On August 29, 1989, Navy veteran Richard Uffelman and his two sons opened fire from their living room window and shot and killed their neighbors Michael and Florence Phillips in Machiasport, Maine. The Phillips family moved back to Maine so they could be closer to their family and the ocean, and they wanted to escape crime in Indiana. Shortly before they moved to Maine, a murder occurred outside their home and this was it for them; they wanted to raise their son Michael in a safe environment. Richard and Anita Uffelman and their two sons were the new neighbors of the Phillips in Maine. Richard was described as an authoritarian and a believer in good order and discipline. He worked at the local post office and taught his two children to shoot guns. Initially the neighbors were good friends and their boys played together. At some point, family came to visit the Phillips for a week. The happy family reunited outside on the front lawn while they barbecued, drank some beers, and enjoyed one another’s company. Apparently Richard found a broken bottle on his lawn during the event and automatically assumed the Phillips threw the bottle on his lawn. Richard called the police to complain about the incident but there was no proof since the Phillips denied doing it. This was it for Richard; the Phillips home interfered with his view of the ocean and he was going to exact his revenge. Read here.
On April 10, 2008, Navy sailor Chris Shortt discovered his step-daughter Meghan Landowski stabbed to death in their Portsmouth, Virginia home. Meghan was 16 years old and from the looks of the crime scene, there was a struggle; Meghan fought back. Investigators learned the killer used a knife from the family’s kitchen. They found it in a gutter down the street. The police didn’t know who committed the murder but they believed it was personal and Meghan knew her attacker. Chris and Angie Shortt believed Robert Hickey killed Meghan and they called NCIS at Naval Station Norfolk to let them know what happened. NCIS questioned Hickey. Robert Hickey was a military officer who was on his way to the rank of Captain when he was accused of sexual assault by Meghan. Robert was a close friend of the family and NCIS believe he groomed Meghan for a sexual relationship. Meghan said Rob began touching her when she was 14 and by age 15, Meghan was having a sexual relationship with a 30-year-old man. The family supported Meghan as she pressed charges against Robert but they learned from civilian investigators that Hickey’s crimes amounted to a misdemeanor in Virginia; he would spend 12 months maximum in prison. But Robert Hickey was a Navy sailor and subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Navy was investigating and planning to prosecute the case. Read here.
ID Go: A Filipino woman falls for a married US Navy Officer who will do anything to keep his mistress and his money. -An Officer, Not a Gentleman, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S1,E4)
ID Go: When high school senior Michelle Miller joins the Future Soldiers program, she sees it as the first step to realizing her dream of enlisting in the Army. But a forbidden affair with her recruiter risks her career in the Army, and her future itself. -The Sergeant and the Schoolgirl, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S2,E1)
ID Go: A young mom falls for a married military man after a chance meeting at his naval base. -The Girl with the Gold Earring, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S2,E8)
ID Go: A young Army recruit enlists with dreams of serving her country. What she doesn’t expect is to find love with a commanding officer in her platoon. The two battle to keep their forbidden affair secret but can they defeat the enemy within? -Love is a Battlefield, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S3, E1)
ID Go: While her husband serves in the army, a lonely married mother of three finds comfort in the arms of her church’s charismatic new minister. But danger looms in the form of a jealous love-rival that will stop at nothing to scare her away. -Onward, Christian Soldier, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S4,E4)
ID Go: A decorated marine faces war at home when he falls for a married woman. Suspicion and jealousy plague their affair as they battle to keep their secret from their spouses but with the stakes so high it’s a truth they’ll stop at nothing to hide. -Love is War, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S4,E8)
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.
ID Go: While her husband serves in the army, a lonely married mother of three finds comfort in the arms of her church’s charismatic new minister. But danger looms in the form of a jealous love-rival that will stop at nothing to scare her away. -Onward, Christian Soldier, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S4,E4)
Forbidden: Dying for Love featured the Jennifer and William Wright 2002 homicide-suicide case on Investigation Discovery. ‘Onward, Christian Soldier’ highlighted the circumstances that lead to the murder of Jennifer Wright and the pain it inflicted on those who were left behind including their three sons. According to the show, William Wright was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina with his wife and three children. MSgt Wright was routinely deployed after 9/11/2001 and as a result he was never home. Bill’s absence was hard on Jennifer and the marriage. She wanted Bill to leave the Army but the Army was his life; it’s what he was meant to do. While Bill was deployed in Afghanistan, he learned that Jennifer was telling people back home that he divorced her.
Bill was stunned to learn the news and was granted leave to go back stateside and deal with his family crisis. Bill learned Jennifer was having an affair with the pastor at church and she wanted a divorce. Instead of salvaging his marriage, Bill murdered Jennifer in the family home on June 29, 2002 and covered it up. When investigators questioned Bill about Jennifer’s murder, he broke down and told them everything. Bill admitted he hit his wife with a baseball bat and then strangled her to death. He then put her body in a garbage bag and buried her in some woods near Fort Bragg. In 2003, William Wright was in prison awaiting trial when he died by suicide in his jail cell. Jennifer and William’s sons expressed concern that the Army’s anti-malaria drugs negatively impacted their father’s health and was most likely the reason this tragedy occurred.
This domestic violence related homicide was one of five murders that occurred in a six week period at Fort Bragg in 2002. Rigoberto Nieves fatally shot his wife Teresa on June 11, 2002; Cedric Griffin fatally stabbed his wife Marilyn on July 9, 2002; Brandon Floyd fatally shot his wife Andrea on July 19, 2002; and military spouse Joan Shannon manipulated her daughter Elizabeth to shoot her step-father Major David Shannon on July 23, 2002 while he slept.
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch all of the 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. Download the ID Go app and binge away. 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 $2.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict.
Fort Bragg equips, trains, rapidly deploys, and sustains full spectrum forces supporting Combatant Commanders from a Community of Excellence where Soldiers, Families and Civilians thrive.
“On July 19 the perfect picture shattered. After a loud argument that was overheard by neighbors, Brandon Floyd shot his wife Andrea, then turned his gun on himself. The double slaying was the fourth domestic tragedy at Fort Bragg in recent weeks. On June 11 Sgt. First Class Rigoberto Nieves, 32, shot himself and his wife, Teresa, 28, two days after returning from Afghanistan. Over the next six weeks Master Sgt. William Wright, 36, allegedly strangled his wife, Jennifer, 32; Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, allegedly stabbed his estranged wife, Marilyn, 32, and set fire to her home; and Maj. David Shannon, 40, was shot while sleeping in his home, a killing in which police have said that the wife remains a suspect.” Read more from Peoplehere.
In March 2005, Fort Bragg Army Sergeant Cedric Ramon Griffin, 28, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife Marilyn Griffin and setting her home on fire on July 9, 2002 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Sgt. Griffin was charged by the Cumberland County Superior Court with the first-degree murder of his estranged wife Marilyn Griffin, first-degree arson, and the attempted murder of Marilyn’s two daughters. Marilyn died as a result of approximately 50 stab wounds to the chest, neck, back and abdomen; the preliminary autopsy results indicated Marilyn died prior to the fire. Marilyn’s daughters, ages 6 and 2, woke up during the fire, escaped, and went to a neighbor’s house for help. According to law enforcement officials, the motive appeared to be “domestic related” and Sgt. Griffin turned violent after Marilyn threatened to reveal his infidelity to his commander. The couple were married for eight years and Marilyn was murdered two months after she left Sgt. Griffin. She moved into her new home only a week before she died. Sgt. Cedric Griffin faced the death sentence in North Carolina if he was convicted of stabbing his wife to death but according to the Army Wives book, former Army Sgt. Cedric Griffin pleaded guilty to murdering Marilyn Griffin and is serving a life sentence in the Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina.
This domestic violence related homicide was one of five murders that occurred in a six week period at Fort Bragg in 2002. Rigoberto Nieves fatally shot his wife Teresa after an argument on June 11, 2002; William Wright admitted to strangling his wife Jennifer on June 29, 2002; Brandon Floyd fatally shot his wife Andrea on July 19, 2002; and military spouse Joan Shannon manipulated her daughter Elizabeth to shoot her step-father Major David Shannon on July 23, 2002 while he slept.
Forbidden: Dying for Love featured the Jennifer and William Wright 2002 homicide-suicide case on Investigation Discovery. ‘Onward, Christian Soldier’ highlighted the circumstances that lead to the murder of Jennifer Wright and the pain it inflicted on those who were left behind including their three sons. According to the show, William Wright was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina with his wife and three children. MSgt Wright was routinely deployed after 9/11/2001 and as a result he was never home. Bill’s absence was hard on Jennifer and the marriage. She wanted Bill to leave the Army but the Army was his life; it’s what he was meant to do. While Bill was deployed in Afghanistan, he learned that Jennifer was telling people back home that he divorced her.
Bill was stunned to learn the news and was granted leave to go back stateside and deal with his family crisis. Bill learned Jennifer was having an affair with the pastor at church and she wanted a divorce. Instead of salvaging his marriage, Bill murdered Jennifer in the family home on June 29, 2002 and covered it up. When investigators questioned Bill about Jennifer’s murder, he broke down and told them everything. Bill admitted he hit his wife with a baseball bat and then strangled her to death. He then put her body in a garbage bag and buried her in some woods near Fort Bragg. In 2003, William Wright was in prison awaiting trial when he died by suicide in his jail cell. Jennifer and William’s sons expressed concern that the Army’s anti-malaria drugs negatively impacted their father’s health and was most likely the reason this tragedy occurred.
This domestic violence related homicide was one of five murders that occurred in a six week period at Fort Bragg in 2002. Rigoberto Nieves fatally shot his wife Teresa on June 11, 2002; Cedric Griffin fatally stabbed his wife Marilyn on July 9, 2002; Brandon Floyd fatally shot his wife Andrea on July 19, 2002; and military spouse Joan Shannon manipulated her daughter Elizabeth to shoot her step-father Major David Shannon on July 23, 2002 while he slept.
ID Go: While her husband serves in the army, a lonely married mother of three finds comfort in the arms of her church’s charismatic new minister. But danger looms in the form of a jealous love-rival that will stop at nothing to scare her away. -Onward, Christian Soldier, Forbidden: Dying for Love (S4,E4)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch all of the 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. Download the ID Go app and binge away. 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 $2.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict.
Two days after returning home from Afghanistan, Fort Bragg Army SFC Rigoberto Nieves shot and killed his wife Teresa Nieves after an argument on June 11, 2002 in their Fayetteville, North Carolina home; SFC Nieves then turned his .40-caliber service revolver on himself. This domestic violence related homicide was one of five murders that occurred in a six week period at Fort Bragg in 2002. William Wright admitted to murdering his wife Jennifer on June 29, 2002; Cedric Griffin murdered his wife Marilyn on July 9, 2002; Brandon Floyd murdered his wife Andrea on July 19, 2002; and military spouse Joan Shannon manipulated her daughter Elizabeth to shoot her step-father Major David Shannon on July 23, 2002 while he slept.
