcia’s home of record is listed as Fayetteville, North Carolina and he joined the Army in March 2016. Pvt. Garcia was an indirect fire infantryman assigned to the 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID).
Army Staff Sgt. Christie Anderson, 44, was found unresponsive at her off-post residence in Killeen, Texas on February 6, 2017. Staff Sgt. Anderson’s home of record is listed as Hazen, Arkansas and she joined the Army in August 2007. She was a radio operator, multichannel transmission systems operator-maintainer assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood. Staff Sgt. Anderson deployed in support of Operation New Dawn from February 2011 to November 2011. The circumstances surrounding her death and official cause of death are unknown.
Staff Sgt. Steven Hines, 29, was found dead behind a building on Fort Hood in Texas on February 5th 2017. Staff Sgt. Hines joined the Army in July 2007 and was a Criminal Investigation Division (CID) special agent assigned to the 11th Military Police Battalion. CID agents report foul play is not suspected but has not been ruled out as they continue to conduct a death investigation. According to reports, special agents from outside of Fort Hood have been brought in to head up the investigation. An Army report released in December 2017 indicated that Staff Sgt. Hines was found “50 yards behind his office building, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, with his issued M11 at his side.” Authorities indicated that Staff Sgt. Hines left behind messages for others on Post-It notes including his fellow CID Agents. His message to them was:
The wellness of our agents and helping to create a support system and culture for positive mental health for our special agents is of the utmost importance to this command’s senior leadership. -Staff Sgt. Steven Hines
Army Spc. Zackary Partin, 24, was found dead in his Fort Hood, Texas barracks room on January 12, 2017. Spc. Partin’s home of record was listed as Oakwood, Illinois and he joined the Army in November 2012. Spc. Partin was a radio operator assigned to the Headquarters Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood. Zackary’s death is under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). Per the Fort Hood Press Center, the point of contact for the investigation is Chris Grey, Chief of Public Affairs, USA Criminal Investigation Command (CID), Quantico, VA. Grey’s email is christopher.p.grey.civ@mail.mil. The circumstances surrounding Zackary’s death and official cause of death are unknown.
Vicki Partin said the last time she saw her son was when he came home for a couple weeks over the Christmas holiday. She was shocked when two Army officers showed up at her door at 10 p.m. Jan. 12 to tell her he had died. “Everybody is heartbroken…He was so looking forward to getting out in May. He wanted to join the Naval Reserves, and he wanted to become a full-time firefighter.” –The News-Gazette
Army Sgt. Alex Taylor, 23, was found dead at his place of duty at Fort Hood in Texas on January 11, 2017. Sgt. Taylor’s home of record is listed as Texas City, Texas; he joined the Army in March 2012 as an aviation operations specialist. Sgt. Taylor was assigned to the 15th Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Hood since July 2016. Per the Fort Hood Press Center, the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation by U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. The point of contact for the investigation is Chris Grey, Chief of Public Affairs, USA Criminal Investigation Command (CID) Quantico, Virginia. Grey’s e-mail is christopher.p.grey.civ@mail.mil. The CID spokesman reported no foul play suspected initially but it was not completely ruled out because the cause of death is still under investigation. The circumstances surrounding Alex Taylor’s death and official cause of death are unknown to the public at this time. Alex’s family makes the following request:
I am Alex father. Thank you for putting this information up. I am one of many that is having to fight with the military to get justice for my fallen soldier. They are giving me very little information and what they are giving me is false. The army is telling me there was no foul play but I know that is not true. If anyone has any information about it please feel free to contact this website. They are compiling information about the many deaths at Fort Hood. I am in contact with them and they will relay any information to me. Please help me get justice for my son. -Jeff Taylor
Army Pfc. Randal Anderson, 22, was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound in Killeen, Texas on January 2, 2017. Pfc. Anderson’s home of record is listed as Sutter Creek, California and he joined the Army in February 2015. Pfc. Anderson was an M1 armor crewman assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood. At the time of reporting the circumstances surrounding the death were being investigated. Although the public has not been updated with the outcome of the investigation, one can only assume that the cause of death was ruled a suicide since there has been no mention of a homicide investigation in the months following.
Army Private Paige Fontenot Briles, 21, was found unresponsive in her vehicle at Fort Hood housing in Texas on Christmas eve, December 24, 2016. Private Fontenot Briles is from Kaplin, Louisiana and joined the Army in February 2015. Pvt. Fontenot Briles was assigned to Fort Hood as a wheeled vehicle mechanic. She deployed to Kuwait shortly after completing Advanced Individual Training (AIT). She returned stateside early in December 2015 after she was injured in the line of duty. In November 2016, she was assigned to the Warrior Transition Unit at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. Pvt. Fontenot Briles was going to be discharged from the Army in February 2017 and had plans to attend dental hygienist school. Family report that Pvt. Fontenot Briles cause of death was determined a homicide by the Army but the Bell County coroner’s office made a suicide determination. The Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) ruled the cause of death as suicide.
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Background:
Paige joined the U.S. Army in February 2015 & was permanently assigned to Fort Hood as a wheeled vehicle mechanic after Advanced Individual Training (AIT). Paige shared with her family that she was raped by her recruiter before she went to Fort Jackson for basic training but she did not report the incident. Shortly after arriving to Fort Hood, Paige was deployed to Kuwait in October 2015. Although she returned home early in December 2015 after being found unresponsive under a vehicle. She was injured in the line of duty and the only thing she shared with her family was that she “saw things no one should ever have to see.”
Paige met and married another soldier she hadn’t known that long in January 2016 upon her return home from Kuwait. According to Army CID, they learned that the marriage was contractual and the two did in fact share a home up until recently. When Paige met her husband, she had already experienced multiple traumas from the rape and her experience in Kuwait; she was vulnerable. After a few months of marriage, Paige got pregnant but her “husband” did not want a child and convinced her to get an abortion in August 2016. It was at this point, Paige had a mental health breakdown and was hospitalized for 28 days. She was eventually transferred to the Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) in November 2016.
The WTU allowed Paige to escape the unhealthy arrangement she was trapped in with her contractual husband and she was starting to feel better after being free of him for a couple months. Family reports that Paige decided to get out of the military, move back in with her sister and parents, and pursue an education as a dental hygienist. Paige was expected to discharge in February 2017. Paige put in leave to go home for Christmas in December 2016 but it was denied. Paige took a picture of herself on SnapChat and sent it to her contacts on Christmas Eve. She wrote “here’s to another Christmas alone.” And the Army wants us to believe that 30 minutes later, Paige would be dead by her own hand.
On the night in question, Paige drove to a friend’s house on post. She was house sitting for them while they were out of town. About an hour later, Paige was found unresponsive in the driver’s seat in her vehicle in the parking lot outside her friend’s home. She had been stabbed. Initially the Army investigated the death as a homicide but in December 2017, the family was informed that the cause of death was ruled a suicide. Less than two years in the Army and Paige was gone. She told her parents she was raped, she saw things in Kuwait no one should ever see, and that she was in an unhealthy relationship with a man she was trying to escape. Paige had been through hell in her short time in the Army but she had hope. She knew she was returning to Louisiana to a loving family and a sister who was her best friend. She didn’t feel so trapped that suicide was the only way out.
Paige had a second chance at life in just a couple months when she was going to be discharged. Paige’s parents want their daughter’s case investigated as a homicide. They provided the Army CID with a person of interest. They had interaction and negative experiences with the person of interest. They shared their first hand interactions (witness testimony) and their concerns with CID but felt their experiences and observations were dismissed. They know their daughter was not suicidal because she was due to get out of the Army in February 2017 and she had plans. When questioned if the Army CID ever investigated the person of interest, Paige’s family responded with “the Army CID never investigated any persons of interest.” As a matter of fact, the Army discharged the soldier these parents suspected was the person of interest.
What happens when the Army discharges a soldier who may be a person of interest? They in effect give up jurisdiction of the soldier once they become a civilian unless they are retired. The soldier who was considered a ‘person of interest’ by the family was discharged for disciplinary reasons. Enter across state line jurisdictional issues and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who appears to want to steer clear of cases on military bases. The parents report that initially Paige’s stabbing death was investigated as a homicide yet in the end, despite the autopsy, forensics, suspicious circumstances in her life, and the parents testimony, Paige’s death was ruled a suicide by the Army CID. Once a death is ruled a suicide, the investigation is over and the US Army never has to investigate again.
Fort Hood Army Pvt. Kevin Paulino, 24, died of a gunshot wound in Peru, Indiana on November 16, 2016. Pvt. Paulino’s home of record is listed as Bronx, New York and he entered military service in May 2016. He was an infantryman assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. According to the Killeen Daily Herald, civilian police confirmed Pvt. Paulino’s cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sgt. 1st Class Grant Shanaman, 38, US Army, of Media, Pennsylvania was found dead in his Fayetteville, North Carolina home on November 16th, 2016. Sgt. 1st Class Shanaman enlisted in the Army in 1998 (18 years) and served 10 combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Shanaman was a highly decorated infantryman assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. The Army reports that civilian law enforcement are investigating the incident. Sgt. 1st Class Shanaman is one of three US Army soldiers who died stateside on November 16, 2016. Pvt. Kevin Paulino of Fort Hood and Pfc. David Winchester of Fort Bragg also died in garrison. Pfc. Winchester was found dead in his barracks at Fort Bragg and the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) is investigating that incident.
The WTU allowed Paige to escape the unhealthy arrangement she was trapped in with her contractual husband and she was starting to feel better after being free of him for a couple months. Family reports that Paige decided to get out of the military, move back in with her sister and parents, and pursue an education as a dental hygienist. Paige was expected to discharge in February 2017. Paige put in leave to go home for Christmas in December 2016 but it was denied. Paige took a picture of herself on SnapChat and sent it to her contacts on Christmas Eve. She wrote “here’s to another Christmas alone.” And the Army wants us to believe that 30 minutes later, Paige would be dead by her own hand.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 